Stories from the road
Tucson, Arizona
The Arizona Inn
May 19, 2015

The water in the pool felt good this morning as I moved through my laps. Now it’s time for breakfast, and then we will make a filed trip to see some cactus. Hopefully we won’t run into any biker gangs on their way to Texas. Here is a question for my psychologist friends.

What might be an answer that a Waco biker might give to card 9 on the Rorschach?

I just had a nice breakfast quesadilla in the patio restaurant at the Inn. A British couple was sitting not far from us, and I thought they must be in heaven coming from the wet, often cold climate of the British Isles.

The road from Marfa to highway 10 is two lanes and very flat and straight. It is 75 miles long with no services and few cars. We passed two people on bicycles loaded down with gear. I had seen them the day before in Marfa, and I didn’t envy their trip considering the distance, the wind, and the lack of services. I wondered where they were headed.

When he was 16, my nephew, Lucas Nardella, and his mother, Maria, pedaled from Seattle to Washington, D.C.  In 6 weeks. It was a grueling trip with high temperatures, dangerous drivers, and bugs. They were members of a fund-raising group. Lucas was the youngest member of the group, and he proved to be a strong rider, staying with the leaders much of the trip. Maria continues to do a long distance ride in the Northwest every summer.

I talked with the British couple at the pool. and indeed they love the climate. They are off to Las Vegas, Zion, and Bryce, before flying to San Francisco and then home. I told them they have a terrific itinerary.