302 miles

Flagstaff to Tucson, via Sedona, Payson and Globe.
Our stop in Flagstaff bore the fruit of warm showers, comfortable beds, quality beer, and a tour to the Grand Canyon. Although amazing, comfortable and pleasant, we choose adventure.
We peddled out of Flagstaff, hopped on 87A and promptly dropped off "the rim" descending 3,000 feet in a few short miles. The scenic highway of 87A is nationally renowned for being beautiful. I thought it was cool to see water in the river beds. 87A leads to Sedona, an overrun club-med-stlye-tourist heaven, complete with Pink Jeep Tours. Leah and I both gauged. Visiting the local natural food store, we saw a man dressed in full body spandex fashion. It was awesome. I told him so. I was also wearing spandex.
We slept on the Red Rock National Forest, adjacent to the Red Rock High School and marveled at the scenic Red Rock.

The following day we climbed back up onto "the rim" 4,000 feet drawn out over twelve long miles. The sun beat the life out of us with it's 92 degree heat and the desert provided little cover. A mystical unopened bottle of water appeared along the climb to save us from completely running out. That night we slept in the unofficial city park of Strawberry. They have a park bench and it is very nice.

We ate lunch and napped at Green Valley Park in Payson. The locals looked retired and suspicious of the likes of two vagabond bikers. We camped in the Tonto National Forest and had a nice fire. It's always a good night when you have a fire. The Senora cactus kept us intrigued; I had no idea they grow so tall.

We took a dip in Roosevelt Lake. Of all the united states, Arizona has the most boats per capita, largely due to the existence of that reservoir.
Then we climbed up to Globe, arriving at sundown and crashed at St. Paul's Lutheran church. It would have been a good place to sleep had the highway been further away, the street light turned out and the neighbor's dog shut-up. I was happy to see the sky breaking into day.

Winkleman has a large city park, a gas station and a general store. The general store sells produce and food, the gas station beer and the park has camping. I liked Winkleman.

The next day we peddled up to Oracle, past the Bio Sphere 2, and into Oro Valley. Outside of a strip mall, we met Uncle Ed! He drove us into Tucson, thankfully, avoiding city traffic and near sighted snow birds. And now, I sit in there beautiful home enjoying the luxuries of modern living and the generosities of Wisconsin born in-laws. That's right: Brats and Beer!
May it never end.