The Ride to Arivaca

Tuesday was sunny, windy and cold! I was sitting outside watching Jim adjusting his new bicycle pedals and I had to get a jacket for warmth, and a hat to keep the sun off my head.


Jim's Shimano road pedals finally died after 11 years of use. I think he got his money's worth out of them. He got a pair of touring pedals to replace them, they use the mtb bolt pattern, but have a platform that's like a road pedal. And they did not cost an arm and a leg.

We eventually left the house and hiked up to Starr Pass. We did not go up on the ridge because it was blowing the dog off the chain.


Today was better. We left the RV park at 0900 hours and drove down to Amado. From there we road the bicycles out to the coffee shop at Arivaca. Going out it climbs more often than not.


We had a pretty good group today. It was nice sitting in the sun. I had pie. Pie is good. Going back to the car we had a headwind, it's always a head wind going back.


Upon our return we went to the Longhorn for a beer. It was fun.



The Arivaca ride is interesting. There's not a lot out there. Mainly ranching, I think, and the Border Patrol. It seems that for every civilian car there are 3 border patrol vehicles. Arivaca is fairly close to the border with Mexico. When I was riding back today I could see 1 gallon jugs of water placed out in the desert, some of the churches do that for the people coming across. Trash is a huge issue for Arizona, apparently tons of personal belongings are abandoned and have to be removed. Tonight on the CBS news there was a piece on the drug war in Mexico, and the thousands of people who have been killed. There are tunnels being built in Nogales to smuggle drugs across the border. Where there are drugs, there are guns, so the tourists do not go to Nogales as they used to, further depressing their economy. One of the government talking heads is predicting that the Mexican government will collapse, and the country will be run by cartels. It's sort of surreal and grim.