"Look at the stars....."

Okay, back after that quick shower session at a local college.

Grand Canyon=awesome and relaxing.

Things we did:
Saw the sunset - GORGEOUS.
Woke up at 4:45 to go see the sunrise - GORGEOUS.
Saw five huge elk and got really close.
Hiked a trail and saw some breathtaking views.
Played mafia. I was a mafia member and won.
Drinking at the general store.
Six-person-one-shower-head shower. $2.00 per shower, so we saved money.
Star-gazed and saw a shooting star. This was probably my favorite thing of the whole GC trip. It was so amazing. I hadn't seen stars like that in years. You could even see the milky way.

One thing not so cool that happened before we got to the Grand Canyon? One of our riders, Sarah, got something caught in her tire and ended up going over her handlebars and breaking her elbow. Her and her good friend, Lesley, spent the past couple nights in Flagstaff. Sarah had a complicated surgery, but they have both returned to us now and we are a better group for it.

Yesterday we rode from Grand Canyon to Ash Fork, AZ. Larry and I were sweep. It was kind of crazy packing up EVERYTHING from camping, but we still made great time. First, we stopped and had some coffee with others. Yum yum. A local gave us Smarties.

On the way out of the GC I suddenly heard a loud POP. Sure enough, I had a flat. I pulled over and Larry helped me change it. As we started pumping the new tire, it popped...again. We changed it once more and started pumping another tire. That tire popped, too. AWESOME! I finally changed out that tire for the sweep tire we had and continued on.

At a gas station we met a young boy who was riding (with his mom, I think) from Seattle down the coast to San Diego and then over to the Grand Canyon.

The rest of the day went on and Larry told me his life story. We stopped at Pine Country Restaurant in Williams because we were told it had amazing pie. We tried the cappuccino one and it was pretty darn good, if I say so myself. The wind sort of picked up at the end, but it was pretty much all downhill for the last six miles.

We stayed at some school in Ash Fork, had our family meeting, and I changed my tire. Exciting stuff, huh.

Today was amazing because it was only 54 miles from Ash Fork to Prescott! We got here around 11:30 and ate some Quiznos. We had some amazing gelato after that we got for free (DM woot woot). I bought some more tubes at the bike shop after because my patch job on a different tube didn't work so well and it was flat after lunch.

Prescott, overall, is a pretty cool city. Used to be the capital of Arizona. People around here say it's getting a little too crowded, but I saw a sign that read, "Prescott, Everyones home town" and thought it was a good summation of the town. I would definitely spend more time here if I could.

Alright, now I'm all caught up. Dinner time and then it's Christina's 21st birthday! So we are gonna show her a good time.

The next three days will be tough. We are officially dropping 4000 feet tomorrow into...the desert. Not only that, but tomorrow is 99 miles, the day after is 120, and the day after that is 95. This will be fun. I'm not dreading that so much as much as the end of this trip. It is a week from Thursday we will be getting into Santa Barbara and I find that very hard to believe.

But I'm only living in the moment. And in this moment I am hungry.

Until next time, the wheel keeps a spinning.