30 June 2017
It was already brutally hot when I finally went out to uncover the bike. I'd looked at the projected temperatures along my putative route (using Accuweather), but Mesa was already higher than any of them. Nothing for it but to suck it up and get on the road.
As many of you know, I have a lot of GPSs, for various reasons. The newest one (Garmin GPSMap 276CX) has a gorgeous, very readable large screen, fast processor, etc. But I'm still learning it, and tweaking it...for some reason, it wanted me to head south out of Mesa, rather than directly east on US60; I ignored it.
60 twists up to Globe through the Tonto National Forest, a lovely road when the temperature's nice and there's no traffic. Not the case today, although the traffic moved right along, for the most part, and for the other part, I didn't seem to be in that much of a hurry.
Globe was my first fuel stop of the day, and the station was right at the point where 60 splits from US70 and heads northwest; so did I--70 is also an option; if you have the time, it takes you to US191, and that takes you back up to 60.
The temperature did moderate some, hovering mostly around 100, with occasional dips down to 95. I was mindful to suck water every 15 minutes or so; I'd been somewhat dehydrated yesterday (confirmed by how much I drank over the course of the evening) and didn't want that to happen again.
I crossed into New Mexico without quite realizing it and rolled through Quemado without stopping, then thought to check for fuel...according to the information I had, the next confirmed station was in Magdalena, right at the mileage the fuel gauge said I'd run out. I was only carrying a liter of spare gas (I'd forgotten the capacity of the bottle when I'd filled it in Globe--I used to carry only a liter; this one holds two), so turned back, filled up, wetted down, and carried on.
I must not have been paying attention, because I was almost on top of the Very Large Array before I realized it--perhaps because all the antennae were in close, rather than in one of the other configurations where they can span the horizon. I rolled past without stopping this time, although it's one of the places I like to visit regularly.
Through Magdalena, then, down into Socorro where I'd set a Days Inn (close to a Walmart Supercenter) as my stopping point. But wait, there's a grocery store, and right next to it an Economy Inn--perfect!
So I got a room, unpacked and cooled down a bit, then schlepped over to the grocery for victuals (corn is 15 cents an ear, and not quite as fresh, but still better than the fair)--don't need breakfast, as there's supposedly the regular cereal / waffle / juice bar in the motel lobby.
But when I went to the 'check in' app on my phone, it already knew about the Economy Inn and the John Brooks grocery--I apparently did the same thing back in 2013. (The Budget Inn was only $35 back then, but I don't remember if they had 'breakfast.')
Motel: $56.50
Groceries: $7.06
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