Day 211: Cutter, AZ

We didn't get much sleep last night.  One of our neighbors left some stuff outside his RV and some javelinas came through in the middle of the night and made quite a ruckus trying to get at whatever it was (trash or a cooler, most likely).  After that, the insects were incredibly loud, plus we would hear the occasional camper scuffling through the gravel on their way to the bathroom.  So we were probably lucky if we got four hours of decent sleep.

We had originally planned about a nearly 80 mile day, hoping to reach Globe, AZ.  But after reading the review of the RV park there, we opted instead to stop a few miles to the east, near Cutter, AZ.

As we set off, we were wondering if we would catch up with Lee?  We figured he would be on the road early, so if there was any chance we would need to do the same.  Since we had a lot of miles to cover, we split the chores: Alea rode 37 miles and I rode 33.

Every now and then the shoulder on US 70 gets very rough.  It feels a lot like a concrete road that has been chip sealed, where you get a jolt every time you ride over the concrete joints.  But this is more random, and some of the bumps are very jarring.   Since it was Sunday and traffic was light, I rode most of those stretches on the fog line, as it tended to be the smoothest part of the road surface.  That same strategy isn't likely to work once the work week commences.

Less than 10 miles from the end of our day we caught up with Lee, who had been able to camp for free in a church in Bylas, AZ.  He had gotten the tip from another cyclist heading east.  We offered for him to stay with us at our planned campsite, provided that doing so was kosher.

So we left him and sped off to Apache Gold Casino Resort, where we stayed at their RV park ($31.20, power, water, adjustable showers), only to find that their rules very explicitly would not allow Lee to toss his bivy sack on our site.  He had the option of paying $10 to camp here, but ended up getting a Warmshowers invite from someone who lived in Globe.  So we had lunch together and talked a bit before he finally set off down the road.  There is a possibility that we could see him at our next campsite about 30 miles down the road.  After that, it will take us several days to get through the Phoenix area, and he'll likely get far ahead of us.

An RV park designed to make you want to spend lots of time in the casino...

The casino RV park was little more than a parking lot, with a little landscaping at the end of each row.  The bathroom was the dirtiest that we had experienced in quite a while, but it was good to finally find a shower head that worked properly (most spray water everywhere but at you).  We didn't bother to go and explore the casino, having seen enough of them in the past.