John McCain can't remember how many homes he owns

Senator McCain from Arizona is a lot of things, including married to his second wife. (He was also not born in the USA. Some of you may know where he was born? Extra credit if you know it [without Googling it - I know yer online!] After all, the Demoncrats made such a big deal about his "birth certificate" or some such boring stuff back in 2008 that everyone knows the answer, right? "Not!", of course.)

Well, he was also the son of an admiral and felt like he had a lot to prove etc and most people know at least a little bit about his military service (you should look it up, really. Fascinating article in Rolling Stone when he was gunning for Pres.)

I can't remember much about his first wife (other than the fact that he was already dating his now 2nd wife when he asked his 1st wife for a divorce), but if it was important to this story I would look it up, trust me.

His second wife, however, is central to this story. She is an heiress; of what? A Budweiser distributorship; "one of the largest Anheuser-Busch beer distributors in the United States."
And what have we seen tens of thousands of on the side of the road in AZ/NM? Bud cans, Bud Light bottles, Bud/Bud Light Chelada drinks; with a great deal of broken glass in "the debris lane" as well, of course. Tens of thousands of them. The Budweiser heiress' husband can't remember how many homes they own - from distributing Bud - but their product is so littering the roads and highways that it seems like an absolute shame. Why doesn't Bud, or their distributors, do something to clean up their product's mess? Why don't they start some kind of program, rather than waiting till the govt makes them do it (which corporations and industries hate, as we all know)? Why doesn't "our" govt MAKE them clean it up? Why doesn't "our" govt tax them a tiny amount - and then use those proceeds to pay, say, unemployed people, to pick them up? And here's a crazy thought - recycle them?! Clearly there is enough money being made, even just in distributing the Bud products to keep the husbands of the children of the distributorship's founder in so much wealth that they can't even keep track of it.

But, as we all know, the American govt really isn't in the business of representing the American people. Just look at the recent Senate action on gun safety, where our own WI Senator Ron "30 clip" Johnson (for whom the NRA spent $1.89 million to help get him elected in 2010, on top of RonJohn's own/his wife's brother's corporation's $10 million) helped shoot down the "background check" legislation that 90% of Americans and 81% of Wisconsinites supported (the vote was 54 to 46 in favor - but because of "the new Republican normal" behavior - you need a super-majority of 60 votes to get anything passed). If that is NOT supporting the American people, being responsive to their wishes, I don't know what is. Instead, as usual, the American govt supports corporations and industries, and their lobbying arms - like the NRA (even though many NRA members supported this particular legislation.) American corporatocracy, at its finest.

Reading about the history of this area, where the American govt has been super supporters of the ranchers and miners from the moment we were ripping this land from the Apaches, it seems to fit right in.

The long and short of it is that the rich and powerful will continue to bask in the glow of fabulous wealth and govt support; while the Senate, the Supreme Court, and the police/military is primarily focused on protecting the wealthy and corporate interests. Exxon and BP (and Shell, and...) will spill oil in pristine waters again, the Keystone XL pipeline will likely be built - and there will both be spills of bitumen (Which is not actually "oil", as narrowly defined by current American law. So the corporations profiting off the pipeline won't be liable for the inevitable clean ups; as already witnessed in Arkansas. It's not oil! [A sweet little loophole bought by the "oil" industry lobby; and sold by "our" Congress]) and more millions of dollars for the Koch brothers, who are also heirs of great fortune.

So, I'm sorry to say it, but the Bud bottles and cans littering the highways and byways of John McCain's home state (and neighboring NM) are just going to continue to pile up - and there's not a damn thing you or I can do about it.

The Gila Monster

Heidi and I did a little race reconnaissance this week for the Tour of the Gila.
And so far our first impressions are
1) We're glad we're not Pro/1 Men, after going DOWN some of the pitches that only the Pro/1 Men do (out to the Gila Cliff Dwellings, on "The Gila Monster" stage). The climbing out there (here!) is tough. But some of those downhill pitches might very well be terrifying to race.
2) It is stunningly beautiful (esp when out of town, when not by the open pit copper mines, etc)
3) They like to drink and drive in NM, like they do in WI. Only instead of there being a bar in every little town where you go drink, then drive home, here they drink WHILE they drive. And then they throw the empties out the truck window. The same. But different.
4) There is an ammo shortage at the local stores
5) The locals are hoarding ammo; because they need it to shoot up all the road signs and dioramas at the scenic overlooks
6) The team car must have had a mechanical, because they never caught up to us, even on the climbs.

Well, that's it for now.
Carry on!

Greg "12 mph" Ferguson

Feelin' small, real small

I'll tell ya, starin' out at the inconcievably large super volcano caldera before me today, I couldn't help but feel small, real small.
These two here blew 28 million years ago - the blink of an eye, in geologic time terms.
So, in honor of the next super volcano which is sure to blow, some time, let me just say "I love y'all". Even the people that I disagree with, that disagree with me, that hate me - because I'm a cyclist "in their way" while they're out motoring - before they even know how cantankerous I actually am, that includes you, too. In fact, I'd have to think pretty hard to come up with someone to exclude. Well, maybe the spammers in Russia who keep posting comments on this blog, trying to trick people into clicking on their link - feel free to exclude yourself from "the love".

Be nice to people, even strangers, even them damn foreigners, even non-human animals - what matters in the end is not how many houses you have, how many Cayman Islands tax free accounts you have. What matters is treating people and the land with respect.
Leave "your campsite" cleaner than you found it.
And lend a hand to those in need, when and how you can.

Thanks.
Thanks.
Peace.

Natural selection

One of the nice things about ski touring to places like the Maine Huts or the 10th Mtn Division Huts is that there is a sort of self-selection of the people you meet way out there. And the same is true of Gila Hot Springs. It is out at the end of a long dead end road, so the people who you meet there must REALLY want to be there.
We had a great time with Jane and Dean at Wilderness Lodge B+B, the Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument, Geronimo birthplace - and with the volunteer rangers at the monument; and the other guests at the Wilderness Lodge; from Myron and Beck, to Mark and Marian, to the nice other couple from MN who's names I can't recall after that 2,000' climb out of the super volcano caldera. Memory full!
(It took us an hour, after the "second breakfast" of granola and milk that Dean generously gave us.)
Anyway, if you are looking for a beautiful, quiet place to go and relax or explore, Gila Hot Springs could be the place for you!

If you want to meet some nice people and see some quiet, beautiful places - don't take the freeway, take the hard way. Even if yer not a botanist, expect to see some natural selection way out there.

Another Favourite Road!

The road running between Silver City and Gila Hot Springs is one of the best roads we've rode so far: little traffic, awesome scenery, great downhills, and hard uphills. I don't like uphills, but I'm proud to say we rode up 2000 ft in 5.5 miles (avg grade 7%, plenty of road sustained around 9%). We even had the option to take a ride up in our B&B host's pick-up, but with fresh legs after a good day of rest, we chose to take the challenge. And I'm so glad we did!!

The Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument

Is awesome
Beautiful sunny day, anthropology, archaeology, and nice people.

I'd highly recommend it; and the surrounding Wilderness area. Look like awesome places to backpack, etc.

Next time.

It's a cultural thing

Apparently, according to a local "rural New Mexican", the whole "there's 100,000 bottles of beer on the road" thing might be because of the ammunition shortage (from Obama getting elected, Obama getting re-elected, the US Armed Forces buying 1 billion rounds per year, what with all of our ongoing wars - and training for our next invasion "things")
So instead of shooting (tagging) all the signs along the highways and byways - people (men only?) are throwing their empty beer bottles at the signs - leaving modern-day middens underneath, beside, and in "the debris lane" near, road signs.
"It's a cultural thing"

Well, we figured we'd be getting some culture while we biked across the American Southwest - we just didn't figure we'd be getting so much of it in our tires.

My faith in the American people

(And the Germans, the French, the Canadians, and the Scottish people we've met on this trip)

Is getting stronger.
Good people. Caring. Generous. Curious.

But it is also making the contrast between "the people" and "their" government more stark.

Take background checks for gun purchases.
"Polls have shown as much as 90 percent of the American public supports universal background checks. But the Senate on Wednesday shot down a measure that would have required such checks for guns purchased at gun shows or on the Internet."

The American govt no longer even pretends to represent "the people" - they clearly represent (and fear, and are dependent on for campaign cash/tv ads) lobbying groups which represent business interests. And especially Senators like Ron Johnson, from our "home state" of WI.
Sad.

http://m.host.madison.com/ct/news/local/writers/steven_elbow/infuriated-constituents-take-aim-at-ron-johnson-on-his-facebook/article_dcd84967-f092-5f24-bd05-c1d88d672a90.html

Wow. What a beautiful ride

We rode from Silver City, Nuevo Meh he Co, today, out to Gila Hot Springs. Hard, hilly; but oh so beautiful.
Lots of pitches at and over 10%. And then we passed the KOM for the Tour of the Gila. Crazy. Plus we found out from our host Jane that (only) the Pro Men come all the way down to the Gila Cliff Dwellings, before turning around and heading back out. Crazy steep, twisty descents. She said it is scary to watch, there are hundreds of them, they jump the cattleguards, and she keeps expecting to see piles of bodies after a crash - but she never has.
I sure hope those guys get to look around a little bit - the views are awesome!

Thanks to Aldo Leopold and New Mexico Senator Clinton P Anderson for getting the 1964 Wilderness Act passed and the first Wilderness area designation. This place is STILL beautiful.

Highway Historical Markers

As we travel slowly across this country I am continually struck by how there was a three pronged attack, with the army, evangelical religions, and business.
And after the "early settlers" came, with their cows and their Christianity, the army moved in to quell the unrest of those whose land was being taken, by us. The church was used to rationalize the "conversion of the heathen", and once valuable grazing land or minerals were found the "strike it rich!" crowd of businessmen moved in. The Bible and the six shooter.

After all the theft of ancestral lands, murder and suffering of the people who were here when the Europeans arrived, the only info on the highway Historical Markers are the names and dates of individual European-Americans who were killed by the residents - and the retribution brought on them by the "law and order" crowd that finished off the humans that were here when we arrived. In one case I counted 17 bullet holes in the sign. I can certainly imagine who might be so inclined to fill that sucker full of lead, no doubt.

This place (Silver City, NM in this case) is beautiful, even with the roads, the trucks, the overhead electrical power lines, the dammed rivers, the mines, tailings, tailing ponds and their toxic runoff, etc. I keep trying to imagine how much more beautiful, quiet, and peaceful it would have been here before the mountain removal open pit copper mines (3 in the last day and a half of riding) - and the drinking and (historical, anyway) prostitutes. No wonder the people that lived here when whitey showed up eventually starting fighting back, even though they were massively out weaponed. You really can't blame them, at all.

Red-blooded Americans love movies like "Red Dawn" and "Independence Day", when some invading foreign horde comes to our country/world and tries to take over, to take our natural resources. "They're like grasshoppers!" bellows the fictional American President in "Independence Day". But, in all reality, WE are the grasshoppers, consuming all resources in our way, and then moving on to other shores, to other weaker nations where we (OUR corporations) can control the extraction of their resources, whether it is copper in Chile, bananas in Guatemala, or oil in Iraq. And we usually call those people "children", "heathen", "uncivilized" or some other such condescending words to help justify our very un-Jesus-like behavior.

And you can bet that we will phrase it all as some sort of Crusade, some sort "Freedom!" or "democracy" march - to help us rationalize it, to justify our actions - to ourselves anyway. Somehow I don't think "the natives" ever really buy our snake oil. But we sure do.

But let's call a spade a spade - we want what you have, and we're gonna take it. We've got better weapons, and more rationalizations and justifications (from God, even) than you can shake a stick at.

Special treat for the birthday boy!

We found a great way to celebrate Greg's birthday. Today we will ride our bikes without bags to the Gila Hot Springs and stay two nights at a B&B, http://www.gilahot.com/

Our friend Don is renting a car today to do some site seeing and has offered to deliver our bags for us to the B&B. So we get a special treat, to ride our bikes unloaded! Tomorrow we'll bike (again without baggage) to the Gila Cliff Dwellings for some site seeing. Sat. we'll get back to the regular routine, and start biking east again, with loaded bikes.

We might not have cell phone reception or wifi for the next few days, so the blog may be quiet for a few days.

Tour of the Gila

We are 2 weeks too early for the Tour of the Gila, but we are enjoying our own version with 50 lbs of gear. Maybe we could add a category to age group racing, Master's 45-50, self-supported touring? I think we may have come in first (and last) today.

Too windy in Silver City for tenting

Tonight's lodging is a classic:

Snakes and ladders

My one regret from when we visited the ruins at Besh Ba Gowah was that I didn't read the brochure till we were lying down in our sleeping bags that night. Apparently you can climb the ladders up to the upper floors and roof! Dang!

And then, that day, we finally saw our first live snake (we had seen lots of crispy motorist-kill snakes, and some huge rattlesnake skins in the ice cream shop at Top of the World Trading Post). But then there s/he was, on the road, near the fog line. It looked whole? And when we talked to Don later, who was just behind us, he confirmed it had slithered off the road when he passed it. A long, thin, quite light colored snake - I assume on the sand it was well camouflaged.

Then, several miles later, right at one of those times when you have a cross wind, and you really wish you were echeloned, but a truck is coming up behind you - and a car is coming the other way? That's when that second live snake (same kind as the one we had seen earlier that day) we've seen in 1,800 miles of biking came scurrying across the road, off the hot asphalt s/he was warming him/herself on - and headed right for my left foot! A snake! Ooooh, a snake!
(Badger badger badger badger...)
I start yelling; but Heidi can't hear me because of the 18 wheeler approaching us from behind, the snake "corrects" its direction of travel so I don't run over it..a sigh of relief.

Then "phmrichmmmsnfph!"

I think 9 of the wheels on that truck must have hit that big beautiful snake. It made me sad. Maybe I should have "not" reacted, maybe run it over with one little bike tire, and it would have gotten off the road, a little injured - before the truck got to its 10-20? (Location, good buddy.)
I tried to console myself with "at least it was quick."
But man, there are a lot of cool - but very dead - animals on the highways of America. Just another of the "unseen" costs of our car culture.

Drinking games

I did some things in college that I'm not proud of, like a lot of people. Luckily there were no "smart" phones (uh, cell phones?!) or Facebook back then. And, of course, I had some friends who went one step beyond the stupid stuff that I did. They did things that even back then I didn't consider very "smart". For instance, some guys I knew would sometimes, if the moon and blood alcohol level were just right, go down to the basement "bar" and drink bottles of beer - then throw them against the inside stone wall of the house. Smash! With broken glass flying pert near everywhere. I'm proud to say that I never took part in this particular sophomoric ritual (even though there were, uh, several others I might be "accused" of...)
I was reminded of those "good old days" today, when we were biking from Safford, AZ, to Lordsburg, NM.
Now, I know for many Americans "college" is a time to let loose, to experiment, to try pot in such a way that you can make something up later when you run for political office, to eventually grow up, and "get serious".
Not everyone in America goes to college, of course; but I'll bet there is a similar period of experimentation, of learning and of just plain "Yeeeehhaaahhhhh!"
And it occurred to me today that, perhaps, those fine young cannibals also play that game, the one the wild boys used to call "drink and throw". Only instead of using the inside wall of the house they live in - they combine it with highway driving and road signs. Now don't get me wrong - there is a plethora of broken glass ALL over the highways of America, and, in particular, southern AZ and NM. Ooohh! The blue Corona bottles! So pretty!
But, I noticed the pattern today that at the flashing "Road construction ahead" sign and the "Welcome to New Mexico" sign (the one with lots of bullet holes in it and "You are on Indian land!" bumper stickers) - there was an EXTRA deep pile of beer bottles; some pristine, some slightly broken, and some smashed to smithereens like a rotten pumpkin after Halloween.

So after 76 miles of heat, climbing, cross winds, construction, blowing dust and sand - my request, fellas?
(Assuming that the people driving Highway 70 and chucking the thousands of beer bottles out the window are guys. [Can you say "recycling"? Nope.])

Throw harder!

Aim for the cacti!
C'mon! You can do it!
I mean, when the Little League coach didn't put you in during the big game but instead left you riding the pine so much that yer Mom started joking she was gonna buy stock in tweezer companies? Prove that damn coach wrong!
Really chuck it!
Get that damn beer bottle out beyond "the debris lane"!

Please?

We made it!

Windy means windy. We knew it was going to be a 76 mile day, and that is what we got, but it was a lot tougher than I was expecting. Maybe its because its the day after the rest day, or the dead straight road, or the persistent side wind, or the elevation gained, but it was a hard ride today.
I think we might treat ourselves to a cabin at the KOA if they have them.
H

We are entering another state!

Traffic camera

Saw a guy setting up a traffic camera in (Superior) Arizona, and so naturally I walked over and talked to him.
He said it was for speeding tickets, as you entered town. If you are going 11 mph over the speed limit you get a ticket in the mail. He's surprised more communities don't do it.
And remember, this is libertarian Arizona people.
Can you imagine such a thing in Wisconsin?
Making people slow down, making money from those who don't, and making it safer for pedestrians and cyclists.

I don't see WI going for it, where they are opposed to open road tolling and check points for drunk drivers - even though there is a need for revenue for the roads from users and WI is #1 in drunk driving.
Moving "Forward"?
I don't think so.

http://m.host.madison.com/traffic/traffic-police-set-up-for-pedestrian-safety-speeders/article_0a55d46c-a5f8-11e2-853a-001a4bcf887a.html

We've talked to basically 3 people in Safford, AZ, Part Deux

And two of them were crabby...

The first was a crotchety old codger giving the bike shop owner that had been helping us out a difficult time ("I don't need no gears! I don't need no brakes - just a coaster brake!" And you know what? I can totally respect that. I want a bike like that too; like my grandparents had at the cottage. I'm just not gonna do it the way the old 5th generation Arizonan Marine was doin' it.)
(5th generation? Each generation is about 20 years, so 100 years. How long has AZ been a united State? How did the US acquire AZ? Casey Stengel.)

The second one was a woman who stopped at our table outside "A Step Back in Time", where we were supporting the local economy by eating lunch (which became "linner" by the time our sandwiches came out; and we stopped talking with Marie.)

It really was a fascinating conversation, and I truly enjoyed it - even though, when you leech the substance out of the ore of our conversation, we disagreed fundamentally on many things.
For instance, she gleefully said
- they busted the union (at the mine)
- people were opposed to the union b/c they spent money helping Planned Parenthood - and were forced to pay union dues. Forced. Some of the dues went to things they did not support.
- the tailings pond collapsed at the one mine here in town, across the valley, but they (the mine "corporate person") said it's "no problem", "there's nothing in those copper leeching ponds stronger than Coke." (How about all the farmers, the cows, the agriculture in the Gila River valley, downstream from the broken tailings pond? How about the reservoir downstream, backed up against the Coolidge Dam - that all the whiteys boat, fish and swim on/in/at? And, ironically, there is a cancer fundraiser here in town next week...)
She complained strongly about one woman, on welfare, who had it "really good". "I didn't have health care!" (Heidi pointed out, after Marie left, that she could have instead focused on why she did not have health care; not why the welfare recipient did have some medical care. The theme seemed to be "take away from others", rather than "take action to get more for what I value".)
She hated the fact that the federal govt was going to spend some money ($1 million) on some stupid endangered red squirrel on Mt Graham. She was proud of the fact that she stopped it. And part of what had pissed her off so much was that "the (state?) teacher of the year" in the next county was laid off due to lack of (federal grant?) funds. When I asked her if the teacher got funded; after her massive efforts to de-fund the endangered species act spending? She didn't know. "Take away from others; don't add to what you value." I didn't get around to mentioning all the road/motorist kill songbirds, mammals, snakes and lizards we see - every day.
Etc.

Each time I would let her finish, which would take at least 5 minutes, typically; and then I would offer a counter example.
Like Americans who did NOT support the invasion of Iraq? (Part Deux) Those Americans who still have to pay taxes to pay for it? The fact that the President and his party's majority of both houses in Congress gave huge tax breaks to the wealthy - and put the invasion on the credit card? (She had complained about the debt, of course. I failed to whip out my "tax cut and spend" label for her undeclared favored party. Next time!) The amount each American owes for that invasion is way more than the amount union members at the mine were spending on women's medical care providers like Planned Parenthood (3% of which goes towards abortions - the "sticking/take advantage" of part; or the amount each American owes for the stupid, lazy "welfare queen" [to quote Ronald Reagan's term for riling up the "conservatives", to increase hatred against the poor, the sick, the hungry - some of whom are certainly lazy, stupid, and who knows, worse?]
How about the CEO who drives the company into the ground - but gets a $10 million severance?
How about the corporation "who" pays no federal income tax, on billions in profits, even if they are from govt/taxpayer supported contracts? And likely gets bail outs on top of that?
Again, way more money than the lazy, stupid welfare recipient she was stuck on.

Looks like Fox News Corporation's work here is done. And, like I said before - its motto should be updated from "Fair and Balanced" to Scott Walker's declared tactic - "Divide and Conquer". Fox and company are making Americans hate each other; and getting many of them to focus on all the little negative things in America - rather than growing our country. And that's sad. We could really do so much better. Too bad Reagan got rid of The Fairness Doctrine (Casey Stengel).

I told her, in the end, that there are people and "corporate people" in this country who would prefer that we would fight with each other, that we Americans would be divided, that we would be focused on the 1% of Americans that are "taking advantage" of welfare (which some surely are) - instead of the other 1% that are "taking advantage" of Congress, buying favorable legislation and tax laws - AND costing us WAY more than the single mother on welfare who "has medical care". ("And I didn't!")

Heidi said she liked the way I "argued with Marie, without arguing." I considered that "a win." And I "liked" Marie. I tried to keep it respectful, and interesting. I tried to draw Marie out; to show Heidi what influential Arizonans are like, what they think, how they feel, who they hate, "who" (in this case it was a massive mining corporation) they respect.

The long and short of it was that it felt like "a step back in time" for me, to about 1950, talking to her. And I like history, and archaeological ruins...

All these people driving up to check their mail boxes at the RV park

Must think "He's weird."
I just got back from biking to town to go to the post office, to a bike shop, to eat lunch, and to buy groceries.
And now I'm re-wrapping my handlebar tape and lubing my bike chain; near their USPS mailboxes.
Weird.
Fer sure.

We've talked to basically 3 people in Safford, Arizona, today

And two of them were crotchety, crabby, complaining old white people.

It's so beautiful here, even from the IGA parking lot.
I don't get it?

(More details to follow, maybe later today, after a nap. So I'm not crabby.)

Tourist brochure

From the Pima/Thatcher/Safford area.

World's largest publicly traded copper company Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. (copper, gold, and molybdenum) "We move 500,000 tons of rock each day by mammoth equipment."

Or

OHV 2,000 acre area

Or

Go birding!

Diversity, fer sure.

Enjoying a relaxing day off

In Safford, AZ

Day off latte

Smoothie
And panini

And new Dutch-colored shirt for Heidi!

The professional drivers

We rode 80 miles yesterday
And I thought
More than once
That the truckers were attentive, observant, forward thinking, and courteous.
In short, professional.

And I really appreciated that.
They do push a lot of wind our way; but they always moved over, unless oncoming traffic (that didn't move over on their side) prevented it. They gave warning taps on the horn when they were coming and could tell they were not going to be able to give us extra room.

Thanks.
Thanks for paying attention to driving, while driving. And thanks for being courteous and safe.
Awesome.

I think I just saw Mr Creosote!

We were starving, hot, dry and dusty. And we had been sold, big time, on "Taylor Freeze" in Pima, two towns before our destination - after a dozen plus of their billboards advertising ice cream, milk shakes, and then the one with "banana split" sealed the deal - except, in fine print, I then saw "Closed on Sundays" - on that last of 20 signs advertising the joint. Nooooooo!!!!!!!
For the love of all things cold, wet and sweet!

So we stopped in ... at Denny's; the next thing that we saw, that was open (the whole town of Thatcher is closed on Sundays, it seems; after we passed the Church of Latter Day Saints...maybe it made sense?)

And there he was. Mr. Creosote. I am still amazed that the little Denny's wooden chair was able to hold him.

Would you like a mint? It's wafer thin!

Crazy to see snow today

Near Safford, AZ. But I guess Mt Graham is pretty high?!

Getting some culture

From the 1150 - 1450 period

Don's off!

Before us, as usual...

Heidi! It's time to start packing in earnest; we've got a long way to go today!