Day 7: Friday 03/11/16, Gila Bend, AZ to Casa Grande, AZ

Day 7 distance:  82 miles

Total miles:  408.5 miles

Elevation Gain:  1379 feet

Map of today's ride:

Today's ride of 82 miles from Gila Bend to Casa Grande was the longest of the last 7 days. The day was overcast for the most part with intermittent periods of sunshine, and although the day started cool, by the time we arrived in Casa Grande the temperature had reached the mid 80's. I was drinking a water bottle every 10 miles for the final 50 miles and still became slightly dehydrated. The first 20 miles of the ride today was up a slight but steady 0.4 - 1.7% grade. Not very steep, but the grade and wind did impact my speed by about 3-4 mph. Shortly before arriving at our motel tonight, the wind got very strong as can be seen in one of the following pictures. All in all, I guess the final analysis would be that this was a typical day of bicycling!

Today's ride took us through the natural desert to beautiful looking agricultural crops on an irrigated desert. We also passed several extremely large cattle and dairy operations. In between the desert and agricultural area, we passed through the city of Maricopa, Arizona, the 18th largest city in Arizona with a population just under 50,000. The area is famous because in the 1950's, John Wayne owned a 50,000 acre ranch close to it, and at one point had a feedlot that supported up to 85,000 head of beef.

The day through pictures:

A typical desert scene for the first 30 miles today.

The large sand hill in the background with the two black rectangles on it is actually one of several landfills along AZ-238 that is operated by cities in the Phoenix area.

This picture was taken along highway SR-347 just south of Maricopa, Arizona. Note the large overhead sprinkler in the beautiful green alfalfa field.

 

 

I stopped this individual along SR-347 and chatted with him for a few minutes. I thought he might be a fine addition to Bubba's coasters until I found out he was a local just out for a ride. :)

Arizona highway SR-347 was very nice to ride because of a very wide shoulder, and for the most part, it was very smooth.

Perhaps a business opportunity at the corner of SR-347 and AZ-84E.

This dairy along AZ-84E is simply amazing in size. The cattle continued for over 2 miles and I believe these Holsteins ranged in age from milking cow to heifers. They were in separate fenced areas by age. It would be interesting to know the number of the gallons of milk produced each day from this operation.

I don't know how far it was to the back of the pens, but like stated in the preceding picture, this continued for over two miles!

I chatted with these two young ladies on their beautiful horses for a short time. I didn't get their names but the one on the Palomino said she lived a short distance away and performs in rodeos.  I should have taken more time to learn more about them. At least I should have taken enough time to allow the dust raised by the horses to settle before I snapped the picture!

 

This picture was taken on the south side of Casa Grande about 3 miles from the motel we are staying the night. It got very windy and was still windy this evening. We all are hoping the wind settles down before we ride tomorrow to Catalina State Park in Tucson.

The motel we are staying at tonight was not ready for us, so many coasters had to wait a long time for their rooms. Not sure what Eddo in the front chair did with his clothes, but he sure did look comfortable in the heat!

Tomorrow's ride to Catalina State Park is 62 miles long. We are all hoping that the wind will not be in our face like it was last year!





LINK to Day 7 of my 2015 C2C blog.