Sat - drive to Phoenix

Got up in the morning, to find a second car in my site's 2 car parking area and shortly met the folks who had parked there at 1am or so, having failed to find an empty site. They were pleasant folks and happy to hear they could have the site. Eric and Erin are from Philly and Eric mentioned that I seemed familiar. He did as well - we probably ran into each other at the Gunks before. I chatted with them as my tent dried of the morning dew, the morning being bright blue and sunny. Very nice. I went over to the Barker dam area and hopped on problems like Gunsmoke and Chollaj (?). Gunsmoke is 75 foot V2 traverse - never did get through this one section - eventually a fellow came by and did it, but he was a bit taller with a greater arm span. Also tried the Cholla problems but wouldn't commit to the rounded mantle top out with only a single pad, no spotters, and that being the crux - and it being about 15 feet up. Heh.

Calling it a day, morning, whatever, I decided to take it easy and head off, giving myself more than day's rest before heading up eventually to Flagstaff after going to Phoenix.

The drive to Phoenix was nice, with a few hightlights of which I've mentioned two already (via txt message) about the recumbant bicyclist and the grape shasta. Other highlights included a series of tiny litte hills I could go up and down in the car. Ah, if only I trusted this car's handling at higher speeds - it would have been cool to drive them at faster speeds, feeling the car losing more of its weight as it crested each hill! Still fun though.

I did have one daring experience on the trip. Feeling hungry I pulled over near Blythe (sp?) on the CA side of the border. The restaurant sign lied! There was no Subway I could find! Blocked of my desire for my 8th visit to Subway this trip, I , decided, though reluctantly, to try out .. Quizznos. An interesting experience, one I was glad to have if only to reinforce my appreciation for Subway. Oh, it was pretty good, richer than Subway, but .. a little too heavy for my taste. Subway is simpler in some ways and had a lot more veggies, something I was looking forward to after not having any greens since Wednesday night. Oh, how I miss those Jalapeno peppers!!

Spoke to some people on the phone while driving, there being pretty good cell service, along route 10, of which there was precious little near JT. I was also glad to see that I didn't get a headache, something I've gotten several times while driving long distances this trip. I think its mostly altitude, actually that's given me the headaches. Got one in Boulder, Vegas, Bishop.

Drove into Phoenix, my memory serving as my only map, kicking myself again for forgetting the AAA maps I picked up in NJ. Eventually found my way to Tempe, searching for the main drag. Kind of gave up when I found a Whole Foods store. Went in, tried some samples, and wound up buying a blueberry flavor of Cliff Bar that I've heard good thing about. I'll look foward to trying that out once I resume my trip to Flagstaff.

At 6:30, my friend Danielle got off work, and I found that I was only 5 minutes from her house. Met up with her and we soon went off to a nearby Italian restaurant, where I had pasta which I had been craving. Oh, and salad. Mmm. It was good to see Danielle again and we wound up walking down Mill St in downtown Tempe, a beautiful evening. Deciding to get to sleep early (a long day), we went back to the place she shares with two roommates, whom I met before in NYC.

And, ah, it was so nice, my first shower in a week and a half. So, so nice though I think Danielle wasn't so impressed with me bringing that fact up during dinner. Again and again. Slept on the couch, and had a good nights sleep, much less tossing and turning than I've experienced in my sleeping bag these last two weeks.

Woke up about 7:15 put my eyeballs in, and have been checking email and the like, a half cup of coffee in my fist. Another beautiful day. I've been rather blessed with good weather. Last week, So Cal and Arizona had a bit of heat wave but in JT and here, weather isn't supposed to top 80 or so.