Benson to Douglas, AZ
Daily Route
Daily Elevation
Ah…it is wonderful waking up in a hotel room even if we are sharing it with two other people (Mel and Bill). Mel’s alarm went off at 6:30 as planned. It is a bit early, but with four of us sharing a bathroom, we had to ensure there was time for everyone to cycle through. The plan is to start the ride today at 8:30 AM since we have to ride over 70 miles today and we want to have time to check out Tombstone, Arizona. Just after 8:30 AM we were ready to ride.
 |  Getting ready to ride |
When we left, the temperature was around 40 degrees. The route started out with a downhill, during which my hands were freezing. I knew there was a climb coming up and I actually looking forward to it to help me warm up. Soon enough it came and I was plenty warm. The first stop today is just 8.5 miles into the ride at the Dollar General in St. David, AZ. This stop is really just to get everyone back together and make sure everyone is doing OK. After the quick stop, is was then 16 miles to Tombstone.
 |  Tombstone is on top of that hill |
Arriving Tombstone, which by the way is on the top of a hill (of course), the first thing we came to was the Tombstone Boothill Cemetery. We didn’t really have to time to go inside, but we were able to sneak a peak through the fence.
Tombstone Boothill Graveyard
Next was a stop at the Tombstone Brewery for a quick flight. This is were Patrick met us.
 |  Brewery break |
After leaving the brewery we road by the historic courthouse and then down the historic main drag of this very touristy town. We all felt like a bunch of cowboys riding though town on our steel/aluminum/carbon fiber steeds.
 Famous Tombstone courthouse |  Site of the OK Corral shootout...not at the corral |
On the way out of town we saw a couple of wild boars. This is an interesting area.
Can you spot the boars?
The next place for us to fill up our water bottles wasn’t for over 30 miles, so Patrick set up an impromptu rest area on the side of the road about 14 miles out of Tombstone.
Highway side rest stop
This was perfect and left us under 20 miles to get to McNeal, AZ where there is the McNeal Mercantile, our last stop before making it to the Hidden Treasure RV park in Douglas, AZ 20 windy miles later.
A long view of the group
 Intersting merchantile |  Few more miles to go |
The RV park is cute, but there is no bathroom facility, so the morning should be interesting with 8 of us sharing the bathroom in the RV. I guess we will deal with that tomorrow. The goal of dinner tonight is to clean out the fridge and eat leftovers. We did a pretty good job, but there is still a lot more to get through so we can fit stuff in the fridge.
Everyone seems pretty exhausted tonight. This is understandable since it was a longish day at 74 miles with some pretty good climbing, and the last 20 miles had a pretty good crosswind. Luckily tomorrow we only have 57 miles, but the next day is over 90 and I think people are starting to worry about that now. Just one day at a time and one pedal revolution at a time. We will make it.
Everyone seems pretty exhausted tonight. This is understandable since it was a longish day at 74 miles with some pretty good climbing, and the last 20 miles had a pretty good crosswind. Luckily tomorrow we only have 57 miles, but the next day is over 90 and I think people are starting to worry about that now. Just one day at a time and one pedal revolution at a time. We will make it.
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