8th of October - Globe to Safford

Garmin says: 125 km 4030 cal 1236 m ascent
When I started really late (It took for ever to figure out how to connect pictures to albums in the blog, when I was finally done, it was long past midnight.) I had not yet cured the worst out of my growth, which has the size of an XXL chicken egg. It hurt so much that I went into the first hardware store to get some foam to upholster me a bit. they didn't have any, so I went into a gas station and got diapers which worked better than nothing. The wind was still blowing with considerable force from the east straight into my face. I am getting really tired of this. Yesterday I lost my camera again at a rest stop and had to go back a bit uphill even but with tailwind that went like a charm.
Soon I entered in the San Carlos Apache Reservation where they had a big Casino and a very fancy Safeway like Basha supermarket. I got a Coffee and a sandwich and chatted with people outside. Nearly everybody asked me where I was going to.
I went back in the saddle again and struggled over the mountains. Again: too much traffic, heat, wind and pain in the butt. I stopped on the other side in the second supermarket of the reservation. Here it looked like I knew indian reservation Supermarket to look. Not everything had bilingual sign, but for that the people spoke to each other something which I took for Apache or whatever their language is called. about 60% of the shelves were empty and the choices were very limited, a bit like east German Supermarkets used to look.
Das waere doch mal was fuer Ostalgiker!
I asked the woman working the cash register about the difference between the two market and she told me: "We call them the Cs." I guess the Casino money doesn't get distributed evenly. I wanted to buy a yoghurt or something like that, but they had nothing I would have loved to eat, so I just bought fruit juices and went to the covered hwy rest areas some steps from there. I pushed me bike over 3 meters of greenery and sat down. there was a group of motorbikers (I have not seen a bicycle rolling since Phoenix.) from Westchestercounty, NY. A woman came over and we talked a bit. She thought we do the same thing as they have a support car as well for their tour of the southwest. One of the guys asked me how much my bike weights and that was when I saw that I had a flat. This happens always after I push my bike somewhere of the road, I just should stop doing this. Before stopping here I found on the side of the roed a piece of foam padding which I picked up and put on my saddle. But by now nothing seemed to help any longer and I ran out of ibuprofen as well. I could not go full speed because each pedal stroke nearly killed me. Finally I reached close to tears Pima where I got some ibuprofen. By now it was close to 6 o'clock and the sun had set behind the mountains and I had another 8 miles to go. I did not like to ride on a crowded highway without lights so I called Justin to Pick me up and I rode out of the saddle pretty fast until he met me.
Abends waren wir direkt neben dem Hotel in einem Riesen Restaurant/Bar/ Andenkenladen, wo ein Maedchen mich nach meinem Akzent fragte und mir erzaehlte, dass sie zuhause eine deutsche Gastschuelerin fuer ein Jahr beherbergen. Das Maedel kommt aus Berlin. Ich hab mir gedacht: Oh mein Gott, wie kann die das bloss aushalten und kein Wunder, dass die Deutschen ein verqueres Bild von den USA haben, wenn Austauschueler an merkwuerdige Orte wie diesen hier geschickt werden. Der durchschnittliche IQ hier schein ca 30 Punkte niedriger zu liegen, als in den Orten, an denen die Mehrheit der Leute wohnen. Man vergisst immer wieder wie leer es hier ist.