After spending $150 to get 5 copies of my dissertation printed and sent off to my committee on Tuesday, I figured it was high time to take a vacation! So I'm in Phoenix for the next 5 days to hang out with my friend Bri, train, apply for jobs (we're both unemployed), and enjoy the sunny weather!
This morning Bri and I decided to head out on a 30-mile loop that had flummoxed Bri earlier in the week. Apparently navigating the streets of Phoenix on-bike is a bit difficult--tons of the roads don't go through, but then reappear miles later with the same name, making for some very complicated directions. Bri was pretty sure she could do the loop the second time around, so we hopped on the bikes (I'm using her boyfriend's sweet road bike while I'm here) and headed out.
We rode a few miles, made a couple turns, and then... we were lost. The road we were looking for was nowhere to be found, but we hadn't missed any turns. A mere 20 minutes into the ride and the Phoenix-streets had already gotten us. Bri used her awesome navigational skills to work out a new route to hopefully connect back up with where we should be and it magically worked. Mountain Drive saved us from speeding motorists on bike-unfriendly streets. But...
No sooner had we turned onto quiet and serene Mountain Drive than Bri asked me for the directions which were stowed in my jersey pocket. I reached back, and the directions are gone!!! That's right. I managed to lose the directions when we got lost even WITH the directions. The next several miles involved a lot of guesswork, mostly accurate, and Bri guided us to an awesome bike path close to the Phoenix Mountains (think Mount Tabor-esque) and then to a nice canal path. And then the path ended and the wandering began. We ended up on a major road that Bri recognized but that was so nasty to ride on we ended up on the sidewalk for a couple miles! Then some wandering on a nice residential road in the hills, and we magically got back to a place that Bri recognized and could navigate home from.
Of the rides where I've gotten lost, this was probably my most successful--we still got in close to 30 miles, we still saw great views of the city and mountains, and there were no close calls with cars or jerk drivers. In fact, the one stop sign that I started to go through before realizing the on-coming car was turning, pulled up behind me afterward, thanked me for moving onto the shoulder, and assured me it was fine that I'd gone through the stop sign. I guess these Phoenix people are friendly!
I'm now sporting my first Phoenix sunburn (just a bit on the face) and lounging on the couch, reading about how to write resumes rather than actually writing my own, and wondering when snack time will roll around. Oh, it just came: Bri just got out the dried pineapple! Score!!
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