Day 14 & 15. Rest and relaxation at the Historic Coronado Motor Hotel then back on the road for 34.8 miles

9/8/2014

I love the Historic Coronado Motor Hotel. It was the first Motel in Arizona. It grew slowly over the years and is rich with history. Some of this history is told right in their own museum. Now Papa Didos’ books have a home in that same museum. Our little crew had plans to take in the town but the exhaustion from the multiple days on the road was much more powerful. Or perhaps the Historic Coronado Motor Hotel was just that comfortable. We did a quick radio show a little past noon with Lisa Smith for Big Blend radio and then fell right back to sleep. A little later we hit the Jacuzzi for a bit then again fell back asleep.

I woke at four in the morning like I was jet lagged. We got everything ready had a quick bite at the Yuma Landing Restaurant then it was back on the road. I ran out of the city pretty quickly and found myself running along cotton fields. My road had me sandwiched between the Gila river and a canal for the majority of the day. I powered my way through half the day’s mileage and waited on a bridge by the canal. Within minutes of each other, a lady in a black mustang with orange racing stripes, and a farmer in a John Deere tractor offered me cold beverages. It is so nice to see humanity at it’s best. It make me remember why I decided to do this again.

While I waited for Crystal and my mom, I began to feel hungry. It turned to tingling in my body and then I began to get light headed. I did my best to hide from the sun. The bridge provided a tiny shadow and I found myself shrinking lower and lower to the ground as the sun crept higher and higher. They resuscitated me with some leftovers from breakfast and I was good to go. The rest of the way was a medium pace. I noticed the white puffs of cotton matching the white puffy clouds. Next to me dozens of carp swam in the canal. I definitely thought about jumping in but I wanted to reach my destination in Wellton. I needed rest because a 34 mile day was not going to be the hardest one of the week. I’m lucky I got a full day of recuperation.