We started off another day in Arizona with a beautiful sunrise over the church and the rock formations to the east of us. From there, we hopped on our bikes and began our 75 mile ride to Tuba City, the next major town we would enter on our ride. For the first 20 miles or so, we traveled along a rode that followed the base of a mesa and gradually ascended out to a more flat plains area. Along the way, there were some amazing rock formations to look at to keep us occupied as the miles passed by. Once we climbed away from the mesa, we began to encounter more of a desert environment, with plenty of miles of nothing but sand, shrubs and rock. However, we were especially disappointed to find that were no cacti or coyotes around, but we managed to settle for more large escarpments of sandstone.
After another delicious meal of finely ground peanuts and fruit preserves spread over loaves of great value bread around mile 40, we started to encounter a great deal of descent as we entered the Tuba City area and had a fairly pleasant ride all the way to our destination, or at least to the Sonic just outside of our final endpoint. Unlike those who had sprinted in the morning, our group arrived just in time for happy hour and enjoyed half-price slushes and limeades. After savoring our delicious treat, we headed on to our host site, the First Assembly of God Church of Tuba City, where we were given a place to stay and even had the home of the pastor, Hal and Peggy, open up to us so that we could shower. We also had a bike clinic in the evening, where we reminded kids once more of the importance of wearing a helmet and keeping your tires inflated properly. We had the opportunity to chat with some of the local kids and parents about our trip and to just have a good time hanging out and learning biking hand signals. All in all, the day was quite enjoyable, but once again we find ourselves ready for an early bedtime, excited about our ride to the Grand Canyon in the morning. So, with full stomachs and pleasant memories, we say goodbye to another day on Bike and Build.



- Renee Wheelock and Daniel Thomas