Thank you Steve Atkins for joining me on a great 2 day bervet adventure. Plenty of yellow brittle bush, yellow palo verde trees, orange globe mallow and more flowering plants. With us wearing yellow jerseys, we fit right in! We started at 4am on this brevet pre-ride, to beat the heat as this would be a day of mid-nineties in Phx area. Even then, the sun hinted at what lay ahead as we flew around the south side of South Mtn then past the first control, where thanks to Steve's pre-planning we discovered that the low water crossing of the Salt River would be closed due to water releases from dams upstream. So Steve and I kept going north on 51st Ave to Broadway. As we crossed the Salt River, just before Broadway we had a good view of the sunrise. Oh that Broadway dairy farm odor was there in full scent! We finally got past those farms and over to Avondale where we headed south to our first Circle K water stop. We got our water & snacks and while standing outside enjoying a cool morning, the workers ushered everyone out of the store! They had to reboot their computer systems and she thought it would take 15 minutes, so everyone had to leave! Never seen that before. On to the first Gila River crossing, the first of 3 times. The Salt and Gila join here to make the Gila, just east of PIR racetrack. Indian Springs Rd was wonderful and no traffic with new pavement on west end and views of Estrella Mtn Regional Park. Then the little climb up to Estrella Mtn Ranch and so many flowering plants along the road. At mile 50 we had the 2nd Gila River crossing. This one is always a bit tricky as it can be heavy traffic and not much of a shoulder. Then onto the brand new pavement of Beloat roads and the farm fields as we head to Buckeye and control #2, Circle K #2. While Steve got his breakfast sandwich I went next door to check-out Sheep Camp restaurant! Walking over there I encountered about 10 people that had great comments about the food. I will come back later to visit this place of about 15 tables that I know has existed for years. Now for the first of 2 long stretch without services, from mile 58 to 105! Always a treat to ride over the Gillespie Dam bridge and our 3rd and last Gila River crossing. They were working to the north in the Gila river looking like they were adding fill material to reduce the flow of water! Then continued south to Gila Bend. We entered town on Watermelon Rd and 315th Ave which wer new to me and much better surface than staying on Old US 80 into town. My Wahoo GPS showed a low of 43F on our morning ride and in Gila Bend it showed it read 91F. I believe that 91F is about 8 F too high due to sun warming. We had wonderful Big Macs and McFlurrys in McD's along with an unexpected apple fritter to carry away. Thankfully Steve recalled to purchase an extra water bottle at McDs for the next long section of a 20 mile climb and 23 mile descent over to Maricopa. We pedalled on at 1030 for what amounted to a 2 hour climb/descent to Maricopa. In Maricopa we restocked and cooled a bit at the Circle K. By this time we were in the full heat of the day! The 25 miles to Casa Grande was on mostly good road, but busy. As was the case earlier, I was stronger than Steve in this part. Along here we encountered our highest temps of 106F, which was probably more like 98F really. And another Circle K stop. Finally the temps cooled a bit to 90. I wanted us to get to Florence before dark so we pushed onward. That was another hard section to Florence. We arrived at Sonic and I sent a pic of me to the family. My step son said I looked exhausted! I was. So much heat. I had to wait 10 minutes for my coney dog and tater tots to arrive. Finally some food. By this time the sun was just about to set. We started the trek to home! 50 more miles. Temps were back to the low 80s and once we turned of the not-so-good shoulder of AZ 79 and onto AZ Farms Rd. The west end of AZ Farms Rd is brand new and we flew through that section at 20mph, of course aided by a descending elevation! Attaway Rd was a bit holey! Which reminds me that somewhere along the route Steve pointed out that lost a tail light somewhere, much earlier in the ride. One last Circle K stop at mile 225 of Bella Vista/Hunt Hwy. Then we alternated pulls to home. Great day of cool and hot cycling surrounded by the beauty of a desert in flower!