Long time to revisit this old friend of a route! RUSA shows my last visit to this route was in 2015, 10 years! Amazing. Well the road is much improved, especially from Hillside, mile 71.1 down to Kirkland, mile 87. That used to be full of the cracks and cracks that were depressions. Now a relatively new seal coat exists that has smoothed most of those out. The seal coat is showing a bit of age yet still a vast improvement. Thanks to Alex for joining me on this route, his first ride of The Heart. Thanks to Mike for urging me that the Vegas Hwy was not as bad as I imagined it was. Turns out about 5/8 of the Vegas section has a wide shoulder and was not too bad. Still a mirror and/or radar to see behind is very helpful. We got started at 5:42am ( again RWGPS is 1 hr off), after a sausage egg/cheese breakfast croissant from the c-store start. Of course it would have been better to start closer to sunrise (5:20)to take in all the low sun angle beaty of the desert. Even that initial section of AZ-71 from Congress to Vegas Hwy was improved with a relatively new seal coat ( reduced the effect of the bumps). Always so beautiful to see the Joshua trees on the Vegas Hwy. Stunning. Then the climb out of Santa Maria river valley and the rollers over to the 4 mile climb into Bagdad. very low count of cars on this section after Vegas Hwy. Refilled water at Bagdad, drank a 32 ounce powerade, should have bought 2 of them. Then off we go. I needed that break. As always the scenery up to Hillside was gorgeous. I took my time since this is still in the recovery phase of my tooth extraction and bone graft.. This meant a slow steady grind to the top. The palo verde were blooming, creasote blooming, prickly pear blooming, and saguaro bloom. A smorgasboard for the senses. With the new smoother pavement on the descent, we made a pretty quick run to Kirkland. Yet I knew I was starting to struggle and was rationing water to make it to Wilhoit. I had not checked if they were open this Memorial Day, so I has hedging my bets a bit. That climb to Wilhoit was tough and slow and hot. They were open and I got ice cream bar, chocolate milk, v8, and refilled water. After Alex and I sat in under the shade tree at the picnic table, we started off on that final leg knowing that we would have a challenge with the headwind climbing from Kirkland Jcn over the 3 steps of climbs into Peeples Valley. But we pushed on. Then the parade up through Yarnell. Sad to see how it does not seem to be thriving. Then the glorious descent of Yarnell Hill, 1st time for Alex. Great ride with a great partner.