2 /5/15 Southwest Rendezvous

Today was travel-perfect. Smooth fights and a flawless connection in frigid Chicago landed us in Phoenix and eighty degrees. The only glitch was an accident on the 10 that almost spoiled our reunion with Rascal. But Ivan the Terrible (driver), an Afghani, Russian immigrant, bumbled his way through the traffic with left blinker blazing the whole time and we got to the warehouse to capture our bike minutes before closing.

Released from the confines of our own separate prisons - elbow locked airplanes and lonely warehouses- we flew down the interstate into the Arizona sunset, while minions of tall cactus silently saluted as we roared by. Stress, that seems to be our daily fare, flew away with the wind and we rocketed on as the last warmth of the day fueled us. The Southwest, a brutal hell in the summer, revealed its true charm on this pleasant winter day.

Ending up in Casa Grande, we are only hours away from our border crossing at Nogales. Tomorrow we will meet up with our tiny group of adventurers and cross into another world. The three of us are so ready!