Day Thirty-Six: "Arizona" (6 February) 77 mi

Got an earlier start today out of Lordsburg. It was pretty cold, but it warmed up nicely. About 8 miles in I lost a lot of air in my back tire. I had used one of the patched tubes and I guess the air started to leak out again. So I just tossed that one and put in the regular non thorn-resistant tube. But to get out the very thick thorn resistant tube, I really had to ply off the tire. I only had one tire lever because the other broke yesterday when I tried to put the tube in. If you've never changed a bike tire before, let me tell you that you really should use tire levers because your hands can get extremely cut up from working with the tire. Also this just makes the process longer and more frustrating. Out of this frustration I sat on the side of the road to work with tire because I was tired of standing. A passing motorist saw me and thought I was in distress, he offered me a ride. I thanked him but declined. I was on a mission, I was not going to cut corners. So I proceeded and was rewarded with the Arizona state line! I shamelessly took several photos and video by the state sign, also since I am a geography nerd. As I entered Arizona the terrain changed very quickly and became very mountainous. I had a very high climb, a couple of them actually. Off in the distance I saw some snow covered mountains, the first sight of snow on my journey. Turns out one of them Mount Graham. I got to Safford then decided not to stay at at my Warmshowers host (for safety reasons), I would rather just put up the money for a motel. I also went to the bike shop, the only one in town, to get a new tire because my Gatorskin on the back tire was pretty much frayed. To my delight they had one left, a little larger nonetheless, but it was just what I needed. A Marathon tire which is geared specifically for touring cyclists.