February 20th

Dennis took us to dinner last night at a real nice place, all you can eat. The restaurant donated my meal as Dennis told them what I was doing, so I want to mention The Mining Camp Restaurant. Thank you, it was really good. Dennis left today, he helped us get around a lot of tricky traffic situations and paid for everything!!! He even paid for our room here at the hotel. Dennis has been coming to Arizona for a long time and has seen it grow every year. As a big Cubs fan, he will be back for spring training. Dennis is a custom landscape designer for 30 years and also donated his time to mow my lawn in the spring and plow my driveway snow in the winter. A big thank you Dennis Lewis!! 

Ran 25 more miles and we are out of Phoenix and Apache Junction. Back on Route 60 heading towards Globe Arizona. 8 ft wide shoulder on Route 60 so far. It was supposed to rain and, of course, it was a beautiful sunny day. 500 miles so far!!

February 21st

I ran through Superior, Arizona today and this was some of the most beautiful scenery yet. You will have to take my word for it as I didn't bring camera for fear of rain again and yet another cloudless day. I ran over and through mountains and  through a big tunnel and saw about 10 waterfalls. Sheer cliffs on one side and giant rock walls on the other side. Sometimes the prettiest views on the run are the most difficult because of small shoulders and steep up grades. I can usually get Dave to take a picture at the end of each days run but today we finished under and around power lines so I said forget it. After running another 25 miles left me 15 miles short of Globe, Arizona. I am going to Ziploc my camera so I can take it everyday. Not much for scenery tomorrow as we drove ahead and got a place in Globe, so I have already seen the whole days run.

February 22nd

Today, it rained all day except for the last five miles when the sun came out and dried my clothes and saved me two bucks at the laundromat. A lot of hills today as I ran past Globe, Arizona. Now I head straight north for 80 miles to Show Low,  Arizona. To me this is 3 days of wasted time and effort because I am heading north instead of east. I guess its going to be a quite a climb. I am starting to lose track of the days and days of the week. Its just run, run, run! In town today, 3 young teens were running and we all hit the light at the same time. They were jogging in place waiting for the light to change, jumping up and down, and here I am standing motionless and would have sat down if there was a chair! You had to been there. They soon turned and got into a car and drove off, I ran another 5 hours. I also want to thank everyone at home taking care of business for me.

February 23rd

Well, today started downhill and then the next 20 miles went up. It rained for the last two hours of the 25 mile run, so the weathermen will all be standing around patting themselves on the back. I saw a coyote today and he was so close, but he couldn't jump off the cliff so he ran along side me. He wouldn't stand still long enough to get my camera out of two zip lock bags and take his picture. Imagine that. I bought a waterproof coat 6 years ago and it was really too small when I bought it, but they only had medium sizes and it worked today at least for two hours. I am glad I bought it as they tell me in all the sport stores that they don't sell waterproof stuff because it never rains here, Ok? I guess I did some climbing today as the 5000 ft sign indicates, I will go higher tomorrow as Dave drove 10 miles past my finish today. 575 miles done.

February 24th

Even though this route is taking me straight north right now, some of the most spectacular scenery was observed today. I ran through Salt River Canyon, first 10 miles downhill and the next 10 uphill, very winding steep roads and I took the most pictures today. The scenery today is what this is about. I was tired but spectacular!! I have been sleeping on the floor the last few nights on my air mattress and Dave usually sleeps in his sleeping bag on his bed. He has been teasing me saying bugs are crawling all over me, but last night he had a scorpion in his sleeping bag. He said it bit him behind the knee but no marks. It was a tiny one about an inch and a quarter long, but I wouldn't touch it. He's ok so far but I am telling him he looks pale then really red at times. Maybe tomorrow I will tell him I was kidding. Tough 25 miles today, 600 mile as of  today. Tomorrow I will finish 8 miles from Show-Low, Arizona.

February 25th

It snowed today and last night, it gets cold at 6350 ft. I was mostly climbing today and my 25 miles left me short of Show Low by eight miles. I will take a cold, snowy day over a wet, rainy day anytime. The cool air kept my pace brisk and my feet were glad to have the cold pavement over the hot pavement. Eight miles tomorrow and I start to make progress heading east again. Four days and 100 miles of running North and South in Arizona. The rest of the way except for a little 20 mile north run when I hit Route 25/60 in New Mexico, will be pretty much heading EAST!!!! Beautiful scenery today.

February 26th

 Well I talked to my friend Greg, a champion triathlete who is always first or second in Triathlons. I said I was running out of gas at 15 and 20 miles, and I figured it was time to do something other than eat oatmeal cookies. So at ten miles, I set out a small chocolate milk and 4 fig Newtons. I got to the ten ate 3 cookies and drank the milk. It felt heavy, so I will cut out the milk and go with water or Gatorade. Then, I could not wait to try my 15 mile experiment which consisted of one big peanut butter and marshmallow fluff sandwich, about 20 Pringles potato chips and 10 chocolate covered peanuts and a cold coke. Well, as then crime scene shows in the picture below, some animal, probably a skunk or raccoon ate all my lunch right there! This was about 8 ft off the road and he ate everything, every peanut, every crumb. So, I thought, oh well, smarty pants you didn't get my Coke, ha,ha ha, so I just popped it open and drank it in two sips, crushed it and put it in my pack and away I went. Then, I was thinking that Coke was out of the bag to and he probably licked it or even wiped his butt on it and I just picked it up and pounded it. So thinking about this for the next couple of miles I took it out and started smelling it! I don't know but it's to late now. It snowed today but only about 1/2 inch stuck, 650 miles today, and I felt better about heading east again. Tough day, I will try to eat again tomorrow unless he is following me now, whatever it was.