Here is moi, armed with toothbrush and Simple Green, cleaning the sand and grit out of my rear chain ring.  I am learning a ton of info from these women, and incidently, feeling so lucky to be able to see the country with them and on a bicycle.

We leave tomorrow morn for an 8 day stretch of riding without a rest day, in which I believe we will cross Arizona in it's entirety.  Part of the fun of this route for me is that I have not spend any time in this part of the country, so it is all new.  Oddly enough, much of what I take in reminds me of my time in Niger.  I hope to post often in the stretch, depending on good internet connections.  By the by, I am thus far unable to open the comments on the blog and REALLY want to!  I'm working on fixing it but in the meantime, I am reachable at my regular e-mail address.  Thanks to all of you who have called, sent e-mails, housed and fed me and offered words of support and encouragement to me on this adventure.  You are all on the road with me.