The American adventure continues in Arizona

Having completed the West Coast Ride in San Diego I jumped on a plane to Phoenix in Arizona to meet up with my friends, Kelly & Cary Reif, who I have not seen for nearly 30 years! They used to be part of an international ministry troupe that used mime and dance to communicate the gospel, with England being their European base. Whenever they travelled to England, they would stay at or use our home as we lived just round the corner from the church centre. In 2023, I also caught up with Marilyn Farley, one of the founders of this ministry in Xenia, Ohio.

Cary & Kelly Reif, Senior Pastors of Awaken Church, Gilbert AZ

As you can imagine we have so much to catch up on after all this time and they were also very keen to show me some of the highlights of Arizona. So after arriving in Phoenix, we started the process of outlining our journeys and events since 1997 (which is when we think we last saw each other). One of the best ways of doing this was tubing down the Salt River - in other words, sitting on an inflatable as you float down a river for 5-6 hours. After riding my bike for nearly 1500 miles, it was exhausting to keep applying sun lotion to avoid burning up under the intense heat and obtaining cold drinks from the cooler!!

After that, we set off on a 2-day journey to Sedona and the Grand Canyon and one of the first thing you see is the vast areas filled with Saguaro Cacti, particularly as you leave the Phoenix Area and start climbing out of the valley.

Saguaro Lake, visited after the tubing on the Salt River

After a ‘short’ drive of 150+ miles (American distances are much longer than England), we arrived in Sedona, famous for its rock mountains.

We had a wonderful Mexican meal together and saw some wonderful pottery made by the Native Indian population, which my wife, Elaine, would loved to have seen.

From Sedona, we drove up the Oak Creek Canyon towards Flagstaff, which was spectacular and we stopped at the top for some amazing views. This would be a massive challenge for a cyclist to do with its winding roads and steep climbs - I met Jonathan at the top of the climb who had done just that on his bike - well done Sir!!

However, the best was yet to come when we arrived at the Grand Canyon National Park. Admittedly the weather wasn’t so sunny when we arrived but the sheer scale truly takes your breath away. The next few photos give you an idea of how GRAND the Grand Canyon is but even so, you still cannot see the full depth of the Canyon and where the Colorado river runs through it!

To give you an idea of the scale, can you spot the next photo in this one?

Just one of the restrooms if you hike in the Canyon

Today, I am taking Cary to my ‘latest obsession’ - tickets to the baseball game between the San Francisco Giants and the Arizona Diamondbacks (somewhat appropriate given that i have been to both places recently!!)

‘Let’s play ball!’