Tour Stop in Yuma, AZ

What a day I had in Yuma!  Who would have known that when I woke up in Arizona's most luxurious resort and spa, Best Western Coronado, I was about to have the most eventful day on the tour thus far?  It all started when I went to have an incredible breakfast in my resort and spa's five star restaurant, The Yuma Landing Bar & Grill.

Where they advertised fresh squeezed orange juice (or by the size of my glass, mandarin orange juice).  And by the look that the thirsty woman with an itchy scalp is giving me, it must be single's night!

As I went to shake my ketchup bottle, I discovered that it was also trivia night!

Umm, wait don't tell me.. Plastic??  Enough with the brainteasers, where is my breakfast?

Just in time, my brain was starting to hurt!  And wow, look at the spread!  Waitress- "Can I get you anything else?"  Me- "Umm, Mickey Mouse pancakes?"

It was just a joke, but turns out she took me rather seriously.  After a hearty breakfast, and a Mickey Mouse joke-off with the waitress, I began riding to Desert Mesa Elementary for an assembly.  As I rode along a dusty highway with crops on either side, I saw a fellow cross-country rider in the distance.  He was riding about 5 mph, so I quickly caught up to him at my 20 mph pace.  I pulled along side of him and we both stopped on the shoulder of the road.  Japanese pop music was blaring out of his headphones as he introduced himself in broken English.  His name is Hiro (pronounced Hero).

He rode his bicycle from Vancouver and will finish in Phoenix in two days, where he will board a flight back to Japan.  But the most amazing thing was that he did it on a little girl's bike!  And this is not a joke, I'm dead serious.  It was a light purple 'Roadmaster' bike, available at all high-end, bulk buying department stores- Wal-Mart.  He shrugged off the many broken parts, cracked plastic pedals (in which he pushed with Converses) and said, "A poor carpenter blames his tools."  Powerful.  And to think I was complaining about my 8 mph pace yesterday, and he was confident that he would reach his destination, eventually, at a 5 mph pace.  And somewhere tonight, he is camping in the middle of the desert between Yuma and Gila Bend.  I noticed that I was running late to the assembly, so we exchanged emails and I pedaled my butt off!  I made it just in time for the mic check and delivered an extra meaningful presentation, after meeting Hiro, highlighting that no goal is too small to accomplish.  Keep reaching for your goal, and no matter how little your progress, it's still PROGRESS!  Assembly... check!  Now it was off to the local NBC station for an interview slot for the 5pm broadcast!

After an incredible interview (click here to watch) with the very lovely Christi Rodriguez (Chicago native, what's up!), it was off to the local newspaper, The Yuma Sun.

That was the last thing on my to-do list, until I remembered I left my shoes in San Diego!  And I refused to walk to dinner in my bike shoes again.  So I biked over to the Wal-Mart.  Since I don't have a bike lock, I asked these lovely ladies to watch my bike for me.

They did have personality, promise!  Sweet, let's go shopping for some sandals!

Not much of a selection.  But I settled on these!

$1.89 for sandals?!?  Don't mind if I do!

My bike hadn't moved since I left (and neither had the ladies).

Let me know you're alive and comment below!