Day 7 – I have to cook, too!!!

Miles completed: 57.5

Cumulative miles: 378.3

Miles to St Augustine: 2,713

Today’s ride was somewhat of a recovery from the last 5 days of strenuous riding. At least that’s what I thought when we started. There was only one hill that wasn’t too steep. However, we encountered cross winds and headwinds of 10-12 miles per hour that slowed me down a little. But it was still the easiest day so far and I was in Wickenburg by about 12:30-ish. I met up with four of our riders that were hanging out at a cafe in Wickenburg. But Dana was ready to leave and go to the campground, so I rode with him while the others stayed behind. Dana and I got to the campground first, so this was the first day I finished “on the podium”. It also meant I had to help unload luggage from the trailer, but it was worth it!

Today was my first day that I was assigned cooking duties with Felix. So getting to camp early was good. I had to stake my tent, shower, go shopping at Safeway with Felix and Simona, and then cook the meal. One of the benefits of going to the store is we have a chance to buy personal items we need, like beer! We picked up some Guinness and an IPA today.

So…what did we make for dinner?

We started with appetizers of veggies with ranch dip and guacamole. Our main course was penne pasta, marinara sauce from the jar, Italian meatballs from a frozen package, and sautéed bell peppers, onions, and mushrooms. We served these all separate and let everyone take what they wanted, since we have vegan and gluten free participants. We also added bread and butter, a Sunflower salad (a salad bag kit) and had chocolate chip cookies from the Safeway bakery for desert. I have to say it was quite good!

We are allotted $150 at the grocery for the meal ingredients. Without realizing it until we got to the register, Felix and I served our meal to 12 people for less than $100!

I only took one picture today. About 20 miles into our ride we entered Maricopa county which includes Phoenix and Goodyear where we live. Maricopa county is huge and it’s usually one of the last counties in the US to certify votes in elections because of its size.