Distance to Date: 17,585 km / 10,897 mi

Tucson was a GREAT visit! We visited the Arizona Schools for the Deaf and Blind, the College of Education at the University of Arizona, El Grupo (cycling club for kids) and the Southern Arizona Association for the Visually Impaired. We were busy sharing our project and raising awareness about what people like us can do! Great fun!

We packed up and hit the road this morning and rode to Casa Grande. We will be riding the final 50-some miles to Phoenix tomorrow! We can't believe it! WOW! We'll take a break there for about two weeks and then continue northward. Only 6,000 miles to go.

We visit the AZ Schools for the Deaf and Blind to talk to Middle School and High School students about our journey. The bike is always fun to have when sharing our story to the kids. Some of them braved the back seat of the bike as we took them around. Principal Samuel Ace was great, and we thank him for inviting us to the school. We hope we awed some of the students! We also spoke to the El Grupo kids. El Grupo is a non-profit organization in Tucson that supports kids between the ages of 12 and 18 with cycling. It was fun to introduce the kids to cycle touring! We also visited the Southern Arizona Association for the Visual Impaired (SAAVI) and shared our story. The clients at this facility in Tucson are adults with visual impairments. They were quite excited by all the adventures we shared with them. In Tauru's hand is a microphone for one of the attendees who is also hearing impaired. Some of the gang at SAAVI -- a great experience for us! Earlier today. We ride out of Tucson and head for Casa Grande 70 miles away. We hope to reach Phoenix tomorrow. There it is! After 13 months on the road and almost 11,000 miles, Phoenix is only 94 miles away. Homeward bound... Just south of Picacho Peak (peak above Tauru's head), we meet this Canadian man in tri-recumbent bike. We give him one of our hand-out cards and talk about our project to raise awareness. To our surprise, he wanted to donate to our cause right there on the spot! Thanks! Sorry we never got your name, so we'll refer to you as "Mr. Canada from Alberta." Picacho Peak 40 miles north of Tucson is pretty cool. I-10 passes right by its base. We pass by it too.