May 7, 2026 - Day 5 to Ontario

May 7, 2026 – Day 5 to Ontario

Another great day for riding. We started out at 41 degrees. Ok... let's gear up.

Not long after we head out, we see pronghorn.

Down the road we see a sign "VLA".  Figuring is was just the name of a small town, we moved on.  Of course it reminds you of "walla".  So we kept joking and using it through our conversation.

One of the things we do is guess how far away we are from something.  Today there were these white dishes in the field.  The one on the right stood alone and we started guessing.  

Seeing VLA signs, we again assume it is the name of a town.

Here is the one we were guessing the distance on.  I said 5 miles and it turned out the to be 8 miles. OK where it the city?  Larry said he thinks it stand for something.  Yep, he was right:
VLA = Very Large Array
It is a radio telescope facility for radio astronomy.

Trivia for the day: what is Radio Astronomy?
Astronomers around the world use radio telescopes to observe the naturally occurring radiowaves that come from stars, planets, galaxies, clouds of dust, and molecules of gas. (Google for more info)

We cross into Arizona and such beautiful country.  Here are a few pics:

Beautiful!!!

We got a surprise, there was a black bear and one of her cubs. (she has 2)  One of the rangers said she has been garbage picking.  UGH.... they want to get her and her cubs move to a better location.   This is the baby...

and mom.

Ron captured a video of her going into the trash bin.  Pretty funny.

Our excitement for the day.

OK back on the road to lunch....The number of pics I have is crazy.  So amazing.

Lunch: Drift In Saloon, built in 1902

This remind you of anything? A puppet from Jeff Dunham?

Since I will be riding with Ron during the Run, we decided maybe I should ride with him a little.  I finally got a shot of Larry.  hahaha

In this area we started seeing the talk cactus for about 5 miles. Then they stopped.

You would see one alone,  or...

.... a whole hill side.

They could be the Saguaro..

So I asked "I wonder how long the live?"

2nd Trivia: They could live as long as 100-200 year.

Before heading into Sedona for the night, we went past Roosevelt Lake.  Beautiful blue color. 

We go past several lakes when we ride but I have never seen this.  Along the edge of the water are campers.  There had to have been 30-40. 

Last pic as we end  the day.  The colors are so brilliant....!!!

No riding tomorrow.  We are doing things in Sedona.  

Destination:

Temps: 41-93
Route: SR60, AZ188, AZ187, AZ260, SR89a
Miles: 463

Flag: Near Roosevelt Lake