Mulligan

Adam was having a Bad Day. Not yet a Very Bad Day, but worse than just a bad day.
First, his riding partner - loathe to abandon the indolance of the past two days - lazed about the house in the morning, delaying his departure by two hours. Then, he had to wait in a long line at the post office just to buy a sheet of post card stamps. The hat he acquired the day before was turning out to be too big, as it flopped around on his head in the wind, sometimes blocking his view.
He had a little falling incident after brief contact with a railing on the river path, and though no damage was done to bike or rider, there is the physiological consideration.
After riding several more miles, we decided that the hat was not going to cut it. It was not going to work while on the bike, and we either had to send it home, or get it fixed. So we called a do-over, and rode 12 miles back into Tucson to see the little lady at the hat store. She fixed him right up with a little padding in the band, and now the hat fits great.
By this time, it was pretty late in the day, and we couldn't expect to make it out of the Tucson area by dark.  We knew this would be the case when we turned back, so we rode the few miles back to Adam's Aunt Donna's house. When we got back, the house was locked up, but we enjoyed ourselves sitting on the back patio listening to music, something we haven't had an opportunity to do in a while. It was nice to just sit back and relax with nothing to do.
This also gives us a little time to go over our route again. We are playing chicken with the snowstorms north of the Tucson area. There are several spots we want to see in that area, including the Gila Cliff Dwellings, but the weather can be kind of dicey. We don't mind cold weather, or snow on the ground as long as the roads are clear. Getting stuck in a snow storm could be kind of uncomfortable.  Anything approaching a low of 20 also starts to intrude on our comfort zone.
We have a little breathing room in our schedule, as after some discussion, Adam and I decided that we were not terribly interested in riding through Louisiana and Mississippi, and that we will find transit across those states in some manner. That gives us the flexibility to see some more of the things in Arizona and New Mexico that we would like instead of racing across the West. With that in mind, we're heading south and east towards the Mexican border again to visit Tombstone and Brisbee, which we hear is neat.
The bikes are still mostly loaded, and we plan to be up and out early to check out Colossal Caverns on the way out of town. Adam apologised to me for setting us back another day. I told him not to worry - I'm not going to complain about another night with clean sheets and a warm bed!