April 27 – Red Mountains and Route 66.

This afternoon I was looking for the girl in a flat bed Ford. I was hoping that some where along I40 between Flagstaff and Winslow she would slow down and take a look at me, but no luck. I guess that at 57 I am not as good a catch as I was at 22 but for my age I am not doing to bad.

We started out by going through Sedona. If it were always like it was today morning temperatures in the 50’s and highs in the 80’s with clear skies and a little wind I might consider living there. However I suspect that even being accustomed to California home prices I would be shocked by real estate costs. The red cliffs are stunning and the canyon was beautiful all the trees in their spring shades of green. After being awed by the scenery we climbed through Red Rock Canyon to Flagstaff. The climb was not as bad as yesterdays climbs and the view from the top was if anything better. Some of the road we climbed is shown in today’s pictures. The other has my friend Dave Thompson in front of some red cliffs. After the climb we rolled through pine forests. For non-bikies means terrain hat goes up and then down and then up and then down … depending on the size of the ups and downs this can be either fun or painful to ride. Today’s rollers were on the painful side.

We got to Flagstaff for our lunch stop. Arizona has one very interesting feature. When you enter most towns there is a sign that tells you the population of the town and the elevation or when the town was founded. Now we all know that whatever the stated population of the town is, it is not the actual population of the town, people die and move and are born. In addition, after every census there will always have to be a new sign. Signs in Arizona are different they give the elevation and the date the town was founded, two bits of information that are unlikely to change. It seems to me that this is a very reasonable thing to do.

After going a short way from out lunch stop we turned onto Route 66, well for the first 4 miles it was a bike path, safe but not the thing dreams are made. However the last 6 were on the original road. Could any cross country trip be complete without experiencing Route 66.

Sadly all dreams must end so we had to continue to Winslow on I40. We rode through a high desert that seems to support sagebrush, a few cacti, and a lot of rocks. It was a stark contrast to Sedona, but I bet the real estate is cheaper. Over 45 miles we lost 2000 feet, had a good shoulder (12 feet wide with a good surface and little debris) to ride on. We also had the Semis, to drag us along and even with a head wind we could maintain 20 mph, until someone got a flat. I didn’t get any today, but several of the people I rode with did. Actually, if it were not for the noise, the extra draft that overtaking trucks provide would make Interstate riding a great way to get from point A to point B, and much faster than city streets or country roads.

I got to Winslow by myself, having dropped a few and having been dropped by more than a few. I found nothing in Winslow to warrant a visit except that it is the only place to stay between Flagstaff and who knows where. I guess I will find out tomorrow. I had a difficult time finding the motel. I probably did two extra miles getting to it. A few more days like this and I will have made up the miles I sagged yesterday.

The Comfort Inn double booked my room, but they found another for me and my roommate. Then we discovered that the air conditioning was not working. Enter my roommate who has just finished his Masters in Electrical Engineering from Johns Hopkins. No, he didn’t fix the motels AC, but he did figure out how to get a giant room fan that is now making the room livable. It is a little noisy but far less than riding on the Interstate and it is removing the smoky odors from our non-smoking room. As our tour leader said there are some areas of the country where a non-smoking room means that it is not presently on fire.