Day 9 - Sunday, May 20th, Rest Day in Flagstaff

In this first week the group has pedaled about 536 miles and climbed some 25,000 feet, an average of 77 miles and 3600 feet per day. With my problems in the desert, I'm about 100 miles and 3000 feet less.  I can't speak for anyone else, but I'm quite satisfied and relieved to have some of the biggest challenges behind us. 

Our next rest day is on Saturday in Santa Fe, New Mexico.  Over the course of the coming five riding days we will pedal 400 miles and climb just under 12,000 feet, averaging 80 miles and under 2400 feet. We will cross into New Mexico on Tuesday and also leave the Pacific time zone, our first time zone change, our second state line crossing and third state. On Wednesday the cumulative tour elevation gain will exceed the equivalent of climbing Mt Everest for the first time. 

Our stops for this week of the tour are:

• Holbrook, AZ (91 miles)
• Gallup, NM (94 miles)
• Grants, NM (66 miles and cross the Continental Divide)
• Albuquerque, NM (79 miles)
• Santa Fe, NM (68 miles)

On Saturday, I was able to get the laundry done and the bike washed and lubed. I really wanted to go see the Grand Canyon, but frankly just didn't have the energy to get a rental and spend 3 hours in a car, plus time at the Canyon. Seemed like a better idea to plan a return trip to Sedona/Flagstaff area with my wife Millie and enjoy the Canyon in a more leisurely and conventional manner.

I got over to the Wal-mart next to the hotel to get some zinc-oxide based sun protection as the nose and ears are feeling a bit tender. I thought the rest of the day would be pretty lazy for me, but Barry and I decided to head to the Historic District in Flagstaff.  We were looking to get out of the hotel for a bit, not expend a huge amount of energy and find something to eat. It worked out pretty well as we made our first visit to Route 66. Even found a couple of classic bikes in the General Store.

Our lunch stop. Great Mushroom Swiss Burger!!

Last night when Barry, Chris (Florida), Terry (Texas) and I were at dinner, Chris described this image that popped into his head when  most of 29 in the group arrived at the Haunted Hamburger, ate, and then left within close proximity of each other.  To paraphrase him he said we were like of  a horde of yellow, lycra-clad, locusts on bikes leaving a path of destruction from LA to Boston.  Reading this as I type, it doesn't come across anywhere near as funny as it sounded in the moment.  It also seems like a good plot for a bad sci-fi movie. I wonder if William Shatner is available?

Sneak Peek at Tomorrow

We ride pretty much in a straight southeasterly direction for 93 miles to Holbrook, AZ with a net decline in elevation of 1700 feet. It will be getting warmer with the high in Holbrook forecast at 86. Looks like it will be windy at 15-25 mph and coming from the southwest. Heading southeast it won't be a straight on headwind, but it will also not be a tailwind.

On the way to Holbrook we will have a photo opp and to do some "standing on a corner in Winslow, Arizona". How fine of a sight it will be to see the locusts descending is for the locals to judge. The lyric has made this town famous.

Holbrook is a city of about 5000. The area was originally inhabited first by Anasazi, then Puebloans, then the Navajo and Apache. In 1540, about 70 years before Jamestown and the Pilgrims, an expedition led by Coronado camped about 50 miles east of Holbrook while searching for the Seven Cities of Gold.  The expedition went west and found the Colorado River and on crossing the Little Colorado river about 25 miles east of Holbrook, found an area of many colors that they named "El Desierto Pintada" - The Painted Desert.

The area was ceded to the US after the Mexican American War and the Army sent three expeditions from 1851 to 1857 to create a 10 foot wide wagon road along the 35th parallel. Not long after that, a saloon and store opened two miles east of Holbrook at the confluence of the Rio Puerco and Little Colorado Rivers. Mormons settled the area in 1876 and during 1881 and 1882, railroad tracks were laid down and a station built to supply wood and water and to freight the supplies south to Fort Apache. The community was named Holbrook after the first engineer of the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad. The railroad sold a million acres to a Boston investment group known as the Hashknife Outfit which leased another million acres of government land and became one of the largest cattle ranches ever to exist. Holbrook became its headquarters and quickly grew into a cow-town. With cowboys, sheep herders, farmers, rustlers and outlaws competing for land, range wars ensued and Holbrook became known as a town “too tough for women and churches”.  The city’s website now proclaims that “What began as a town too tough for women and churches, is now too good to miss” and as the gateway to the Petrified National Park which we will pass through on Tuesday.