Friday, May 19, 2017. Flagstaff AZ

In Kingman, we ate oatmeal, tortillas, peanut butter and bananas for breakfast before leaving the hotel. Sure enough, we started climbing a fairly steep and long hill to the other side of Kingman. Good decision yesterday! Leaving Kingman we were in a huge wide open valley with mountains around. It reminded us of riding in Montana. We stopped for lunch at a gas station that had some really good burritos. Today we are riding to Grand Canyon Caverns (not to be confused with the Grand Canyon, we about 100 miles south of the GC). There really wasn't much for services today. We had bright sunny skies and warm temps. A beautiful day for riding. We stopped for a sandwich in Peach Springs before riding the last 20 miles to the campground.

We arrived at the GC Caverns with plenty of time to set up camp, shower, do laundry. We went in to pay for camping and the girl told me it would be $40 (I was expecting $30). I said $40 to put up a tent? Another women standing in line behind me looked at me a said $40. We didn't have much choice at that point. The girl then said, well the sites without hook ups are $30. Ok, do they have a picnic table? She said, I really don't know I never go out there. OK. Can we move the tables. She said yes. Then we asked where the sites were and she said you can pick any spot that doesn't have an electric box. Mmmm.... does that make sense? What are we missing? So let's get this straight, we can pick any place to camp, may not have a table and you don't care where we go? She said yes that's it. I said where is the laundry ( I knew they had one)? She said by the showers. When I asked for laundry soap she said oh they sell that at the store ( a mile away, back by the road). Well now that makes a lot of sense.

We had a great night camping. It's just kind of a pet peeve of ours that places charge the same
whether you are in a big rig or a tent. But it's all good. It was a nice campsite anyway.

We left the next morning about 9 am after eating breakfast at the restaurant / store. Today's weather changed to very windy, overcast and much cooler. It snowed in Flagstaff where we are heading. The wind was blowing around 20 mph from the side. What a long day, not much to see today. Mostly had our heads down and pedaled. One of those days! We stopped and at lunch at the Roadkill Cafe in Seligman. Before we got to Ash Fork, I looked at the price of the campground versus the Ashford Inn and found that we could pay $30 to camp or $38 to stay inside. Mmmm.... Good thing we stayed inside. It rained and the temps dropped big time. It was 38 degrees the next morning! Brrrr....

The ride to Flagstaff was another tough one. The winds were swirly (that means mostly from the side, sometimes from the front and sometimes from the back!. It was downright chilly all day in the 50's. I ended up with my jersey, long sleeve wool shirt, heavy shirt, windbreaker and then my down vest! We stopped in Williams for a late breakfast. After Williams we got back onto I-40 and the shoulder really started to deteriorate. We have ridden on Interstates quite a bit on all of our travels. This was by far the worst. There were so many cracks, potholes and gravel that Hap had a lot of trouble navigating around it all. You also have to watch out for the little wires that come from all of the broken tires. They can be deadly on tires. We stopped several times to check the tires. Sure enough we pulled out a couple little teeny tiny wires. We were both more than ready to get to Flagstaff. I had us booked at a Motel 6 for a couple of nights. We planned to restock, regroup and recharge for the next section. There are several places that have over 100 miles without services. But we'll be ready!

Monday, May 15. Kingman AZ

The morning we left Needles was a warm sunny, windy day. Who knew that Needles was the warmest place in the US. Today we are starting our climbing. Our route showed us riding south around a lake and then back north again, for an 11 mile out of the way ride. We did a map check the day before and it looked like we could start out north and save us this little extra. What we weren't sure of was the road we were looking at rideable i.e. Paved?? I looked at some Map my Ride routes that other cyclists had posted in the past and found several that went across that road and linked up with the suggested route further north. So off we went, starting off with a very busy two lane road. Everyone gave us room, which was nice! We turned east and started climbing. We were climbing to Oatman AZ (we crossed the Colorado River into AZ!) at 2600 feet. Needles was about 500 feet. Oatman an old west gold mining town founded in 1908.

We climbed for several hours with lots of traffic passing us. Whew what a long climb! Just as we reached the city limits, a tour van passed us alittle too close and then promptly stopped in front of us. Ahhh.... so we stopped and waited with several cars behind us on the narrow road. We finally realized that the "tour guide" in the van was telling the people in the van about the scenery, old buildings. We passed him shaking our heads, wondering why he needed to be 20 feet in front of us to tell them whatever he was telling him. As soon as we got around him, several cars were stopped on the narrow road looking at the burros that run wild in the city limits. Ok people they are mules/burros, we have them in Ohio, it's not really that big of a deal. We finally got around them by passing on the left. When we road into the small touristy town, there was a lot of people walking around looking at the old buildings etc. But all of a sudden WE became a tourist attraction, as people saw us and said, "we passed you three hours ago!". We at lunch at the old Oatman Hotel. It was a really neat old hotel, where apparently Clark Gable and Carole Lombard spent their honeymoon back in the day.

Before we left we watched a "bank robbery" happen. Don't worry the good guy won again. Leaving Oatman we had a steep four mile climb to the top of Sitgreaves Pass at 3550 feet. I stopped counting the switchbacks. It took awhile but we made it! The downhill reminded me of the downhill from Going to the Sun Road in Glacier Park. Good thing for our old drumbrake. The wind was sort of whipping too which made it much more exciting. The ride into Kingman AZ was a long slog up another grinding hill. I think there was a tailwind but sure couldn't feel it. Kingman was 1300 feet higher than when we got to the bottom of the downhill from the pass. Not a terrible climb since it was over 20 miles. By the time we got to Kingman we were pooped. We had an exciting moment just before reaching the city limits, when three cars came up behind us and the third one didn't stop soon enough. He hit the brakes and skidded a bit but thankfully it wasn't too close. When he went by we noticed he was on the phone. Grrrrr.........

We had planned to stay at the KOA in Kingman but when we got to town and stopped for a break, I checked the map and saw the Kingman was separated by a huge hill and guess where the KOA was?? I looked up and saw the Arizona Inn across the street, looked at Hap and said what do you think? He said absolutely! There was a lot of traffic and we had quite a time just crossing the block, but we made it. Whew what a day! We walked across the street (thank goodness everyone had gone home!) for dinner. No problems sleeping that night!

Sunday, May 14. Needles CA

Sunday, May 14.   Needles, CA

Yesterday we left Ludlow at 6:15am! Wheels up and on the road. That is a new World, and American record for the Eaton's. We knew that the temps were expected in the 90's and we are in the Mohave Desert after all. We ate a quick breakfast of oatmeal, PB and tortillas at the gas station and headed out. The night before we had talked to two couples who were doing a ride from Fresno, CA to Albuquerque. They had two cars and three bikes. So they were taking turns riding. Three of them left some time before us. We were expecting rough roads for the next 60 miles or so, but were pleasantly surprised to find new smooth pavement. We even had a tailwind! There was some question of a detour ahead. But after talking with some locals decided we could walk around the new bridge, culvert. What an awesome ride! Smooth roads, tailwinds and sunny skies! We got to Amboy, our only water resupply for the day. The other cyclists were also there so we chatted for awhile before they took off. Amboy is an interesting place. Roys Motel/Cafe is there or what's left of it. A man bought the "town" several years ago and just sells water and snacks. There are small cottages there that are empty. But he does let touring cyclists sleep in them if they need to. There isn't anything in them but it does get you out of the heat. 

When we left Amboy, we ran into the detour around the bridge. There was a construction road around it that we were able to push the bike through. Good thing,  because it would've added an additional 11 miles to our route. We had an awesome ride in the desert. Very peaceful with few cars. Probably our best day since leaving San Diego. While riding I asked Hap if he liked this year's ride on Route 66 better than last year up the east coast (Charleston SC-Bangor ME). We both agreed we would rather have the wide open spaces than the honking and watching our back to the traffic. So much fun! We had a small climb over Cadiz Summit, the only real climb of the day. We caught up to the other riders and road along with them until one of their drivers was waiting for them. We ate some snacks, and drank some water before taking off again. Hap and I are carrying four 24 oz water bottles, 2-1 liter bottles water and a 1 1/2 L Camelback full of water. 

We got back to Interstate 40 and the drivers exchanged riders again. We planned to stop at the Oasis Truck stop to spend the night. They let you camp in the parking lot for $10 (actually it was a nice campsite under a palm tree!). We went inside, ate and decided we were both still feeling good. So we decided to ride on into Needles CA. There was a KOA campground there that had showers! After the Oasis we had a bit of a climb before we headed down into town. Fantastic downhill! We spent a lot of time counting rail cars on all of the tracks. We saw 15 trains, with either two or four engines. The longest one had 125 cars! About ten miles before town we stopped under the only shade tree we had seen for the last 100 miles. The temps were starting to really get up there into the 90's. We said if the KOA doesn't have any shade, we are going to a motel. Sure enough when we got to the KOA it looked like a parking lot with zero shade. No way! After 112 miles we headed to a motel. After the milkshake...... We had some trouble finding the motel because of a bunch of construction detours. We finally found it and guess what? Yep you guessed it, at the top of the last hill...... We were hot when we got there and happy for the AC! The other riders texted and offered to pick us up and take us to dinner. Didn't take long to answer! We had so much fun talking with them! There trip sounds like an interesting way to bike travel. Maybe in our future??

This am we got up planning to go to church and then ride to a campground south of town. But when we looked at the planned 90++ degree weather the AC won again. Today has been a relaxing day. Only issue today was the church we walked to wasn't the church we expected, wasn't at the time we thought and was almost over. No problem! Google sent us to the right church for a great service. Well, perhaps it wasn't google. Tomorrow we head for Oatman AZ and Kingman AZ and cooler temps at a higher elevation. 

May 12, 2017. Ludlow CA

May 12, 2017.     Ludlow CA

After having breakfast at the hotel, we left Fontana and started climbing. Our goal today is to climb over Cajon Pass. We climbed for about 10 miles and stopped for a second breakfast at Mac D's. The weather was overcast with a temp in the 70's. We also had a tailwind that we didn't complain about! We were on a two lane road for the first part of the climb. Several times we crossed over or under Interstate 15. We knew that we had to get onto I - 15 somewhere but not sure where. At one crossing we had two choices, get on I-15 (which made the most sense since we had to get on I 15 eventually. But nooooo..... the road turned "sharply" upward and we climbed around, under, around, under, climbed some more. We could see I 15 above us and knew we had to get there eventually. I was hoping we didn't have to climb an on ramp and go way up where we could see the road. Thank goodness by the time we road onto I 15 the interstate was much closer! I 15 was very busy, lots of semis, cars etc. it was interesting that most of the time the professional drivers (semi drivers) moved over if they could. While other drivers stayed in the lane closest to us. But all in all with all the traffic it wasn't bad. It got steeper the last 5 miles. Not a bad climb though. We ended up with a 25 mile climb, 4000 feet of climbing in 70 degree overcast weather. We stopped once to walk around a stopped truck on the shoulder. We had to Walk around to the inside because there wasn't any space for us in the right hand lane. Lots of trafffic! We crested the top and cruised about 10 miles down to Victorville. We had an incredible tailwind! No pedaling necessary. Just over the top the sun came out. When we got to Victorville we looked back at the pass and could see the overcast just over the mountains. There was some snow on some peaks to the north of the pass. We stopped at the Outpost Cafe for lunch. The waitress said you can bring your bikes inside if you want. She had not seen our bus yet! We got quite a few looks as we wheeled in our bus! 

After lunch we stopped for some dinner supplies before leaving town. Traffic in Victorville was crazy. Since I don't need to watch in front of us, I have a good view of what's going on behind. I had a lot of "conversations" with the drivers behind us. No, I didn't SAY anything to them, no gesturing none of that. I just talk to myself and talk them around us. FYI. We were on a FOUR lane highway/road in town, which means there are TWO lanes for driving in. People would come up behind us and just stay there, no traffic in the left lane, no cars coming up, no little old ladies walking across the road, nuthin. Just drive your car! Hellloooooo.... Here's my conversation "Ok car, the other lane is clear, you can go now, go ahead its ok, no really go ahead, a whole lane it's all yours, yoo hooo its clear go ahead, good job you got it, see how easy that is, plenty of room for all of us, thank you for passing safely! Have a nice day!"

When we left town there was alot of traffic but it was fine. Everyone made it safely. We had about 20 miles to Silver Lake CA and a tailwind. Put up the sail. Wow, what a difference in a day, we are now in the desert on a two lane road, Route 66. We passed the famous bottle farm, not sure why that is famous but oh well. We arrived at the Inn at Silver Lakes and found a county club/golf course in the middle of the desert. It looked like a nice community. We cooked dinner in the room and had a great nights sleep.

We had breakfast in the room, and left in sunny 70 degree weather toward Newberry Springs. We road to Barstow and stopped at the grocery store. I bought enough food for three days because for the next several days we will be going across the Mojove Desert with not many services. We stopped and ate lunch at Mega Tom Burgers. We thought it looked like a good place since apparently all the tour buses stop there. I think that was the worst hamburger i have ever had. The only good thing about it was the avacado. Next time we are going to McD's! When we left Barstow we had to get on I-40 because we couldn't ride on the Marine base that was there. The temps started to go up. By the time we got to Newberry Springs RV park the gemp was 90 + degrees. Tony at the RV park was super friendly and gave us a nice spot for camping. The first thing we did after putting up the tent was get in the pool. Now we're talkin! We met Geri at the pool, who 
was 
also super friendly. And she had the cutest Yorki, Lulu. So we did get in our dog fix. The pool was chilly, but it felt really good on my back. 

Geri gave us some ice, which was really appreciated in the heat. I put some on my back and put the rest in our gin and tonics. We had a misfire on the gin and tonics. Because we are in the desert we are carrying 2-1 liter bottles of water (used Tonic bottles) as well as a Camel back bladder with 1.5 liters of water. Apparently when Hap made the G and T's he used one of the TONIC bottles. We both kept commenting how they didn't taste right. But it didn't occur to us until the next am that we actually had drank Gin and WATER (instead of tonic). Guess we need to mark the bottles better. 

We got packed up and went over to the gas station for breakfast. The "food" at the cafe didn't look so good so the best we could do was a turkey sandwich (not sure how old it was but Hap didn't mind!). We at the bananas, Twinkie and danish I had bought at the grocery the day before. I just hope all of the people who took my healthy eating class are not reading this post. Pretty sad! 

We were able to get on to I-40 at this exit for the ride to Ludlow, CA. We had two choices for the next couple of days. A short ride of 30 miles to Ludlow where we could stay at the Ludlow Motel. OR a 60 mile ride and camp behind a convenience store in Amboy. Followed by a 60 mile ride to Fenner and camp in another parking lot. I.e. No showers for two days in 90 degree heat. Hey don't judge us, we opted for the short day to Ludlow followed by a longer ride to Fenner and camp in the 
parking lot. Welcome to the Mohave Desert! We're havin fun now. Easy peasy ride today on I 40 with a tailwind. Really more of a day off. We ate lunch at the Ludlow Cafe. I had a much better hamburger than yesterday. We cooked dinner in the motel parking lot. Mac n cheese, asparagus and tuna wraps. Mmmm good. Tomorrow headed to Fenner to camp in the parking lot. I'm taking TWO showers tonight!