RAAZ Day 3 - Pines Camping to Seligman

 64.1 miles, 3478’ climbing

66 Canyon Lodge Motel, “the Marilyn Room”

There was a chill in the air as the sky started getting light. We had already cleaned and lubed our drive trains the night before, so we sipped coffee as we packed up, then we hit the road.  We climbed a hill, then quickly descended out of the pines and into an area of dense juniper, then on to more open country. 

We turned up the Williamson Valley Road expecting climbs after our long descent. A rancher driving a tractor tipped his hat at us, and we waved. The road wasn’t too steep, though we each had moments of washboard envy ( that feeling as you bump over a washboard road and look over to see your cycling companion on smooth, firm dirt, but rocks, sand, or more rough road discourages you from simple crossing over to the smooth part). None of the washboard was too severe, but instinctively we choose the easiest lines. Doesn’t everybody?

We startled a trio of javelina, which ran off into the junipers. Soon afterwards, a SUV pulled up next to us. The window rolled down, and the occupants wished us a good ride. 

A woman in a large Cadillac SUV pulled up next to us and stopped. She warned us of fast oncoming traffic, told us we were hard to see, that we blended into the background, that it scared her every time she saw cyclists, that this was a terrible, TERRIBLE road to ride bikes on, she had moved here 56 years ago, and knew the place well. At that point we smiled and said we were really enjoying it. She rolled her eyes and asked if we had enough water. We did. We both felt that she was a bit of a cyclists’ frenemy, concerned about us but hating to see us on the road. Would she have  offered us water? What brought her to this remote place 56 years ago? Was the hat tipping rancher her husband, charming her with his courteous manners? We will never know. Besides being on the RAAZ route, these roads are part of the Camp Wood 40 gravel ride, so cyclists cannot be too surprising here.

The next 20+ miles into town were hard. We were tired, it was hot, and we had a light headwind. Because of the wind direction, we were covered in a lingering dust cloud every time a car passed. Finally we arrived in town, stopping for cold cokes at the travel center. We eventually booked the “Marilyn Room” at a cute hotel, bought lunch supplies for the next day, found a fuel canister at the general store, and had an excellent dinner at Lilo’s cafe with a breakfast burrito to-go for the morning. We cleaned our drive trains before dark and called it a night.