62.6 miles, 3635’ climbing
La Quinta Inn, Williams, AZ
It would have been nice to lounge in bed longer, but the morning is usually our best time to cover miles. Our burrito purchased last night made a good breakfast with the hotel room coffee. We rolled out before 6am in the crisp air. We had fun taking pictures of the Burma Shave signs as we left town. Trains were passing about every 10 minutes.
We passed a group of horses as we left the pavement and headed up into the junipers. Soon we were on some gentle hills, passing some private property, a juniper tree full of Xmas decorations, some jackrabbits. We had a long stretch of down hill before our half way point where the road got bumpier and we had to climb some hills. It got hot. We made several stops to eat and hydrate. At one place near the tracks we paused to watch an approaching train, and the conductor laid on the horn to greet us. We waved.
After a lot of bumpy up and down, we turned a corner and found ourselves in the shade of pine trees. We coasted down the hill to pavement, and soon we were in Williams. At our hotel, we cleaned our drive trains before going in. Then we showered and laundered all our clothes, picked up groceries, had dinner, and made plans. Tomorrow will be a shorter day to Flagstaff.
Living it up in a La Quinta Inn, nice. Any concerns about being in the sun for long periods of the day? I know I would be burnt by now. When I lived in Tucson as a kid I got used to the heat but I always burned in the spring. I was wondering the Ride Across Arizona indicates that this is more about traveling with groups but I not hearing about chatter from you about other riders. Is there a lot more riders? Enjoying your photos and written word. Thanks
ReplyDeleteWe slather on a lot of sunscreen and chapstick each morning and throughout the day and also wear long sleeves. We've found on these organized adventure rides that groups of people usually break up pretty fast and you're out on your own only occasionally seeing other riders briefly. This ride being so small with 20 or so total riders and the fact that we started a day later than the others we never saw anyone else.
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