F.L.A.T.

Let's see...

We have been riding a good chunk of our trip through California and Arizona via highway. Clearly, there are both good and bad with that passageway. The good - the views. We have gotten to watch as the terrain has changed from urban, to outskirts, hills, moutain passes to deserts. Today we went through the painted deserts, and headed for the flats. As the mountains receded, it was almost as if they were panning out to the sides. What was left was vast open spaces framed with ridges in the distance, intersected with long lines of rails and trains, and the occasional red rocks that seemed to grow and rise in the arid vegetation.

I had thought that the long hours in the saddle might bring some bouts of boredom, but - nope, not a chance. The excitement of the day was driving through a "dust devil". As we rode next to a 50 car train, I could see the dust picked up by the wind and the rush, and it came slamming toward us. In seconds we were enveloped in a brown dust storm, pelting us with sand and tumble weeds and providing minimal visibility. Jeff manhandled us through, and we enjoyed the roughage of grit in our teeth for the next hour.

As we rode in the new flat terrain, Jeff honed his skills on another kind of flat...three of them to be exact.  All the riders are picking up wire shards from truck tire debris.  We keep tally each day.  We came in second today, but we're the only ones who got to walk in on the exit ramp...out of tubes.



Today's score:
94 miles
104 degrees
8.5 hours
plenty of perky prairie dogs
tons of trains
leaping lizards
wigwams
Route 66
and we did indeed "stand on the corner of Winslow, Arizona"...