The next day
(11-8) was another long and boring travel day. (Hmm, I’ll bet my talking about this
kind of day is getting long and boring too.) I rode about 90 miles from Holbrook to
Flagstaff, all on I-40. The first 33 miles weren’t bad at all, as the wind was behind
me. I even had thoughts of this being a pretty easy day – I averaged almost 18 mph
during this stretch. Then I stopped for lunch. Thirty minutes later, I was back on the
road, but this time with the wind in my face where it remained all of the way to
Flagstaff. I think I averaged less than 10 mph for the last 57 miles, and got to my
campground just as it was getting dark. I was really worn out too.
The town where I stopped for
lunch was Winslow, made famous by the Eagles in one of their early hit songs:
"Standing on a corner in Winslow, Arizona, it’s such a fine sight to see.
It’s a girl my lord, in a flatbed Ford slowin’ down to take a look at me."
That’s pretty close to how it goes, anyway.
Somewhere along I-40 in the
middle of the afternoon, I was attacked by three tumbleweeds that rolled out of the median
and across the road – two went right in front of me and the other right behind me. I
think it was an ambush (or maybe a pmbush since it was afternoon) set up by my friend the
wind god. I only saw one other tumbleweed all day.
(Great
Adventures to Scenic Places)
