Starting Day 30 Out Right

Waking up this morning, I found that my front tube had picked up a slow leak, getting fairly low over the night. Fortunately, I was near a bike shop and headed in that direction.

It seems that most bicycle shops don't open till later in the morning, so I found myself with an hour or so to wait. That left time to get breakfast - something I found at a local cafe where I could use the internet and keep up on world events. At the bicycle shop, all the workers were the younger guys. I tend to find the "greybeards" to be my favorites at bicycle shops, probably because they are the ones who tend to be more into the bicycle touring and have a more similar outlook to me compared to the younger workers who are into the "exciting" aspects of biking. Regardless, the guy who ended up helping me had done a bit of touring and was quite friendly.

Given my luck of late, I decided it was time for a pretty thorough overhaul of the bike. I was out of un-holed tubes at this point as well, so resupply was a must. I had been saving all of my tubes with small holes, both as backups and to use for short trips when they wouldn't be as big of a deal. Finally, I gave up on that idea and decided to toss the old tubes (fortunately, they aren't that expensive) to clean up and reduce weight. Also, I had at least one decent sized tear in my front tire - the one I've had since the trip began - and general wear on the cheap rear tire that had been my only replacement in Kansas. Flagstaff seems big on bicycling, and this shop was well stocked, so I went ahead and had them replace both tires with decent quality, fresh tires under a policy of not wanting to push my luck in the middle of the Arizona or California desert.

I also checked on the road ahead (I was planning to follow Arizona 89 alternate). Daniel (the 5 months and still going biker) had given me his biking map of Arizona which notes steep inclines and color codes the maps for shoulder width of over 4 feet, under 4 feet, and for rumble strips on the shoulder. Most of AZ 89A had the under 4 feet note and the google map street views I'd checked on it looked bad. The bicycle shop workers noted that it was a pretty ride, but there was basically no shoulder along it. This has led me to change my route again.

I've found that side trips by bicycle can be exhausting, with a small "10 miles" off leading to 10 miles back as well, along with the hills in between. While seeing new things by bicycle is great, a lot of the tourism destinations are probably best visited by car, and no matter what road I'm on, I appreciate the scenery by bicycle. This trip has been great for encouraging me to come back with a car to hit some of the locations I only really noticed because I was moving more slowly than I would in a car. Keeping all of that in mind, I decided that I'll be taking I-40 most of the way to the California border before dropping down to Parker to get onto California 62. Bicycling on the Interstate is legal in Arizona, and I'll have large shoulders, although watching for debris will be more important. Still, I'd rather have a slightly less scenic, but far safer trip than vice versa. The interstate will also help me avoid the really steep rises and drops that can be draining, and I'll add very little distance in the end. Finally, food and communication will be improved by staying near the interstate, where Sprint cell phones normally get their access. If I end up disliking it, I can always drop to a side road, but for now, I'll be interstating it. Since I have an electric plug and am taking it easy today, I'll also throw in a few random pictures from the trip.

Photo of Chimney Rock (not the more famous one in Nebraska - the less famous one in Colorado)

My bicycle straddling the Continental divide line (brass metal strip you can see on the ground) at the top of Wolf Creek Pass. That's snow in the background you can see.

Saw this critter with some pups in Kansas. Coyote? I'm not sure and haven't done any searches to find out yet.

And on the other side from the critter above, several antelope with a baby.
Sign in the tiny town of Granda. A few names are fairly famous.
Original wagon ruts from the Santa Fe Trail. The dog on the right is apparently part of a breed of dogs that are left with the sheep as pups so they will "think of themselves as sheep". I was amused to learn that bit of trivia.