Breezy not so easy

Pretty good ride today. Really recharged batteries in Flagstaff. Had new brake pads installed yesterday, really scrubbed chain, gears and lubed the cassette well to be in good shape for start of week 2.  Was rather cool when we left Flagstaff (about 36) so I had put on my wind vest, and arm warmers but skipped the leg warmers.  Acccuweather said it was going to hit the low 70's by the time we hit Holbrook, anyway. Goodbye Falgstaff.  Hope to see you again.


Most of day was spent riding on the shoulder of Interstate 40.  Quite windy. Very loud. Not a lot to look at besides the dead coyotes, metal debris to be avoided, and the massive blue sky. Pretty flat terrain, some Mesas on horizon. Impressed with the number of trains and their length.. Some were at least a half mile long.  Like the commercial I remember seeing says "America moves by rail". Believe it!

Hellish cross winds most of the 91 mile length today on Interstate 40.  Matt, from MD, Cynthia from CA, and I compensated by forming a modest Pace line, taking turns leading the line then falling back to draft. Helped make the time and miles melt away and really helped cut the needed pedaling effort.

I wasn't expecting anything much in Winslow. Yes, the town made famous by Jackson Brown's song popularized by the Eagles "Takin' it Easy". I thought the stop would be a bit hokey. It was and it wasn't. The town was really quiet but there were many shops  playing Eagles music, selling the T-Shirts, making the most of their town's fabled name.  Sure we stopped to have our pictures taken at the Jackson Brown life sized bronze, but I noticed a lady taking her bird for a walk in a baby stroller.
Chatting her up she mentioned her dad did a bike ride from northern. CA, to Alaska.  By himself. Camping.  When he was 65.  He had to deal with animals when he was camping out.  I just need to deal with finding where I left my room key. Kinda put things in perspective...

Two other surprises. How pleasant a ten minute rocking chair break can be on a warm afternoon, just hanging on the sidewalk and how odd it was to find two steel girders from the World Trade Center set up in a memorial park just as you leave town...

Tomorrow we cross into The Land of Enchantment