Day 59, 43 miles (and 4,500 vertical feet), Cottonwood to Prescott, AZ
Day 58, 55 miles, Flagstaff to Cottonwood, AZ
Day 57, 38 miles, Meteor Crater to Flagstaff, AZ
Day 56, 68 miles, Holbrook to Meteor Crater, AZ
Day 55, 69 miles, Chambers to Holbrook, AZ
First of all, thank you to whoever is still reading this blog, and sharing this trip with me. Your much-appreciated comments, likes and other responses have kept me from feeling completely alone out here on the bike road.
As I think back over the past two months, and the nearly 3,000 miles ridden across this diverse, fascinating, naturally beautiful country, it’s difficult to get my head around it. I’m still too close. In 9 days, if all goes as planned (must be said), I’ll roll into Los Angeles and triumphantly plunge into the Pacific Ocean at Long Beach.
For now, I continue to try not to consider that moment too earnestly. There is still a lot of riding to do – more than 400 miles, and a tricky ride across the Mojave – and it has to be one day at a time.
My 70-day xUS bike trip will likely be more like 68 days, a tad ahead of schedule. These days in the Southwest have provided some wonderful tourist stops. Meteor Crater, for example, just west of Winslow, AZ, is a stop I’ve wanted to make for years. I camped out at the Meteor Crater RV park just off of I-40,
then rode the 12-mile round trip deep into the desert to the monument, a mile-wide, 600-foot-deep, 60,000-year-old hole created by a meteor about 150 feet across. Well worth the desert ride to see this immaculately preserved phenomenon.
Here on Day 59, I can check off another experience from the life list: staying in a tree house. This Prescott, AZ, airbnb is a perfect fit for an adventure, and it’s one of the funkier places I’ve stayed in (meant in a positive way). Exterior:
Interior, from the front porch:
It’s good to have a place with character here in Prescott, because it was not easy getting here. From Cottonwood, where I stayed last night, viewing the smoke-filled sky from the San Rafael fires up in the hills, it’s a serious climb up through Bull Canyon pass to get to Prescott. Up I labored, 4,500 feet in 15 miles, from Cottonwood, at 2,500 feet, up to a little over 7,000. Here’s what I was looking at all morning:
Breathtaking views at the numerous rest stops along the way. And the downhill, 2,000 steep feet on the other side of the pass, is a great payoff. I coasted at up to 40 mph at times, and even passed a car that was unable to take the hairpin turns fast enough.
Once near Prescott, there’s another great payoff, one of the best bike trails I’ve been on, the Mile High trail, a remote trail with spectacular views of towering pointed rock formations.
Now, 9 days to go (8 days of riding after a 0 day tomorrow here in Prescott – more treehouse time). The trip, so far, has contained everything one could want in adventure: ecstasy, uncertainty, pure joy, danger, freedom, pain, wonder and drudgery. One thing it hasn’t contained: boredom.