Riding Route 66 Day 1 September 14 2012

Route 66 Day 1

This is The first day of our four-day ride mostly a long old Route 66 across Central Arizona.

Myself and my two sons, James and Bryan, arrived in Prescott last night after a 38 hour, 3,440 km (2,138 mi) non-stop car ride from Ontario, Canada. The experience of that car ride could be an entire blog entry in and of itself. It was an adventure. But I don't think any of us would choose it as the preferred method of getting to Arizona. None of us could figure out how to sleep in either the passenger seat or back seat of the Honda Civic. It was one of those "character building" trips.

It is now Friday, September 14, 9:40 in the morning and all five riders, Mark, Ben, James, Bryan, and myself are milling around brother Mark's garage preparing our bikes.

We have all loaded up our bikes with equipment and water bottles. We have oiled our chains and put on our helmets and we are ready to roll.

Leaving Mark's driveway we began to weave our way through the city of Prescott.

Within the first five minutes of riding through the residential and commercial streets and climbing the many short but steep hills that make up the town of Prescott, I found my heart rate at 140.

I think this is largely because of the high-altitude. Prescott is at 5300 feet above sea level. I also think part of the problem is that I am just exhausted from the 38 hour car ride that brought me here.

In about 20 minutes we find ourselves on the outskirts of Prescott. We are pedaling north on highway 89 towards the town of Ashfork located next to Interstate 40.

Our road takes us through the moon-ish looking limestone formations known as The Dells.

About 19.5 miles or 31.6 km north on highway 89 we come to the community of Chino Valley. We eat lunch at Taco Bell.

Chino Valley isn't a huge and prestigious civic center these days. But at one time it was the Territorial Captial of the Territory of Arizona. 

Back on the road we continue heading north and soon come to the small community of Paulden. This is about 7.9 miles or 12.8 km north of Chino Valley.

By this time the sons are far ahead of us and Mark and I are bringing up the rear. I think Mark is just being thoughtful and sticking with me because I am very slow today. Maybe he thinks I could get sick or something. I really don't feel very good today.

A unique feature of today's ride is the presence of large grasshoppers or locusts all along the road. These large insects are about 2 1/2 inches long.

We run over many of them (accidentally on my part; I'm not so sure about the other riders) with our bikes. Some of them stick to our spandex pants in a weird sort of Velcro way. This experience reminded me of the terrorizing times I had riding on the farm tractor with my grandfather as the Texas grasshoppers jumped all over me. Fortunately, that childhood experience desensitized and prepared me for today's ride :-)

Many of the insects are hit by the cars zooming by us. The injured bugs on the ground are then cannibalized by the living bugs. It's all a very gross to witness.

Fortunately this is the only day we see these bugs in these volumes. But there are thousands of them. Kind of wanted me to be biblical and eat a few.

At the community of Paulden, Mark and I stop for ice cream sandwiches for some energy at the one and only food establishment in the community, as well as to cool down a bit. Today is very warm. But not overwhelmingly hot like Arizona tends to be.

Not only is the temp "reasonable," but the desert is relatively green. This area has experienced significant rain over the past few weeks and we enjoying the benefits of it. We even sight the rarity of pools of standing water. Big puddles.

We are now about 26.1 miles or 42.3 km from Ashfork.

What we find is a very straight road on the very gradual and consistent incline. This is starting to take a toll on some of us.

At some point Mark increases his speed so as to maintain a good climbing pace.

I am lingering behind, going slow and steady. But mostly slow. I accept my duty as last in line, making sure no man gets left behind :-) I know I will eventually get Ash Fork. And I am on vacation so why should I really hurry? Truth is, I'm just not feeling so great and not really "on top of my game."

15 km from Ashfork I see you a rider heading towards me. It is my son James who's coming back to either check on me make sure I'm alive and okay, or maybe he just wanted some more exercise.

But he sticks with me and around 5:30 in the evening we reach Ash Fork.

I have been sitting in the bike seat for six hours. Total time for today's trip is 7 hours and 40 minutes.

We are staying at the Copper State Motel . This motel certainly shows it's age. Obviously remodeled several times, but it still holds the spirit of a motel that housed weary Route 66 travelers back in the 1930s.

Mark and I get to share one room. All the sons share another room.

After everybody's had a shower and brief time to rest we head out to eat of the only food establishment in Ashfork.

We have a great supper together just enjoying each other's company. I really feel like I'm on vacation at this point.

We head back to our rooms after supper because there's really not a whole lot more to do in this town and we are generally tired.

Even though this community is located right off of the interstate, interstate has created away for the world to just pass it by. Over the next four days I will form a perspective about these towns on Route 66 and how history and the interstate highway system has impacted them. Ash Fork is an example of how just moving the follow of traffic a few hundred yards away from the town's Main Street changed everything. More thoughts of the Route and the towns later.

We stopped at the general store and purchased our Gatorade Power Aid for tomorrow's ride. After 86.9 km (53.8 mi) with an average speed (My speed anyway) of 14.5 kph (9 mph), we all hit the sack looking forward to a good rest. Excited that tomorrow we will actually be writing on the original Route 66.

Bro Mark appreciating the shade of the tree and his ice cream sandwich outside of the general store in the small community of Paulden, located between Chino Valley and Ash Fork.

Just on the outskirts of Paulden, we had a brief break from the traffic of Highway 89. This is Old Highway 89, a remnant of the original road before more modern "improvements." This section of road was so calm we enjoyed riding side by side and had some good discussions doing our best to solve the world's problems. 

Here we are fresh and clean and energetic on the street in front of Mark's home. From left to right you see me (Blog Hog), James (Scary Peccary), Bryan (Little Hog), Mark (Boss Hog), and Ben (Jack Rabbit). We are -- and remember  this name -- The Wild Javelinas (And we have official gang/club T Shirts to prove it!)

 

Classic Arizona. But it should be pointed out that we rode through at least three distinct ecosystems in one day. You notice this by the vegetation in these pictures -- all taken on the same day.

The Dells Granite Formations on the road just on the north edge of Prescott. Notice the nice wide shoulder we had to ride on. Very much appreciated by all cyclists.

A very old building in Chino Valley. This will be the first of many old buildings (and old cars) I photograph. I figure that someday all we might have of this history are pictures.

Bro Mark cooling off in our Ash Fork motel room. Notice the neat mural on the wall.

Any time and any place you ride in Arizona you are struck by the beautiful vastness of this land. And, of course, you take a picture of it only to be disappointed that pixels can't capture the reality your eyes take in.

For a long time and my kilometers this is what we saw. This is considered "lushness" in Arizona's desert.

They fall to mention on the sign that our refrigerator door had no handle and was held shut by duct tape. But you know what? It worked and kept our Gatorade cold.

Dinner Time

This is the first Route 66 sign we see. And now, from Ash Fork on, we are getting our kicks, or at least getting kicked, on or by Route 66