May 21, 2019
Shelley Brothers about to hit Route 66 again.
Our Goal: Pedal from Gallup, New Mexico, across and through Texas, to Oklahoma City.
About three weeks of cycling delight.
But first, I must find my way from Ontario, Canada to Arizona, USA.
Southwest Airlines helps me get to Arizona from the Wayne County Airport in Detroit, Michigan.
I ship my bike ahead of me the week before by UPS utilizing BikeFlights. Just a little easier than lugging all my bike gear (several bags) and a big bike box through the DTW airport and clearance through US Customs.
The photos summarize what happened next.
Having arrived a couple of days before our actual departure from Gallup New Mexico, I get to visit for a bit with my son, Luke, and his partner, Erint. Luke is a Canadian gone Arizonian.
Me, Luke, and Mark manage to squeeze in a Diamond Back Baseball Game in Phoenix. (Photo above.) Too bad there's not much of a family resemblance, eh?
(In Canada we say, "Eh?" - Pronounced like a "long" A at the end of questions so as to open the door for the listener's reflection or response. It's a Canadian thing. American's often say, "Huh?" to achieve the same goal.)
Luke really wanted to join us on his bike. But alas, he had no vacation time off from work.
He'll have to save his powerful wheels for a future ride.
Mike and Heather Davis, two very delightful friends of Mark, graciously transported us on the 5 hour drive to Gallup.
They delivered us to our vintage Route 66 Motel, the Colonial. (I got to wonder if this motel name is a veiled reference to the national imperialistic North American agenda by Europeans that created so much of the painful legacy among the Native population and the white man's relationship with them that still persists today?)
Mark stands in the motor court, as they once called these places, trying not to shiver.
It is as cold as those clouds are gray.
These very unseasonably cool temps drop below freezing at night, and just barely climb above that during the day, presented an unexpected surprise and challenge for us cyclists.
We were prepared for seasonably cool temps, not unseasonably cold temps.
After supper, we had a few hours "free," so we Ubered to the local theatre and viewed "Avengers: End Game."
Mark's first time to see it. My second time.
I cried for a second time. I won't explain why so as to not spoil the movie if you are one of the few people in the universe not to have seen it.
Whenever we stepped out of our motel, we wore every piece of light clothing we brought.
Our growing realization of this really cool challenge, would lead us to a conversation later that evening resulting in the first of several major modifications we would make on this trip.
There are ALWAYS major modifications to our carefully crafted cycling plans. As Mark's partner, Carolyn, observed, "These trip never go the way you plan them." She's righter than rain. We've grown accustomed to being observant, flexible, and resorting to extreme creativity on our cycling adventures.
In the photo you see my bike loaded and ready to ride in the morning.
If it looks heavy, that's because it is. For me, this was the heaviest load of equipment I had ever carried. I believe Mark would say the same for himself.
Here we are. Packed and warm in our motel room.
This created a conversation about the compatibility of our planned route, and the weather cards we are being dealt by nature.
Our plan for our next day of riding was off of Route 66. The original Route 66 is literally buried under the multiple lanes of the major high speed Interstate 40, and, long stretches of that Interstate were under major repair or expansion construction involving lane reductions -- meaning less road shoulder for relatively small bikes to share with very big and fast cars and trucks.
Our original plan was to utilize Arizona State Highway 53, a two lane not-much-traffic road that would take us to El Morro for our first evening on the ride. El Morro hosts some of the earliest remains of North America's Indigenous population.
After camping in El Morro, we would pedal on Day 2 to a motel in Grants, New Mexico.
But it would also mean we are camping out tomorrow night in a primitive campground in sleeping bags ill-suited for the below freezing temps forecast.
As much as we wanted to view this unique site, we decided to re-route.
Rather than heading to El Morro, we decided to brave the Interstate Highway up and over the regional mountain pass and pedal non-stop to our motel in Grants.
By Re-routing like this we will also be combining two days of travel into one day, creating one of our longest and most strenuously challenging days for the entire trek, right on our first day.
We are being either courageous or crazy or both in doing this.
Inasmuch as this is the first day of our trip, such long distances are not usually a good idea. The first few days of a bike trip are usually for conditioning -- for finding our leg muscles and adapting to the higher elevation with its thinner air. More a need for me who lives at almost sea level, but not for Mark, who is a mountain dweller.
We are metaphorically choosing to dive right into the deep end without even testing the water. Upon reflection, I think we are being both courageous and crazy. The best of both worlds!
Nothing like adding adventure to adventure.
You'll have to read tomorrow's blog to find out what happens.
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