Total Trip Distance: 868.21

SELIGMAN, AZ TO FLAGSTAFF, AZ.  Route starts at 5400 ft then ascends to 7300 ft.

Leaving Seligman, AZ

TOM:

Day 10 – Today as we prepared to leave Seligman, AZ to travel to Flagstaff, AZ we discovered a flat on my bike.  The cause was a faulty patch.  We replaced the tube with my last good tube and still departed at 9:00 am.  We were hoping for an earlier departure time.  The trip was 75.28 miles long and took us 6 hours, 39 minutes and 23 seconds of riding time.  The actual time with all stops was 8 hours and 45 minutes.  An average speed of 11.3 mph was the slowest speed for any of the daily trips so far. The day also had next to the longest riding time.  Our trip total miles has reach 868 miles, at least one fourth of the way.  The day started with a climb to 5700 feet from 5300 which was steep and took us over an hour to reach at about 11 miles.  The terrain then declined to about 5000 feet before climbing back to about 6900 feet at 40 miles for the start. We reached our highest peak today at 7336 feet a few miles before reaching Flagstaff.  The wind was one of  the factors in the slow speed and of course the elevation changes of over 2700 feet was the other factor.  The wind was a matter of degrees.  The wind was from the south with a direction of about 90 degrees from our forward progress.  It is estimated that angle varied from 75 degrees to 105 degrees.  When the angle is less than 90 degrees the wind is in the face and when more that 90 degrees it is at your back.  Today the wind was mostly less than 90 degrees, slowing our progress.  The first 18 miles was on Route 66 and last 5 miles was on Route 66. The remaining part was on Highway 40.  The big change today was to see the scenery turn from mostly brown to mostly green.  The change was very rapid and dramatic even when traveling at 11 mph. During the first 18 miles we saw many classic cars on the way to Seligman for the start of the car show and parade.  The cars travel from Seligman, AZ to Topah, AZ  along Route 66.  After ariving in Flagstaff we visited the Loose Spoke bike shop to get a supply of tubes and patches for my bike. Another great day!

Lucille:

May 2 - Friday - This morning I spent about an hour and a half roaming around Seligman.  I walked from the motel to the center of town and back.  The houses along the Route 66 main street of the town are old and pretty run down.  One of the homes had a chain link fence in front with several cow skulls on the fence and also attached to the bark of a large tree.  Another house I saw had a chain link fence in front with antlers on the fence from one end to the other.  It is an exciting day for the town because the cars for the Fun Run start arriving.  I saw a few of the cars in town and others heading toward Seligman as I drove to Flagstaff.  A barbecue was scheduled for the afternoon and there would be dancing in the street in the evening.  In front of one of the houses were several tables that had been set up to sell local crafts.  There were a number of gift shops selling Route 66 memorabilia.  As I was looking around, I was approached by 2 men who were selling CD's of the country music written by one of the men.  They were from  Hayward.  Ron Dunivan, the artist who wrote the music, introduced himself to me and was proud to tell me that he worked with Merle Haggert on some of the songs.  He started singing one of the songs that I would hear on the CD.  I ended up buying it and he signed it and asked if he could have his picture taken with me.  His friend took the picture, I went on my way, and they approached other folks to tell them about the CD.  Ron will be performing for the musical part of the festivities tonight.  After leaving Seligman, I drove to Flagstaff.  I drove through the little town of Ash Fork without stopping.  Later I stopped in Williams to buy food for our cooler and to get gas.  We are staying at a Days Inn tonight.  I was relieved to see Tom and Eric at the door at about 5:45, because today's ride was very hilly.  Beautiful scenery again.  Green around here.  Snow-covered mountain in the distance.  We had a good Italian dinner tonight at Stromboli's.  

Day Ten - 5/02/2003

Snow covered San Francisco Peaks

Hide 'n seek.  Is this a prairie dog?

Our Historic Route 66 motel room decor

ERIC:

Day 10 - (5/2/03) Last night at the Road Kill Cafe they didn't have any  praire dog burgers.  We did have the best meal we have had in a few days.  Today was one of  the hardest days of the trip.  It was windy and uphill.  We are watching the Flagstaff news as I type and it just had the weather.  It said the wind gusts were up to 30 mph.  It felt more like 100 mph on a bike.  Even going downhill was a chore today.  The wind was relentless.  Climbing 2500 feet was easy compared to the wind.  It felt good passing 3 broken down trucks within the first 5 miles of climbing.  Since the wind was strong all day my legs are tired.  Toward the end of the day I was glad to see a little downhill into Flagstaff.  The last few miles were tough.  I think I am still having a great time because when we got into town we went to The Loose Spoke, a local bike shop.  While talking about the day and how painful it was I still had a smile on my face.  Tomorrow the wind is predicted to be up to 45 mph.  We will see how far we blow tomorrow.

On top of Arizona