Day 24 Fri. 10/01/09 Bloomfield to Dulce - Flats, hills, downs, Apaches!

Well, we get started on a very cold morning. You will notice we have more layers on than ever before. And after an entire 6 1/2 minutes, Kit gets yet another flat! GRRRR. Bill catches up with us after getting us sandwiches and ice at the store and so Kit is able to us the floor pump rather than one of the CO2 cartridges. Thank goodness we got 8 spare tubes yesterday, we may need each and every one of them. Once fixed we are going again, travelling through some farm land and being passed by gigantic gas field trucks. This entire area is called the San Juan Basin and it is rich in natural gas. The economy in this area is driven entirely by the extraction of natural gas and almost 80% of the vehicles that pass us attest to that. Soon after Blanco we begin to climb into Gobernador Canyon. It has wonderful rock structures that surround us on both sides, all dotted with Pinon pines and junipers. The road is lined as usual with chamisa in bloom with bright yellow bushy flowers. We climb and climb

through the canyon and while it is steep, it just doesn't seem that bad until a big semi comes barreling by us. Our hosts the night before had warned us about the dangers of the big trucks and no shoulder and so we are very watchful. At one point Martha yells out "Bail out" and we both get off our bikes and let a huge rig go by as we stand as far to the side of the road as we can.There is a guard rail and steep drop off that prevents us from really getting off the road. It does get our heart rate up! But eventually the heavy traffic leaves us, going north across the Navajo Lake Dam, while we continue our eastward route on highway 64. Now we can enjoy the beautiful scenery a lot more. Bill, ever our photographer, positions himself to catch us with the canyon in the background. Once out of the canyon it is rollers but they are gentle and we are feeling good. But we do start getting hungry and wonder when we will see the van and Bill with our sandwich. At the top of a crest, there he is. We enjoy yet another lunch sitting in our camp chairs and really getting a rest. This was at about mile 38 so we have are a little more than half way and have the steepest climb behind us. After a little rest we head off continuing to climb with an occasional welcome down hill. The vegetation changes from primarily pinon and juniper to Gambel oaks and lodge pole pines. It is all so beautiful and the Gambel oaks as well as the cottonwoods are turning to fall colors making a wonderful soft color difference against the hardness of the rocks all around us.

We breeze down the hill into Dulce and roll through the uncrowded streets to our hotel there. The Best Western is the only hotel in Dulce but it is actually quite nice and prices reasonable as we are on the Jicarilla Apache Reservation now. The hotel also has a casino but it is full, not so much with gamblers as with hunters. It is elk season and 80% of the patron are dressed in

Cabela's type hunting cloths.

As always, Martha and Kit go straight for a shower. Afterwards it is a little snack and resting. Finally about 7 pm we head down for a very big dinner. We had been on the road for a little more than 7 hours. Our riding time was 5 hours during which we covered 71 miles with a total elevation gain of 5304 ft. We are getting stronger all the time! It is exciting to be getting so close to home.

Day 24, Thurs 10/1: Day Off Bikes But Doing Our Chores

Oh how wonderful to have another day off. We have ceased to call them rest days as we spend the entire day with chores, but at least our butts are not subject to hours in the saddle, or our legs pushing those pedals 'round and 'round.



Here we are working on the blog, wine in hand.

We did get massages, mediocre ones, but anything helps. And we stopped at a bike shop and bought almost their entire stock of tubes and CO2 canisters, having greatly depleted our supply.

We were in Farmington with our friends and hosts, Leslie and Paul, and were exceptionally well taken care of with cozy beds, warm showers, interesting conversation, and photos and stories of their recent bicycling trip in the Czech Republic, Germany, and the Netherlands. Leslie served two wonderful dinners, one of which was excellent chili rellenos with apple pie (apples from their orchard) for dessert. Yummmm.








As we near our return to Taos, we are getting excited to be home to family and pets. Chris has been busy getting the house clean for Martha's arrival. Thanks, honey, can't wait to see you!

Day 23 Wed, 9/30/009 Teec Nos Pos to Bloomfield - Another Big Windy

Our day is unusual. It starts in the middle of the night with the wind gusting to incredible forces and rain starting to come down. Martha had not put the rain fly on and so we all three line up and move her and her stuff into our manger where she will stay dry. It is a bit of a process and it takes a while for all of us to calm back down and fall back to sleep. The wind is still blowing in the morning and as we pack up the car we know we are in for one stiff ride. A quick check of the bikes show that I have a flat. Gotten by the nasty goat heads! We don't leave until 9 AM and we know that we may not make it with the wind blowing so hard. Bill will wait for us down the road to see how things are going. We start up a steep hill with the wind gusting at 35 to 45 mph. Once up it however we meet the New Mexico border and just have to stop for a photo as we enter our home state. Yahoo! We chug along, slowly but surely, making steady progress towards the town of Shiprock.

But oh no! Martha has a flat. There is no shoulder and the edge of the road is full of prickly weeds and so she must change the tire almost in the lane of traffic. We are directly north of the actual Shiprock but it is obscured by the blowing dust and sand. Once on the road again we realize we are doing pretty well and so when Bill finds us we ask him to wait in town just to see how things are going. As we approach town we see this sculpture, which is pictured at the top of the page, and it looks exactly how we feel, completely wind blown!

Once in Shiprock we find Bill and decide we are good to go and release him to go onto the Farmington area where he plans to explore the ruins there. We get a sandwich at the store and sit on the sidewalk to eat it as the Navajos walk by staring at us - it feel like a role reversal! Then, to our surprise, 5 or 6 Kachinas approach us all dressed as different dolls (for lack of a better word). They were looking for donation and carried big sacks that people were putting food items and other things into. They are not allowed to talk, but through chirps and sign language asked where we were going and if we were biking. It was quite an experience that I can't possible describe here. Soon however we had to get going again. To our delight the wind was now at our back instead of at our side. We fly down the road towards Bloomfield. But then OH NO! Another flat, this time for Kit and this time plenty of room to fix it. So we are off again, still flying towards Bloomfield. We get to Farmington in no time. As we approach Bloomfield Kit gets yet another flat! Damn Goatheads! We throw in the hat as we are only a mile or two from our planned end spot and call Bill to come get us and take us to our friends, Leslie and Paul's home where we will spend the next two night. Bill has had a good afternoon visiting both Salmon Ruins and Aztec Ruins and taking lots of photos. One to the left is of the doors at Aztec Ruins. We are well ready for our rest day. Leslie treats us like royalty and fixes us a wonderful pork dinner. We are in heaven after a very unusual and memorable day.

Day 22, Tues 9/29 Kayenta to Teec Nos Pos: Our Most Unusual Campsite

Another gorgeous day with 73 miles to ride. We were a little unsure of enjoying the distance today, but with more beautiful scenery, a mostly-downhill for 40 miles, "tourist" clouds to keep the sun from scorching us, and good roads, we had an easy morning. The final third of the ride brought worse road conditions, and later side/headwinds especially strong the last 10 miles. The pretty Chinle Wash is pictured above. We stopped for a break at a trading post after 30 miles.


While on the road this day, Martha celebrated 10,000 miles on her odometer, 1138 of those miles on this trip!

The plan was to camp at Teec Nos Pos, a trading post about 5 miles west of the AZ/NM border. There is nothing else for many miles and we had previously contacted the owner who said that it would be ok. We were anticipating a pretty bleak campsite, in back of the store, in the dirt, with perhaps no shade, probably wind, maybe the use of a bathroom...but there were no other options. Were we in for a big surprise. Upon arrival, the owner, John McCullough, took us out back to the corral area and suggested we lay our heads down in a horse stall. No kidding! Actually the stalls have not been used for some time, and had clean sawdust for the floor. So Kit and Bill decided they just had to spend the night in the manger, and Bill tested it out at naptime.


Kit and Martha drove to the nearby Chapter House, a community center, for a wonderful and as always, a much-needed shower, at a cost of $1 each. Afterward we had to head into the Trading Post to see what offerings there were. As it turns out John grew up in Farmington, knows the friends we plan on staying with the next night, spent years in the North Sea with the Merchant Marine, and owned the post only for 15 years. We thoroughly enjoyed talking with him, as he did hearing about our bike trip. The trading post was the real thing, still catering to the locals with groceries, clothes, weaving supplies, goats, hay; and in many cases trading with them for handmade rugs, baskets, jewelry, kachinas and pottery to sell to the tourists.



The goods offered in the "rug room" were fantastic. The selection was huge, and of fine quality, some museum pieces. We did shop; we aren't saying the cost, but it was the most expensive campsite we have ever been had.

Day 21, Mon 9/28, to Kayenta: In God's Country

This photo was yesterday. We had to let you know that the girls are always shopping. This Navajo vendor has been at this scenic view area for 25 years, and we each did find something to buy!



Today's ride was a breeze, and I don't mean we had wind. We had only (it feels great that we can now say that) 50 miles to ride, and mostly entirely downhill. It was another gloriously beautiful day and we enjoyed the incredible scenery along the way, while remembering yesterday's beauty and fun. We were in great spirits. For most of our entire trip the road conditions have been good, but part of today's ride had big seams in the pavement, making the travelling rough. Lots of traffic too. But, it can't all be perfect. We stopped at Mexican Water Trading Post to buy water and have our snack, enjoying watching the locals and tourists come and go.

We arrived in Kayenta at 12:30, checked into the Holiday Inn, then got back on our bikes to find some lunch. The Golden Sands was our choice. The building had been there for a long time, with a huge rock fireplace, and interesting photos on the walls of Navajos and landscapes. We split a Navajo Taco which was delicious and filling.













































We headed back to the motel where after a rest and a shower, Bill arrived, having hiked into the Tsegi Canyon to see the Betatakin Ruins. He got in a quick shower, then we hopped in the car to head up to Monument Valley. Another amazing area. We "ooohed and ahhhed" over the rock formations and the late afternoon light.








Our dinner plans were to go to Goulding's, one of the oldest and most well-known trading posts. Now there is Goulding's Museum (the original trading post, shown below), Goulding's RV Park and Campground, Goulding's Laundromat, Goulding's Mini Mart, Goulding's Gift Shop (very disappointing) and Goulding's Restaurant. Our meal was fair, but with a lovely sunset view of the formations, while listening to the foreign tourists in the background. Ever since Kanab there have been many tour buses carrying Germans, French, Japanese, and even a few Americans.

Day 20 (9/27/09) Page to half way to Kayenta

We leave Page behind as we climb the long hill up and past the Navajo Power Plant which dominates the scenery. The sky is still hazy from the fire to the west and the power plant adds to the pollution. Man's need for electricity! We climb up for a long way, past many interesting rock formations that help us to forget our uphill road. Today seems like it should be relatively level but it is not! When we see the GPS readings we have gone a total of 4974 up hill! Also, today is 100 miles from Page to the next small sign of civilization and so we plan on Bill picking us up

after just 50 miles and driving us to our camping destination at the Navajo National Monument. Hence the photo below with Kit putting the bikes on the car. In the morning we will retrace our car route to where Bill picked us up and ride the rest of the way to Kayenta, but for now we areready to stop and we muse about how whether it is 50 or 80 miles we always seem like it is enough at the end of our planned ride. If you have never been to the Navajo National Monument you should put it on your "bucket list". Even better that visiting is camping there. There are two camp sites, we pick the Canyon Overlook area and as you can see, it is quite an overlook. It just doesn't get any better than views like this, and did I mention quiet? No big rigs for miles, YEA! We are all taken by the beauty and the serenity. It has been another great day.

Day 19, Sat 9/26: Kanab to Page, Welcome to Arizona

We hated to leave Kanab, having had such a wonderful time in our cabin, and touring the area, but we needed to continue. We were looking at a long day, 75 miles, in Page. It was cool and hazy to start. We found out there was a fire on the Kaibab plateau, not producing enough smoke to smell it, just haze, spoiling some of our photos of far off cliffs. The Vermillion Cliffs east of Kanab were visible to us for many many miles.



The climb out of Kanab was very long, but mostly moderate. Once near the site of old Paria, we began our downhill, which took us almost all the way into Page. We met Stefan, a young Swiss man whose plan was to ride from Alaska to Argentina, but after five months his knees hurt and he was tired, so was heading to Flagstaff for a flight to Cancun to rest, then continue his journey. We had lunch together at a BLM visitor center in the shade. Bill met us there with deli sandwiches, after visiting the area of old Pariah, then he was heading on to find the Toadstools, hoodoos of sandstone.

Crossing the Paria Creek reminded Martha of her Grand Canyon rafting trip earlier in the summer, and she felt grateful for having the opportunity for two trips of a lifetime within just a few months of each other.

Kit's back tire was low. Thank goodness for CO2 cartridges! We squirted some in twice so she was able to get to Page without having to change the tire. It was hot; we still had 35 miles to go.



Yippee, Utah behind us and into Arizona.

We had one last climb before we descended to the Glen Canyon Dam. We met Bill there; he had scouted out the campground, deemed it not tenter friendly, so we would meet him at the Holiday Inn Express. We stopped at the dam for a break and photos, one looking down to the river below and the bicycles resting on the bridge. It was still hot, and the last short climb into Page was hard, but we were spurred on the the prospect of a nice cool room at the motel.