Holbrook, AZ to Gallup, NM 88 miles

Early morning shot outside of the hotel

Looking out for Indians, but I think they were all selling jewelry

Dead River, see next pic.


This is sand not water. Looks like water unless you look closely.


Ty demonstrating the fine art of pulling a wire out with my teeth, tweezers not available

Apparently, not many Apaches, Navahoes already!

New Mexico is right on the other side of this magnificent formation

This was so pretty!

Can't have too many pics of the same thing. Well, maybe.

Finally, the last of Arizona. 16 miles to the hotel. Voila!

Arrested by the local sheriff for riding on I-40. Read text. LOL

Today we biked from Holbrook, AZ to Gallup, NM. It was a beautiful day although a little cool early in the a.m. We usually leave at 7:15 so frequently you may notice jackets and armwarmers on us in the early hours. Only an 88 mile day, so we were feeling groovy. Aeolus the wind god or Vasilia the wind goddess was with us. The wind was whistling from the SW at 18-20 mph after about 10 a.m. This allowed us to average 20 mph, a bikers dream. That includes all the diddling at the SAG stops and taking pics.

Although the wind god or goddess was with us in full gale force, the tire god was angry. I think we were a little too bragadocious. You'll have to pull out your urban dictionary for that one. Anyways, as Kirsten would say, we had numberous flats today and spent about 2 hours of down time. But you can't have everything.

By the pics you may be able to tell that we are now in a much different type of climate and terrain. Gallup, NM is actually very high in elevation at 6,468 feet (thank you Google). This is the high dessert and it gets rather cool in the evening and early morning hours and then warms up quickly. I really enjoy New Mexico and am excited about the cycling over the next week or so as we go to Grants, Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Las Vegas, NM, and then Tucumcari.

I was hoping to tell some funny stories or something, but can't find much amusing right now. Have to refuel my body and some of the 5,000 calories burned and get the laundry done. Leslie, oh Leslie, where are you now.

I am including a link to a little video shot today which you may find amusing. First what nutcase would take video on a bike one handed while going 24 mph. That would be me. http://tytalk.com/dogbikes.wmv

You all can worry about the stock market, Obama, the oil spill or the economy. I'm just worrying about pedaling to the next town. As they say in biking, "the only easy day is yesterday".

Oh and the final picture is from a prank where my cycling friends had the sheriff knock on my door and arrest me. .......LOL. They did this with way too much time left on this tour. Payback is a ....well you all know.

Sayanora

Ty