July 2019 – Jewells On Tour

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Tuesday 30th July

By admin on Wednesday, July 31, 2019

I woke up to the strangest thing, I was cold! I had to climb into my sleeping bag I looked at mike asleep next to me and he was already in he’s wow, it’s been over a month that the temperature has been that cold. We’ve been sleeping on them.

Also bird song I didn’t realise until I heard it then that I haven’t heard birds or the dawn chorus in ages just buzzing insects. I can see trees through the window my heart is singing.

We go into San Francisco and look around a really nice city it must have been a fishing town and I remarked to Mike that it reminded me of Brixton he wasn’t impressed. I think it’s the seagulls watching the tourist eat.

Touristy things done ✅ we returned back to camp, tomorrow we will head back to l A and get the bikes packed up ready for the flight to Australia.

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Monday 29th July

By admin on Wednesday, July 31, 2019

We had to return the truck today. We’ve decided that nether of us are enjoying the heat and I know for a fact that I’m not coping with it. I am always the first to moan that it’s to hot in our little English summers. I like winter! I’m missing rain, snuggly blankets and drinking alcohol without already being dehydrated.

So it’s time to go somewhere cooler. We are in 120 degrees we look where we can realistically drive to in a day that’s cooler. San Francisco is a mere 70degress and only just over 400 miles in a car that’s nothing decision made.

There’s a hertz car hire place right next to where we have to take the truck so at 9 am we switch the truck for a s u v and head to San Francisco. It felt so good leaving the desert behind and watching the temperature gage go down.

Nothingness turned to Joshua trees then to fruit trees, almonds and grass actual green grass. The flatness started to change to rolling hills and mountains my spirit was lifted.

We pulled into the k OA just after 8pm it’s the busiest one so far and they have no tent pitches left so we have the luxury of a cabin for the next two nights. Tomorrow sightseeing.

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Saturday 28th & Sunday 29th July

By admin on Wednesday, July 31, 2019

Saturday we drove back from los Vegas to continue on Route 66. It reinforced that we made the right choice. Miles of desert and the heat was unbelievable I can honestly say I’ve never experienced anything like it.

We stopped at fenner which would of been one of our night stops. There is a gas station there that’s open 24/7 so we could buy food and water and use the loo. But no shade and we couldn’t really figure out where we would of put our tent.

Moving on deeper into the desert we arrived at Roy’s motel and cafe. This was our 2nd nights planned stop. The motel has long gone and the cafe is a gift shop. Old derelict motel rooms remain and there doors were open so we could shelter in there for the night. Temperatures are still very high at night.

Finally we arrived at Barstow and frankly nothing in between. This is where we have to return the truck. We have 150 miles to the end. We both feel that for us it’s to dangerous to cycle in this extreme heat and with regret we are going to drive the rest.

Our cycling adventure isn’t over though we have booked our flights to Australia and we will continue our journey in more comfortable temperatures. It’s late winter early spring there bring it on.

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Friday 26th July

By admin on Saturday, July 27, 2019

Yesterday’s little dilemma was pondered over. We ruled out cycling all be it at night it simply was too dangerous with out support the desert is a unforgiving place and we are lucky enough to have friends and family that care about us, we couldn’t do that to them or ourselves. Yes we feel your love 💕 thank you for your kind words of support.

Ok no cycling what then. The cheapest way is to get a lift, we’re off the main highway now. To find someone going our way with room for two passengers, two big touring bikes and all the luggage could prove difficult.

Next cheapest option train. We look on the am track website. The only passenger train going our way was a cross country one that would get to our station 11:30 pm and drop us off in Barstow the next safest stop after the desert at 3:30 am. If nothing else we could do that but what do you do in a strange town that time of day. Also it wasn’t clear if we could get the bikes on, the website said if there’s room. What if there wasn’t.

Car hire. You can’t hire a car one way for one day. Minimum is three days and to hire a big enough car for us, luggage and bikes was a tad expensive. Brain wave there’s a truck hire centre near us. Let’s call in and see what the smallest they have. Bonus we can have a truck for 3 days unlimited mileage for half the price of a small car.

So now we have 3 days of going anywhere we want as long as we return it to Barstow on Monday afternoon.

Here we are in Las Vegas for the night. Not sure where we will be tomorrow it’s a adventure I tell you.

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Thursday 25th July

By admin on Thursday, July 25, 2019

Here I am sat in a McDonald’s in Kingman. We arrived at Kingman yesterday after a 13hr cycle ride in over 100 degrees. Today we are taking the day off to mull over our options.

The weather forecast for the next week is 115 and above, we have a desert crossing with no amenities coming up. Even though we’re stupid this is a pretty scary option.

What to do.

Early starts, but realistically how far can we get before running out of water. And what happens if we get a flat or mechanical problems, what about a headwind and we simply can’t carry on. So many what ifs…

Night riding. How safe is it. You hear stories and all the above on top.

Is it cheating to get a lift.

Is there a train

How about hire a car…

Are we going to be failures if we can’t complete.

What to do

Sleep on it tomorrow’s another day.

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Wednesday 24th July

By admin on Thursday, July 25, 2019

Looking at our map we knew that today was going to be a long one, but it was longer than planned. Alarm went off at 4:45 all packed and ready to go for 5am. My front tyre was flat a slow puncture over night. Mike changed my inner tube lighting quick to the one that he repaired last night. We were on the road in no time.

Our breakfast stop peach Springs this is 40 miles away but the only thing in between is a r v camp that only do a expensive continental breakfast not for us.

Lots of nothing just one long straight road I heard somewhere that this stretch of Route 66 is the longest preserved stretch I may be wrong.

We stopped in a cool gift shop at Hackberry it had a live musician playing out side and lots of memorabilia around. A welcome drink and ice lolly to get our energy up.

That was 61 miles in and we still had to push on, nowhere to stay. 15 more miles in the heat we stopped for more refreshments at a petrol station, we had been pushing against a head wind for a while. And we still had another 17 miles to go. We rested a while at a picnic table watching a storm getting closer and closer.

The locals reassured us that it would stay in the mountains but it was getting black and the lighting was close. We really don’t want to be cycling in a electric storm. We try to sit it out but time is getting on and it gets dark early, with the head wind it could take us another 2 hours before we get into town.

We make a break for it, the wind has changed direction it’s now a tail wind great but that also means that the storm is headed straight for us. We pedal like crazy just keeping ahead of the storm. A sprint finish isn’t what you need when you have cycled over 90 miles in a day. But we made it before the full impact of the storm hit us.

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Tuesday 23rd July

By admin on Wednesday, July 24, 2019

A bit of a struggle to leave Williams today, it was a cool little town and the thought of heading back down into the heat and nothingness was a bit daunting. Our lovely pink writing motivator cheered us up . On the road for 7am we headed for our 1st stop Ash Fork 20 miles up the road.

Cycling through the town we could see piles and piles of flag stones. We stopped here for breakfast. We both had omelette and toast not to difficult so why o why did it take over a hour to cook, we nearly walked out but the next stop was our final destination 20 miles on with nothing in between.

There was some lovely down hills today we have dropped about 2000 ft but there was also a big climb in the middle. Huffing and puffing up the hill in the heat mike got another puncture at least it gave me chance to have a drink and rest while he changed the inner tube.

We were going to stay in the KOA in Seligman but when we arrived it was 2 miles short of town and nothing there, tomorrow is going to be a long day so we decided that we were better off heading into town where we can get supplies.

Glad we came into town it’s full of quirky gift shops including Angel & Vilma’s originally a barbershop est 1950 but when the interstate by passed the town business dwindled. In a bid to save the town he arranged a meeting with representatives of towns along Route 66 to make Route 66 a historic highway and his barber shop became the first gift shop on historic Route 66.we booked a motel though Booking.com check in from 2 we got there at 3 the door was locked but there was a bell to ring, no answer ring again and again no luck. We tried to call the phone number on the door nope not answering that ether all in all we were outside reception for a hour until someone finally answered the phone. We would of left and found another hotel but the cancellation fees were the cost of the room for the night. We think that he could see us on cctv as he was in all the time but for what ever his reasons were he didn’t want to open the door. We’re in now so another night in a hotel getting to be a habit. I’m missing my tent! Over all today was a frustrating day.

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Monday pt 2

By admin on Tuesday, July 23, 2019

Here are a few pictures of the Grand Canyon

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Monday 22nd July

By admin on Tuesday, July 23, 2019

Day off. Don’t worry there’s nothing wrong it’s one of our few planned days off. Williams is the home of the Grand Canyon Railway and we had tickets.

What a fabulous day. The train was well organised with on train entertainment and a friendly host looking after as. Yes it’s touristy yes we’re all like sheep and yes it’s expensive but it had to be done. And we both enjoyed the day.

And the Grand Canyon it’s self is seriously breathtaking the views across are incredible what a experience that quite frankly I haven’t got the vocabulary to even start to describe.

The train back was held up by a gang of horse back robbers just to add to the experience they certainly have thought of everything to squeeze the last dollar out of the tourist but was fun!

We rounded off the day with a beer from the Grand Canyon brewery. Williams has been a fun town to visit. A nice relief from the desert but tomorrow we have to head back into the heat, time to move on and get pedalling.

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Sunday 21st July

By admin on Monday, July 22, 2019

Leaving flagstaff nice and early we were treated to cool clean mountain air. Such a treat after the hot dry desert air.

Even though most of the day was on the i40 it was still one of the better days, the shoulder was really wide and being a Sunday it wasn’t that busy. Cool air, long down hills, pine forest and mountain views lead us in to Williams all before 11am.we think that we now have hit our highest elevation although we have a few more mountain passes to tackle. We’ve been following pink arrows on the floor for weeks and today we were treated to one motivating us. I so hope it’s true.

A nice relaxing afternoon watching the world go by with a local beer in my hand in a 50’s themed restaurant.

And in the evening we were treated to a street show that they put on for tourist every night. Where at least one cowboy gets shot.

All in all a good day.

Month: July 2019