to hit the Arizona-style landscape when we left Durango and headed to
Cortez, CO. My friends and I unfortunately passed up the chance to go
to Mesa Verde, a collection of ancient cliff dwellings, because we
didn't know what it was, but that just gives me yet another reason to
bike in Colorado again sometime in the future. At least we did get
Girl Scout Thin Mint Blizzards, the much anticipated Blizzard of the
Month at DQ, before the day was up.
From Cortez, we headed down to Four Corners for a photo op on the way
to Red Mesa, Arizona, which was basically just a high school and a
health care center in the middle of nowhere. The next few towns we
would stay in were on the land of the Navajo Nation, which I found out
is actually about half the size of Texas. The area is wrought with
poverty because the Navajo Nation does not allow people to own land
but rather gives out grazing rights to families, which greatly limits
the upward mobility of the Navajo people. It was definitely a rough
place to be.
The next town we rode to was Kayenta, where Father Jerry was kind
enough to open up his church to us and talk with us about our
adventures and other groups that had stayed at the church. That
afternoon, we went on a tour of Monument Valley, the famous collection
of rock formations used in old westerns, car commercials, Mission
Impossible 3, Back to the Future 3, and Forrest Gump. It was a pretty
amazing site to see.
The next day we headed toTuba City, a small town on the Navajo
Reservation. We stayed at the Assembly of God Church there and got a
chance to talk with a lot of locals while we were doing a bike clinic
and then eating dinner. The next morning, the church provided us with
a great breakfast before we hit the road again.
Our ride on this day was only supposed to be 57 miles to the Grand
Canyon, but unfortunately the National Parks Service hates us and
wouldn't let us stay there, so we had to ride an extra thirty miles to
another campsite just outside the park. However, it worked out well
because it meant that we got to spend the entire afternoon riding
through the Grand Canyon and stopping at every overlook we passed. The
Canyon was beautiful beyond anything that I could have imagined. At 9
miles across and about a mile deep, it was almost impossible to stare
into the canyon without losing all concept of just how big it was. The
park itself was also pretty impressive, with a free shuttle system
running through all thirty miles of the park and to the closest town,
a visitor center, and a village with everything that you could
possibly imagine, from a post office to a supermarket. I guess when it
costs 25 dollars per car to get into the park, you can provide a lot
of services. As soon as we got to the campsite where we were staying,
it began to pour the rain, so we quickly set up tents and tarps,
cooked dinner, and headed to bed.
From the Grand Canyon, we headed down the road to Williams, AZ, an old
Route 66 town with lots of classic shops and diners. Dave at the local
Baptist Church provided us with a place to stay and some hot dogs to
snack on. We spent most of the day trying to clean up the mess that we
had made while camping and then started getting ready for the big
competition the next day.
I woke up feeling quite sick but decided to just try to bike through
it, since I desperately wanted to avoid riding in the van and also
wanted to participate in the game that was going on during the ride.
Basically, Dan Oates, one of the leaders, and some friends set up this
game for us to do during the day called Barrel, which was essentially a
combination of a scavenger hunt and a bike race. Some of the
challenges included getting arrested, having a police escort, paying
for a snack in all pennies, taking a photo with a mayor, and obtaining
the shirt off of a local's back. Needless to say, it was a fun
morning. Unfortunately, I started feeling more and more sick and by
the time we got to lunch, I couldn't ride anymore because of an
extremely high fever and had to ride in the van the rest of the way to
Prescott.
Today we have a build day here in Prescott, which seems to be a really
nice town, with a huge downtown area of small shops and restaurants
and a large park. Unfortunately I was too sick to go to the build site
today and had to stay behind, but hopefully I will be feeling better
by tomorrow and will be ready to ride to Wickenberg. It's hard to
believe that we only have seven more days of riding before we arrive
in San Diego. The trip has flown by so quickly, and we are all sad to
see it end, but it will give a great sense of accomplishment to arrive
at the Pacific.
No comments:
Post a Comment