I decided to attempt to use Google Maps to create a path to Colorado. I’m going to visit my dad in Clifton. I thought it might be a chance to scout some routes, in case I want to ride this way by bicycle. I got a little, well maybe a lot, off track North and East of Brawley in California.
Now I know what they mean when they say “beta”.
I ought have know when the track goes from paved to graded, that I should be consulting another source. But, I have misplaced faith, and I soldier on.
I’m still following the Google path and I expect this will lead to another paved road. When I’m wrong, I’m really wrong.
I find myself in Slab City. This is a haven for squatters and looks like some post-apocalyptic landscape. I see cars that look like something from Mad Max and shelters built underground. No rules, no rent, no water, no electricity, no sewers. Lot’s of freedom but not much else.
I don’t think I’ve seen a place more destitute. So what do you do for entertainment? Make a shoe tree of course!
Or you could cover a hillside with concrete and and pay homage to your god. Seems like such an odd creation to me.
I drive on this dirt road expecting to turn right onto the pavement at any moment, just over the next rise. Then, on this dirt road and I find this sign. Hardly a trace of Burley Circle on the landscape, but the sign is here.
About now I start looking for a route out. I know generally where I am, but it’s not where I want to be. It must be an adventure, I’m wishing I was somewhere else about now.
Eventually I made my way out to Indio and got onto Interstate 10 going east. I headed North in Arizona at Ehrenberg. I followed Arizona 1 north to meet Interstate 40 just north of Lake Havasu, I continued on Old Route 66 until I noticed I was getting low on gas.
The next place I tried to turn into, just closed up. Fate would bring me back. I decided to keep driving a few more miles. I ended up on the Hualapai Indian Reservation at Peach Springs.
I thought I would try to get a room. I saw no one in the lobby and decided that the place was probably closed for the night. So I drove across the street to the Park and slept as best I could in the car.
About 5:00 AM, I noticed people coming to the Hotel. I drove across and asked the desk attendant about getting gas. She directed me back toward Kingman about 5 miles and added that the store didn’t open until 7:00, almost two hours. I decided to drive down and wait at the gate. It turned out to be a good move.
It was the same store I tried to stop at the night before. It opened at 6:00 and I was on my way by 6:15.
I’m now driving east on Old Route 66. I’m imagining myself riding my bike. I hardly ever see another vehicle for miles at a time. I keep looking for route 66 once I get thorough Seligman and have some success and lose it a few times. Parts of the old rode seem to have been disappeared. I’m beginning to appreciate what it takes to write a guide and to map an area.
I’m still trying to get back on track with the Google Map when I can. It’s kind of a lost cause. I look for signs pointing to Old Route 66. Eventually I end up in Flagstaff.
Sometime during the day I realize that I’m missing my bike mirror. I only have three, but I forgot to bring even one. So now I have an excuse to go into bike shops like Absolute Bikes in Flagstaff. Like I really need a reason to visit a bike shop.
When I leave the store I look across the road, and there’s a Locomotive and small museum. I decide to keep moving and drive north toward Cameron.
From near Cameron I turned east across the massive Navajo reservation.
I cross Monument Valley, though Tuba City and then to Kayenta. In Kayenta I headed north toward Mexican Hat.
Then north through Eastern Utah to I-70 just east of the Colorado border I shot this double rainbow. I didn’t expect it to show at all.
Then I drove on to Grand Junction and then Clifton. I definitely had an adventure getting here.
Next … real bicycle adventures. 🙂