Flagstaff Arizona

We found the sun and heat as we rode West on I 40 from Santa Rosa to Flagstaff today. I 40 parallels the original Route 66 which ran, I believe from Chicago to the West coast of the US.

Riding along at or near the posted limit of 75 mph on a motorcycle, the mind easily slips back in time to imagine what it was like to travel the original route, the remains of which still exists in places and is often only 100 feet from current highway. The landscape is desolate much of the way, particularly from Santa Rosa to Albuquerque, flat with tumble weed or sage brush covering the land for miles. Beyond that is a slow climb to and elevation of 6000 feet. The temperatures where in the 50's in the morning but by noon had climbed into the 90's, then as we climbed  and found rain clouds, dipped again in the afternoon.

We made a short stop for lunch at the Arizona line, where I ran into 2 more riders from Arkansas who had blown by us earlier in the day. Other than that it was gas and go only today, we have seen the Painted Desert and there is not much more to see along this leg. We spent the day trying to figure out the time changes out here ( Arizona does not recognize daylight savings time ) I had figured it would be 5:30 when we arrived, I was only 2 hours off as we arrived at 3:30... it was still 7 1/2 hours of riding, and we are looking forward to some time on back roads and a few days of rest in National Parks and Vegas next week.

After checking in we rode west of town to the 66 roadhouse where you cook your own steaks on their grill. As I type this it is 10:30 local time, I won't even try to calculate Florida time right now. I am sure we will have some pictures to post, and will try to get to that in the morning. We will be out of touch in the Grand Canyon Sunday before traveling to Southern Utah on Monday.