Boy was it a cold one last night! The worst part is that it was probably only in the 30s. The idea of going to the Grand Canyon is slipping away. If we were cold at 30, then 15 would be just awful. We are so close and we know this is going to be the only opportunity to ride our bikes there, but unfortunately I think it's just too unrealistic to try to go there when it is that cold. Both of us really wanted to go, probably me more than Joey just since I've never seen it before. At one point we thought about renting a car when we got to Phoenix so we could drive up to see it, but we ended up deciding against it. Although we are close, it would still be a 3-4 hour drive just to get there. We also might have run into problems with the whole renting process since neither of us are 25 yet. Although we still have the option to ride to the canyon right now, we will have to finalize our decision by the end of our lunch break today because that will be the turning point to either head to the canyon or head towards Phoenix. We woke up pretty early today and got everything packed up pretty quickly. After having some oatmeal and a banana for breakfast we pushed our bikes back down the sandy dirt road that we had gone down last night to camp. The road was just as bad as yesterday ( having not an inch of shoulder) for about 15 miles or so. There were a couple sections where there was a shoulder for about a mile and then the road would go right back to having no shoulder again. About 10 miles into the ride, we passed the road that went to Chloride, AZ (the original destination we hoped to get to last night). It turns out that we didn't miss anything at all by not getting here last night. There was a kind of gas stationish building on the main road and then the 2 or 3 buildings that were visible near the town were a mile or so off the main road. We did ok with our camping spot last night, there weren't any good spots near Chloride, so it worked out good that we didn't make it there. The road continued on its gradual uphill for quite a while. Since this was how the road was all afternoon yesterday, the road had to turn into a gradual downhill at some point. And it did. But then, we started climbing again, this time it was quite a bit steeper.At one point we were riding along and saw a couple bill boards saying "free clean restrooms," "cold drinks," "etc... Next right." That was a welcome surprise since by that time we both had to pee. As we were coming up the hill near where this supposed stop was, we began to hear music blaring. When we got to the top and saw the restaurant/bar/gift shop it was even louder. Michael Jackson was coming in loud and clear. That boosted our spirits just because it was pretty funny- especially since there was almost no one around. After a quick break, we continued on up the long climb. We didn't have too much further to go to get to the city of Kingman. There was a nice downhill into what we thought was the town. When we got there we found out that the main part of town that had the grocery store, etc. was a couple miles down the I-40 on the other side of a big hill. So, we continued on, down the I-40 which was ok to ride on since there was no sign that said bicycles were prohibited. Instead the sign said "Bicycles on Shoulder Only." Either way, it was the only way to go without going an extra 5 miles or more out of the way. It is still not very fun riding on the interstate. Even though there is a nice big shoulder, the cars still go by so fast and are just so loud- makes me glad I have an earplug for my left ear now! After we made it over the hill, it was pretty easy to find the Safeway so we could re-stock on our food and get a little something for lunch. We decided on having cereal and milk for lunch just to change things up. While I went to do the shopping, Joe watched the bikes and ended up talking to a guy that was sitting outside the store drinking beer. The guy kept saying how great the road was that went to the Grand Canyon and through the Indian Reservation. He told us that we should definitely go that way instead of taking the interstate. Poor Joey had to sit there for a while listening to the guy go on an on about how great it was, unfortunately he was pretty much saying the same exact thing over and over again. Overall though, he was a nice guy and he meant well. We ate our cereal and milk outside the store on one of the benches. There were some boy scouts outside selling their popcorn nearby. It was nice to see them out there working hard on their Saturday to sell their popcorn. As we were sitting there, a guy on a bicycle inquired about our trip, and also told us that there was a bike shop right around the corner if we needed anything. We figured we were pretty set on everything, but after restocking our food, we decided to swing by there just in case they had any chains that would work for us since they are getting close to needing to be changed again. Golly- if it weren't for the maintenance part of the trip, this trip would be so much cheaper! They didn't have anything that would work for us, so we headed over to McDonald's to use the internet real quick before getting back on the road. We checked the weather one last time near the Grand Canyon and finalized our decision not to ride there. That was probably one of the hardest decisions we've made the whole trip, just because we knew there wouldn't be another opportunity to ride there. In the end though, I think we made the right decision- I just hope it's not one of those things that we will regret not doing later on. I checked to see if my Cousin Anne, who lives near Phoenix emailed me back yet, but when she hadn't I gave her a call instead. I am getting really excited that we get to see her soon! It should only take us about 3-4 days to get there from where we are since we aren't going to the canyon. When we were ready to go, we hopped back on the I-40 destined for Phoenix. It was such a weird feeling because we were still not 100% sure we made the right decision. The whole rest of the days ride, I couldn't help but think about how we weren't going to get to see the Grand Canyon, but also about how cold it would have been to camp up there in northern AZ. At one point we were riding along and passed a guy riding an old mountain bike. Although I didn't think we were going that fast, we left him in the dust pretty quick. All of a sudden we looked back and he was so far behind. Almost the entire distance from Kingman to where we planned to make it to was uphill, most of which was pretty gradual, so it wasn't too bad. I stopped at one point to check a licence plate that was upside down on the side of the road and couldn't believe where it was from when I turned it over- Pennsylvania! Eventually we made it within 5 miles of highway 93 which would take us all the way to Phoenix. We planned on making it to that intersection so that we would be able to find a place to camp easier and away from all of the traffic of the interstate. Just after we passed Exit 66, we were riding along and heard a loud "POP" sound. It was Joey's back tire-and now it was flat! What horrible timing since we only had about a half hour before it would be dark. Either way, we had to fix it in order to make it those last 5 miles. As we were there in the little section of land between the highway and that dumb barbed wire fence that they seem to have along all of the roadways here in AZ, we found out the really bad news. The tire was not just flat, but whatever Joey hit that made it go flat also made a huge slice in his tire. Because of that, the tire (which was just put on in Portland, OR and had PLENTY of miles left on it) was now unusable. The slice went clear through the entire thickness of the tire. Even though it was a waste of a perfectly good tire that was supposed to last us at least until Dallas, we did still have the not so great folding tires as a spare. So, Joe worked on changing the tire while I worked on patching one of our old tubes. Things were going great until we went to put air in the newly changed tire and found out that it was flat again. At that point, it was pretty much dark and we didn't want to ride on the interstate at night, even if it was just for 5 miles. Since it was going to take us a while to change the tire for a third time, and it was already getting chilly out, we decided it would be best to just walk back to the exit we just passed to find a place to camp. It ended up being about a mile walk, but at least we wouldn't be out in the middle of nowhere tomorrow morning (there was a gas station/restaurant/shop at that exit). As we were walking up the on ramp, we saw an old gas station up on the top of the hill. It was clearly closed for good, so we decided that would be a good place to hide out for the night. As we were pushing our bikes up the hill, we got about half way up before I decided to turn on my bike light and noticed that our wheels were covered in hundreds of thorns. Papa Mike had mentioned at one point that there were these thorns called "goat heads" down south, but this was our first encounter with them. At that point, it was too late to turn back since the wheels were already covered, so we just kept going and got to the top of the hill. As if we weren't already bummed enough, we figured by morning we were bound to have another flat or two to fix. We just said heck with everything and figured it would be much easier to fix everything in the daylight. To make matters worse, somewhere in the time we were pushing our bikes off the road to fix the first flat, my bike computer broke off my handlebars and was just dangling by the wire now- another thing to fix, wonder how we will fix that. Even with the horrible thorns, the camp spot was pretty good because we were on a hill above the interstate where no one would see us- and where it was a little quieter. After a very frustrating evening, we made the frozen pasta, veggie and chicken dinner we got at the grocery store and snacked on some cheese and carrots. As we were getting ready to go to bed, I could have sworn I heard someone throwing rocks over by the main building of the gas station (we were camped under the overhang where the gas pumps used to be.) Joey went out to take a look. Sure enough, I had heard something. It turns out that it was the guy that was on the mountain bike that we passed quite a long time ago. Guess he thought this was a good place to sleep for the night too. It is pretty funny though because he said that he didn't even see us over there- and we had the light on in our tent! We tried to forget about all the bike problems that we had today so that we could go to sleep. It will be an interesting morning tomorrow I'm sure. Our miles totaled 51.36 today.
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