McBRAAM Stage 6: Winslow, AZ to Gallup, NM..."A starving ostrich and petrified wood in need of a polishing."

689.2 miles ridden.
29,105 feet climbed.

Nothing like riding 125 miles uphill. But we had a tailwind all the way, so life was good. The late evenings and early mornings are something to behold in these western deserts. They're very clear, the air seems so crisp and clean, and you can see such vast distances. It's really easy to just pedal the miles away and enjoy the scenery. I find myself enjoying it more than I thought I would. I was expecting this part of the journey to be a slog through the wilderness.

Speaking of the wilderness, to me it's quite humorous the lengths the local businesses go to just to get a passerby to stop at their little "attraction". One such locale was offering opportunities to feed their ostrich,and for FREE no less! I saw no cars in the parking lot, so that must be one hungry ostrich on most days. Another enterprising soul offered to polish your petrified wood for free. I was disappointed that I had left all my petrified wood at home.

Very near the AZ-NM border, I thought for sure we would be yielding our scalps to the Navajos. Route 66 took us along the base of a beautiful red rock cliff formation. About half way up on a large shelf, there was a large tribe with tee-pees, horses and "Indians" surveying the land. But as we drew nearer, it became apparent that they wouldn't be causing any trouble as they were made of concrete. Can't get more stoic than that.

But we also had 4 flat tires between us. Fixing the flats cost us about 1.5 hours of transit time, and coupled with the long miles, made for a very long day. We were also due for a laundry night. We got to the hotel, freshened up, went to dinner, then returned to the room to do chores. While laundry was running, we had an inner tube patching party. By the time we finished, we had nothing more to give the day.

https://www.strava.com/activities/1217106727
https://www.relive.cc/view/1217106727


1 very long climb

1 very nice tailwind

2 states ridden in today
4 flat tires

7 fake dinosaurs spotted

Hotel: Econolodge, 3 of 5 stars (settling in as a consistent place to stay).
Restaurant: Badlands Grill, 5 out of 5 stars (excellent steak and world's best hamburger according to Lance).