Day 27 Seligman, AZ to Kingman, AZ 87 miles

Massive beetle, Seligman, AZ. There's lots of big insects here.

Cycled 87 miles of uninterrupted of Route 66 today through some very desolate country. Passed through only one largish town, Peach Springs. There's nothing peachy about it; a very depressing Indian reservation town built from prefabricated homes and a lot of poverty on display. Gangs of bored Native American kids dressing and talking like they were straight
out of Compton. There's seems to have been a lot of investment in Peach Springs; a sports centre & cafe, a new school and some other civic buildings, but it doesn't disguise that there can't be anything to do here.

Peach Springs, AZ

Really nice decent through the mountains, Valentine, AZ
Hills like this make me glad I'm riding 66 from East to West

Model T Ford, Hackberry, AZ

Roadside 66 nostalgia store, Hackberry, AZ

Day 26 Flagstaff, AZ to Seligman, AZ 76.4 miles

Dummies outside a shop, Seligman, AZ

Old Areostream trailer, Seligman, AZ

Barbershop, Ash Fork, AZ

Had an amazing day today, a lot of descending and climbing through some amazing and very varied country; Arizona has to be seen to be believed. Climbed a thousand feet from flagstaff, 7000ft up to 8000ft and then descended below the treeline and back down into the desert (5000ft). The only problem was a 25mph SW headwind which made progress slow.

Me outside a 60s gas station, Williams, AZ

Route 66 to Seligman, AZ

Seligman is a strange place, it's very remote and there's no large towns for 70 miles in either direction of 66. The girl behind the bar said she has to drive forty miles to get out here from the cattle ranch she lives on. No one can believe that I cycled out here. Had dinner at the Road Kill Cafe, the whole place was decked out with Moose heads and rifles. Had the best steak of my life so far and chatted with a couple of fellow travellers who kept on telling me I should go to the Grand Canyon.

The Roadkill Cafe (best steak ever) Seligman, AZ

Hunting is big round here, elk in particular. There were a few surly looking hunting types around, staying in the motels. They drive round in camouflage pickup trucks and don't smile at anyone. I Wouldn't surprise me if they were ex-military and that they'd rather be hunting Cheyney style, the great white sport.

Classic American cars, Seligman, AZ

Seligman is full of Route 66 nostalgia; has some fantastic American cars and motel signage. The guy who owns the motel I'm staying in said he spent 14k getting his 1956 motel sign restored. See the pic below.

Supai Motel sign, Seligman, AZ

Barbershop pole, Seligman, AZ

Sunset on BNSF line, Seligman, AZ

Day 25 Flagstaff, AZ to Valle, AZ 35ish miles

Amazing forest (natural, not planted) North of Flagstaff.
No Ewoks though. Disappointed.

Mission Abort. Tried to make the 70 mile journey from Flagstaff to the Grand Canyon but only got halfway. Fitted the new puncture proof inner tubes bought from a bike store in Flagstaff and guess what? They punctured. Fixed the punctures but the tires wouldn't inflate. Busted pump. Managed to hitch a ride back to Flagstaff from this guy, a Canadian ex-pat, still had the accent. Finally got to ride in one of those massive pickups that pass me on the road all the time. Looks like the Grand Canyon will have to wait for another visit to the US. I'm spending tonight in Flagstaff so I can lick my wounds; back on the road tomorrow.

Day 24 Holbrook, AZ to Flagstaff, AZ via Meteor Crater, AZ 95.7 miles

Mexican run motel sign, Holbrook, AZ

Arghh, what a day. More and more punctures. The patches I bought from Asda's (Walmart) don't work. Lost around 3 hours of ride time, making me incredibly late. got my final puncture (no more inner tubes or patches left) on the road up to the Meteor Crater. Luckily one of the tour guides and her husband were bikers and had a spare inner tube. This got me to Flagstaff just after 9pm, sunset is at 6 in Arizona because they don't do daylight savings time. Had to cycle for 3 hours, 38 miles in complete darkness. No street lamps, just the headlights of the occasional passing car. Every time a cars beam hit the ground in front of me I could see snakes slithering around. Flagstaff's a nice town though.

07 Ford Mustang. This car is everywhere.

Meteor Crater, AZ

The landscape surrounding Meteor Crater was more interesting than the crater itself. It's a very old place; you can almost smell them dinosaurs. Where's me Glock?

Day 23 Gallup, NM to Holbrook, AZ 100.2 miles

Traveled 80 miles into Arizona today, fairly uneventful ride apart from three punctures. Arizona hasn't really kicked off yet. The landscape looks very lunar; flat and dusty with a few rock formations but nothing spectacular. Passed through an Indian reservation. They don't seem to use the politically correct 'Native American' term here. The Navajos are look completely different from the Cherokees I saw in Oklahoma, they look almost Chinese or Hawaiian. A lot of the local shops and gas stations are Navajo run. Saw four or five Navajos lying on the ground whacked out on something, probably smack. Very depressing. Also saw more police cars in a day on the reservation than I have in the three weeks I've been in the US.

Cows cross a dried up riverbed. None of the rivers for 400 miles or more have
had any water in them.

Gas station with a sand storm brewing in the background, Holbrook, AZ

My hand after 100+ miles of riding

Day 22 Grants, NM to Gallup, NM 61 miles

Nice leisurely ride today, only 60 miles or so. Crossed the Continental Divide at Thoreau; All the rivers from this point onwards flow into the Pacific Ocean.

Mountains at the Continental Divide, Thoreau, NM

Got told of by the fuzz for cycling on the interstate today. I looked behind me and saw a cop mobile driving really slowly behind me with its lights flashing, no siren. God knows how long he'd been following me. Obviously didn't realize that bicycles don't have rear view mirrors. Thick or what. This was the first police car I've seen in three weeks, four states and 1500 miles.

Day 21 Albuquerque, NM to Grants, NM 80.3 miles

Beautiful section of Route 66, Laguna, NM

Storm clears, Cubero, NM

View looking East back on Albuquerque and the mountains, NM

Took my time leaving Albuquerque, stopped off at the old town district which was on Route 66. Most of the buildings round here are single storey and have a similar architectural style to North Africa. The mixture of Latin and American culture is nice, I'd never of thought it would mix but it does here. Passed by a massive gas station/motel/casino complex that's being built on the edge of the Native American reservation, just outside of Albuquerque. Very surreal. The landscape round here is like being in the Wild West. Sticking a tower block with massive video screens on it in the middle of some of the most dramatic and beautiful countryside in the world is bonkers. Anything goes out here.

The storm that had been threatening all day finally caught me 20 miles from Grants. Some Mexicans took me in and let me wait out the storm in the lobby of their roadside shack. The Grandson of the family pulled back the rubber flap they were using for a front door to see If I was okay and I got a peek inside their home. There was about twenty of them in there! They were being very secretive and the grandmother of the family didn't seem to like having me in their home. I got the impression that most of them weren't meant to be North of the border.

View from the Mexican shack

Another storm threatens at sunset, Grants, NM