Miles today: 362
Miles total: 4509
Last night I checked the route for today and it showed 441 miles and 8+ hours ... that’s not gonna happen. The original idea was to circumvent Phoenix by riding the mountains northeast of it, circling counterclockwise and then riding west/southwest. Decided to bite the bullet and ride through Phoenix on US60 to shave an hour and a half off the ride. It’s not like I need any more mountain riding, and there was nothing specific to see on the original route anyway. My back and knees thanked me.
Rode north out of Tucson on AZ-77 and AZ-79 — actually the same “historic” US80 again from Day 4 — to US60, followed that to Vicksburg AZ, crossed into CA at Parker, then rode US95 to Blythe. The stretch through Phoenix wasn’t too bad, just some traffic lights for about 30 miles.
On AZ-79 I stopped to take a picture of the desert at a roadside table. This time it happened to be the spot where the actor Tom Mix was killed driving his Cord in 1940.
It was all pretty flat, straight desert riding on some lonely stretches of road. About the only moderately interesting bit of scenery was the Colorado river at the AZ/CA border.
You haven’t mentioned temperatures. Has it been hot?
ReplyDeleteGlad you opted for a shorter drive. Never thought about the effects of long drives on your knees. That definitely is a dry and lonely stretch in places.
Texas and Big Bend was hot, 95. New Mexico and Arizona were upper 60s to mid 80s depending on elevation. But there were a couple of days of high winds, gusts 40-50 at times.
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