Deja Vu

Giving it a second try, we made our way east again down Highway 40 in
the hopes of reaching Winslow. We woke up around 5:30, wanting to make
an early start and beat any potential trip ending wind gust, but we
woke to 26 degrees with 11 mph winds. Flagstaff is at 7000 feet so we
knew it would warm up on our decent but we opted to sleep in and wait
out the cold weather.

Around 8:00 we ate a huge breakfast at a classic diner that had model
trains running around and classic decor which made for an entertaining
meal. Also, we found out what churizo is and that they put it in
everything out here.

My first highlight of the day was finally sending back that massive
backpack to Gainesville. After two days of search, I found a front
pannier rack made by Old Man Mountain that accommodated the disk
brakes. If anyone is planning on touring soon, start looking for front
pannier racks. Everyone sells the bags but no one carries the racks,
doesn't make sense! With the backpack gone, finding things on the bike
is much easier and the distributed weight helps control the bike on
fast decents.

Following that, we made for Winslow which was only 57 miles away. It
sucked seeing all the signs from yesterday and having that strange
feeling of deja vu but we really made up time. Without the tail wind
of yesterday, all the biking was left up to us but we faired better
without the occational cross wind. For 3:32:52, we averaged 19 mph for
67.41 miles, taking us straight into McHood park. That's pretty fast
fully packed!

McHood park is still under renovation so we could throw up a tent
anywhere. We first picked this pavillion because it was flat ground
for the tents and sheltered so we wouldn't have to us our rain flys
but then a bunch of high school kids showed up. This place was the
perfect setting for a party because you could see people coming for
miles so we knew we wouldn't get any sleep there. Next we biked down
this gravel road up around a rock face and found an entire camp ground
prime for the taking. The only problem was the wind. Moving back
beyond the site was what looked like a crater. Flat on the bottom and
sheltered on all sides we pitched our tents here. First annoyed that
we had to move, this place turned out to be a lot better.

Using the daylight left, we made our dinner, freeze dried Santa Fe
Chicken, and sat on a rock face watching the sun set for half an hour.
It's strange how cold it gets here, it's mostly the lack of vegitation
the promotes the high winds but the temperture inside the tents
couldn't be better, really sleeping bag optional.
Tomorrow we hope to have a light day, pushing e
astward to Holbrook
only 40 miles away.

We've had some really great camp sites along the way but this is one
of my favorite ones.