94 miles from Seligman to Tusayan, AZ today with 4800 feet of elevation gain. Seligman and Williams both were relatively recently (Williams the last town in 1984) bypassed by I 40 so retain a lot of the period Highway 66 shops and memorabilia, which is fun. Today's ride was tough both with the serious climbing and also 22 miles on the shoulder of I-40 and then a busy road up to Grand Canyon with a lot of RVs and buses that either have senile drivers or are all rentals and don't know how wide they area - the shoulder was OK a good part of the time, but you had to constantly be dodging glass and other stuff. Had my first two flats today, courtesy of small pieces of wire on I-40 - when semi trucks blow a tire the steel wire cores get run over and fragment and a lot of small and large pieces wind up on the shoulder - you can see the big ones, but not the little ones. Our group probably had at least 10 flats today. Beautiful weather though and climbing up from open plains to more forested altitudes (can really feel the 7000 feet elevation on the hills!) was pretty. Had zero interest/energy to ride the additional 4 miles to the canyon tonight (I don't think anybody did) opting for margaritas and fajitas instead but will try to make sunrise (or at least sunset) there tomorrow.
The Burma-shave picture below is a throwback - along historic 66 they have put up highway safety messages in the style of the old Burma-Shave sequential signs (usually 5-6 in a row with messages - like 'angels that help you...have a safe drive...usually retire....at 65'). Interestingly (at least to me) Burma Shave pioneered these billboards in Lakeville, MN and used them in many states, though they did not focus on Highway 66. Burma Shave was sold and the remaining signs came down in 1963 although the brand was resurrected in 1997 (though oddly, with a shaving brush - their claim to fame was the use of brushless cream). They've been a fun distraction on the road... Looking forward to some rest and laundry tomorrow - 711 miles in (not counting the warm up ride the first day) - wow...
No animal sightings today (though apparently, 65 miles of our route was a deer crossing - certainly saves on signage I guess)...
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