97 miles, +3024/-1706

GREAT. BIG. SKY. The cross country journey continues.

The vistas leaving Holbrook heading towards Gallup are amazingly large as the road rolls across the miles. Lots of shops to stop and buy souvenirs, but little time for shopping.  This was a long day.  We stopped to refresh water, stopped for PB&J’s in the shade, and then again for water.  At a forth stop we dug the watermelon out of the ice chest.  It was good! Jokingly, the best ever, but then that’s what was said last time. Nothing much better than ice cold watermelon when you are well into a long, long ride.

Gallup, NM has a long stretch of Hwy 66 with many of the older hotels. Our choice is a hotel on the far east end of town.  A newer hotel. The longer ride today makes for a shorter 59 mile ride tomorrow as we look forward to crossing the Continental Divide.

Riding cross country draws the attention of other travelers at rest stops along the way.  Today a very nice lady stopped to tell me that her mother, who is now 94, rode her bike across Kansas four times. Another man, with his bike on the back of his car, told us about a wonderful (flat) 40 mile ride in PA.  And a third man, riding alone without a helmet (humm….), wished us well as he headed off down the road in the opposite direction.