Bicycle Journey Progress
quinta-feira, 31 de maio de 2012
Plans for today
Today we will leave our bicycles in the hotel Bellagio and walk more on the Las Vegas strip.
Yesterday we have seen the first half of Las Vegas Blvd jp to the Bellagio.
We will also ride the New York New York rollercoaster if we have enough time before the David Copperfield show, which starts at 7!
This is shapping to be a great day!
No internet in Vegas
Hi folks!
I know I promised that we would post a few more daily summaries but the truth is we have no internet connection.
We have some material ready to be posted but I believe we will only be able to get that online once we wrrivw in Needles, CA in two days.
Sorry about that!
quarta-feira, 30 de maio de 2012
terça-feira, 29 de maio de 2012
In the hotel!!
Vefas is awesome, and very HOT!! It must be 100F now.
And best if all... CLEAN SHEETS! Hahaha
Day 47 – 05/19/2012 – Holbrook, AZ
When we left Gallup this day we hadn’t yet decided what our destination would be. But we knew one thing: that day we would move forward, no matter what. We left the hotel early, by nine o’clock. We then, as usual, adjusted the pressure of our tires on a local tire shop and hit the road.
There was pretty much no wind, so we could go forward very fast with speeds averaging 13 mph. For the first three hours we rode that way, covering about thirty miles twenty much trouble. That’s when we approached the New Mexico / Arizona border.
We took pictures on the state line sign and then stopped at a rest area right next to it. We had sandwiches with us so we took the time to eat before leaving. The Arizona Welcome Center had many brochures and we spent a few minutes exploring those before moving forward.
There were many rocky formations surrounding the road. On the top of some we saw a few Indian traditional tents, but I’m not sure if they were real or were there just to decorate the place. I believe the latter is true.
We pedaled strong and, after fifty miles, arrived in a place called Chambers. As usual we eat at a local Subway and, looking at our GPS, decided where to go. The only place with hotels moving forward was called Holbrook and was located about forty miles ahead. We got an extra sandwich to eat at the hotel and, with no further choices, by five forty we were back on the road. We rode as fast as we could, moving straight for ten miles at a time. Then we would stop, drink some water and keep going.
When the night finally arrived the temperatures dropped really quickly. As we moved forward we felt like there were layers of air with very different temperatures, some bearable with just a t-shirt and some much colder. We then stopped and dressed up better with jackets and gloves.
When we were about ten miles from Holbrook the highway changed. What once was a nice place to ride became a very dangerous area. They were having road work at that region so there was just one lane opened for each way, and the shoulder was very thin. Also, we approached the city limits the traffic increased very much and the trucks were passing by very close to us.
We rode for about an hour under those conditions. Then we arrived in Holbrook we looked for a place to get food, but the supermarkets were all closed already. We found a convenience store and got what we needed. Next, looked for a hotel and found a cheap one that looked nice.
We entered the room and eat our sandwich. Then we showered and prepared to sleep. That was a long day but it was worth it. When I looked at our odometer I noticed all the hard work had paid off: that day we covered 97 miles.
There was pretty much no wind, so we could go forward very fast with speeds averaging 13 mph. For the first three hours we rode that way, covering about thirty miles twenty much trouble. That’s when we approached the New Mexico / Arizona border.
We took pictures on the state line sign and then stopped at a rest area right next to it. We had sandwiches with us so we took the time to eat before leaving. The Arizona Welcome Center had many brochures and we spent a few minutes exploring those before moving forward.
There were many rocky formations surrounding the road. On the top of some we saw a few Indian traditional tents, but I’m not sure if they were real or were there just to decorate the place. I believe the latter is true.
We pedaled strong and, after fifty miles, arrived in a place called Chambers. As usual we eat at a local Subway and, looking at our GPS, decided where to go. The only place with hotels moving forward was called Holbrook and was located about forty miles ahead. We got an extra sandwich to eat at the hotel and, with no further choices, by five forty we were back on the road. We rode as fast as we could, moving straight for ten miles at a time. Then we would stop, drink some water and keep going.
When the night finally arrived the temperatures dropped really quickly. As we moved forward we felt like there were layers of air with very different temperatures, some bearable with just a t-shirt and some much colder. We then stopped and dressed up better with jackets and gloves.
When we were about ten miles from Holbrook the highway changed. What once was a nice place to ride became a very dangerous area. They were having road work at that region so there was just one lane opened for each way, and the shoulder was very thin. Also, we approached the city limits the traffic increased very much and the trucks were passing by very close to us.
We rode for about an hour under those conditions. Then we arrived in Holbrook we looked for a place to get food, but the supermarkets were all closed already. We found a convenience store and got what we needed. Next, looked for a hotel and found a cheap one that looked nice.
We entered the room and eat our sandwich. Then we showered and prepared to sleep. That was a long day but it was worth it. When I looked at our odometer I noticed all the hard work had paid off: that day we covered 97 miles.
segunda-feira, 28 de maio de 2012
Lunch time!
We found a gas station 60 miles from Vegas and are now having lunch!
This is an awesome place to rest!
So far so good!
We have progressed fairly quickly and are now about 25 miles on the way.
In about 45 more miles will pass through Hoover Damn!
Denny, the owner of the car!
A 1924 Ford, all original!
Thanks Denny for letting us get in the car and for being so nice!!
Day 46 – 05/18/2012 – Unable to Proceed - Gallup, NM
Due to our late arrival on the previous day and the fact we needed to rest before riding long stretches again, our plan for the day was to leave the hotel at 10 am and ride to a place called Chambers, about 51 miles from Gallup.
We woke up and did everything according to the plan ad by 10 am we were on our way. We then discovered my front tire needed extra air, so we stopped by a tire shop to have the pressure adjusted. We were worried with the fact the winds were too strong and the forecast called for even strong winds that afternoon, but we thought we could cover fifty one miles if we were to ride the entire day. We started moving forward, but the gusts were holding us back so strong that we could barely hold our bikes straight.
Our speeds were averaging 5 mph, and at times we were at just 4. So you have an idea, someone walking advances at about 3 mph. At these speeds it would take us ten hours riding to arrive there and we would need to stop and rest frequently due to the difficulty to move forward, so add more three hours for that. This means we would get to our destination sometime between eleven and midnight.
After just twenty minutes riding we decided that it was not worth the trouble to advance just fifty miles. We also decided to use that day to explore the city and sleep early in order to go further the next day.
On our way back we stopped by a nice Indian store and bought a small Dream Catcher for my bicycle and some other small things as well. We decided then not to go back to the previous hotel which was horrible. We asked the price on a few others, and finally found a nice one for a reasonable price. We placed our things in the hotel and went out to explore the city, but this time we left the bikes in the room and went walking.
We wanted to cut our hair and that seemed like the perfect opportunity to do that. We looked for the barber shop locations. The first one was booked, but the second was not. We got in asked how much it was. The guy wanted fourteen dollars for each. Since all I needed was to shave my head I thought that was too much. My uncle set down but he and the guy didn’t communicate well. The guy started to get mad and asked if we didn’t want to cut somewhere else. We really didn’t want any conflicts, so we just walked away.
We stopped at the local cultural center where we learned more about the Indians that inhabited that area before it was transformed into a modern city. We also had a great coffee and celebrated my uncle's birthday in advance by eating a delicious cake in the cultural center's coffee house.
We then crossed downtown walking and arrived at a supermarket. We bought food for the night and on our way back to the hotel bought a sandwich for the next morning.
That day we had time to update the website, shower and wash clothes without running too much. We slept early in preparation for the long day that was coming.
We woke up and did everything according to the plan ad by 10 am we were on our way. We then discovered my front tire needed extra air, so we stopped by a tire shop to have the pressure adjusted. We were worried with the fact the winds were too strong and the forecast called for even strong winds that afternoon, but we thought we could cover fifty one miles if we were to ride the entire day. We started moving forward, but the gusts were holding us back so strong that we could barely hold our bikes straight.
Our speeds were averaging 5 mph, and at times we were at just 4. So you have an idea, someone walking advances at about 3 mph. At these speeds it would take us ten hours riding to arrive there and we would need to stop and rest frequently due to the difficulty to move forward, so add more three hours for that. This means we would get to our destination sometime between eleven and midnight.
After just twenty minutes riding we decided that it was not worth the trouble to advance just fifty miles. We also decided to use that day to explore the city and sleep early in order to go further the next day.
On our way back we stopped by a nice Indian store and bought a small Dream Catcher for my bicycle and some other small things as well. We decided then not to go back to the previous hotel which was horrible. We asked the price on a few others, and finally found a nice one for a reasonable price. We placed our things in the hotel and went out to explore the city, but this time we left the bikes in the room and went walking.
We wanted to cut our hair and that seemed like the perfect opportunity to do that. We looked for the barber shop locations. The first one was booked, but the second was not. We got in asked how much it was. The guy wanted fourteen dollars for each. Since all I needed was to shave my head I thought that was too much. My uncle set down but he and the guy didn’t communicate well. The guy started to get mad and asked if we didn’t want to cut somewhere else. We really didn’t want any conflicts, so we just walked away.
We stopped at the local cultural center where we learned more about the Indians that inhabited that area before it was transformed into a modern city. We also had a great coffee and celebrated my uncle's birthday in advance by eating a delicious cake in the cultural center's coffee house.
We then crossed downtown walking and arrived at a supermarket. We bought food for the night and on our way back to the hotel bought a sandwich for the next morning.
That day we had time to update the website, shower and wash clothes without running too much. We slept early in preparation for the long day that was coming.
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