The Horses are Watered, Fed and Ready for Departure

We cycled 81 miles today along I-40. The winds were very strong, luckily they were blowing in our direction for most of the day.

We left Winslow at 7:30 am hoping for a strong tailwind. Unfortunately, the winds were coming almost directly from the south, gusting over 30 mph.  We had a very difficult time keeping ourselves upright for the first hour and progress was very slow. Midmorning, the winds shifted to a WSW direction and we were off to the races.

Dan Moves Along I-40

I-40 in this territory replaced old Route 66.  Although the exits along I-40 are wide-spread, we saw a  number advertisements for old stops along Historic Route 66.  Our hotel looks like it comes from this same vintage.  It is very comfortable and the staff is very accommodating, but the Chieftain Hotel lost its fastball a long time ago.

Lobby and Staff of Chieftain Hotel

There is no restaurant anywhere in sight, but the Gas Station/Convenience Store next door has all the food we need to fill our tanks.

It took us less than 7 hours to make it to our hotel so we had plenty of time this afternoon to plot our route for tomorrow. The weather is not going to be accommodating tomorrow as we will be heading directly into a northeast wind. We hope to make it through Gallup and over the Continental Divide, but we will have to monitor our progress and plan our stop accordingly.

Today was a good day to recover our energy from the climbs of Saturday.  We both are feeling better as we close out the day.

Worse Than Texting and Driving - Taking a Self Portrait While Cycling