The stretch to Payson was on a very busy road. David gave us a ride to get out of the busy commercial area, but when we were back on the bikes we were still riding on a busy road. There was a shoulder for the first part, so riding wasn’t so bad. But after the town of Heber there was no shoulder anymore and the road kept getting busier. Fortunately there was road work going on, so cars had to wait for trafficlights a pretty long time. So traffic came in groups and that gave us some air in between. We spent the night on a very nice campground in a forest and the next day we rode the last part to Payson. The road was a bit less busy than the day before and after about 12 miles there was a shoulder to ride on again.

We wanted to go to Cornville, a little south of Sedona, where we could stay with Pete and Genie. The route from Payson to Cornville was supposed to be very nice, but also on a narrow and pretty busy road. After the adventure of the past days we weren’t really looking forward to that. It would take us at least 2 days and an alternative route, an unpaved short cut that really appealed to us, was closed due to a wash out. But then Pete offered to come and get us from Payson. We really didn’t want to ask that of him, but he didn’t mind at al so he came to pick us up. We drove to Cornville on the route we woulde have cycled and it really was beautiful, with a lot of hills and with rock formations, mountains and forest around us. And the road was indeed pretty narrow with no shoulder.

We celebrated Linda’s birthday the next day and we made a plan for the rest of the trip. Pete and Genie would take us to Flagstaff so we could continue from there. But first they took us on a tour to touristy but beautiful Sedona. The whole area consists of red rock formations and canyons. Very beautiful! After a few very enjoyable days, Pete and Genie took us to Flagstaff. Again on a beautiful, but very narrow and busy road.