After 3 wonderful days in The Pad, it was time to leave. We cycled through Breckenridge, of where we have such great memories from the times when we went snowboarding there, and started the climb to Boreas Pass. A nice climb, not very steep and with a lovely scenery. When we arrived at the top, it started raining but fortunately it didn’t last long and we could find shelter on the porch of an old cabin. The scenery was beautiful up there. Continue reading
The section from Salida to Grants is the hardest section of the route, with by far the most altimeters. It started immediately after the town, with high Marshall Pass. It was a 40 km/25 mile climb in which we had to climb about 1200 meters/4000 ft. It was a long, long climb but not steep because it was a former railroad track with a maximum gradient of around 3%. We saw mountain sheep and just before the top we saw 2 moose enjoying lunch on the side of the road. Aclimb like that is usually followed by a long descent and that was the case this time to. We ended up in Sargents and camped with a Trading Post. The weather was good and warm again, so we could enjoy the sunshine again. Continue reading
We camped on a campground in Del Norte en went grocery shopping in the afternoon. We wouldn’t find any supermarkets fora bout 5 days, so we needed to stock up in Del Norte. The next day was going to be a long day, so we wanted to leave early the next morning. That meant we had to do all our shopping in the afternoon. Continue reading
We had decided that we would leave the route in Abiquiu to visit Santa Fe. The part from Abiquiu to Grants was very sandy, hot and there wouldn’t be water for a few days. There also were many ‘goat heads’, sharp nails from plants and cacti which many cause punctures. We didn’t really have the right gear for this, you’re better off with wider tires and less gear, and we heard that Santa Fe was a really nice place. So we decided to go there and then try to get to Grants from there. Continue reading
From Grants we rode to Pie Town through El Malpais Natural Monument. Pie Town is a tiny community with 2 cafe’s/restaurants where they sell pie, that’s where the name comes from. It once started with a guy opening a bakery. It became so known and famous for its pies that people from all over came to eat pie there. So the town name was changed to Pie Town and it’s still famous for its pies. But the thing is that the restaurant closes when the pies are sold out. They bake a certain amount of pies a day and when they’re gone, they close. So that can be at noon or at 4 pm or any other time of the day. Continue reading
After a few relaxing days in Pie Town, the weather improved and it was time for us to leave. We had decided that we were going to leave the GDMBR there to start making our way west to Las Vegas, from where our flight home would leave. That meant that we would have to ride on paved roads from there. Continue reading
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. Continue reading
From Flagstaff we rode to the Grand Canyon in 1,5 days. Fortunately the road wasn’t very busy and the last part was on a nice and quiet bikepath. There still was a spot available on the beautiful campground and we settled in for a few days. Elk came to accompany us regurarly and they weren’t intimidated by campers much. To see the Grand Canyon from all its sides and angles, we rode quite some kilometres in the 2,5 days we were there. It was impressive and beautiful and fortunately the weather was beautiful to. On the last night we went out to watch the sunset over the canyon. The next day we rode back to Flagstaff in 1 day. Continue reading
We had an enormous car so we could fit all our stuff in the car easily. From Flagstaff we drove West, to Williams and Seligman. These little towns are on the old Route 66 and still have many reminders of that time. There are old signs and buildings and especially in Seligman it seemed that we had gone back in time. It was very nice to see.
We drove back to Flagstaff and after another night in town, we drove North. We saw one rock formation after another, the whole area exists of rocks and canyons. Through Marble Canyon/Glen Canyon we drove to Grand Canyon North Rim. We didn’t have enough time to drive all the way to the rim, but we did watch the canyon from the east side. The North Rim is about 300 meters/ 1000 ft higher than the South Rim, where we were just a few days earlier, and the scenery is very different on that side. There are different types of trees and vegetation and there are meadows where bizon graze. Unfortunately, we didn’t see any of them.
After a cold night, we continued to Valley of the Fire State Park.We were tipped about this park and we didn’t regret going there. It was beautiful! Red rocks and rock formations everywhere around us, sometimes with other colors in them. It indeed looked like fire because of all that red. We managed to get one of the last spots on the campground and then went to explore the park. There are some places where you can go on not too long hikes on and through the rock formations. The next morning we continued exploring the park, before we drove to Las Vegas.
It wasn’t far to the city, so we arrived there around noon. We booked a room in the Circus Circus hotel, an older hotel with more than 3400 rooms. The room was cheap, but fine and we had a nice view on part of the strip and on the beautiful ‘Sphere’, where constantly different colors and images are projected. That evening we walked the strip back and forth to watch all the hotels en lights. Because the city was in full preparation of the F1 Grand Prix, a lot was fenced off and you couldn’t go to some places. The fountains of the Bellagio were just visable inbetween the partially contstructed bleechers.
The next day we rode on the strip to our next location. After all the crazyness of the nights, the strip is a lot quieter during the days so it was nice to ride there. We were staying with Janice in a beautiful suburb house with a pool. There were bike boxes already waiting for us, so we didn’t have to search for them anymore. In the next 2 days we boxed the bikes, packed our stuff for travel and enjoyed the pool.
And then the trip was really over. Janice took us to the airport and after a 10 hour flight we arrived at Schiphol airport in Amsterdam.
We had checked the weather forecast for home before we left Las Vegas, and the weather was looking pretty good. So we decided we wanted to ride home from the airport. We couldn’t do that in 1 day, so we decided to go to Linda’s brother in Utrecht first and then see if we could ride home from there in 1 or 2 days. Continue reading