Day 5: Winslow, AZ to Albuquerque, NM

In the morning we awoke to streaming sunlight and puddled remnants from the evening before. G was having a bad hands day so T acted as bellhop, water boy, bike detailer and patient man. Well, maybe three out of four.

The morning started pleasantly as we went about trying to acquire the Winslow, Arizona pictures we missed out on due to the rain. T got a few more choruses in on his favorite song as we got pictures on the actual site in downtown Winslow.

We had a lot of miles to cover so we departed on route 40 that morning. The weather and the scenery were perfect. We covered a lot of miles quickly. Signs for the Petrified Forest and Painted Desert caught our eyes and we took a detour. As you will see from the pictures, it was a worthwhile detour. We then jumped on interstate 40 and started to log some serious miles. We reached Gallup, New Mexico and had a quick lunch and then back on the road. Shortly thereafter we spotted an old nemesis. Yes, those devil rainclouds found us again. At first they spit on us from a distance to test our mettle. But our resolve was unbroken. T grabbed his trusty top-of-the-line Harley rainsuit and quickly put it on. G reached for his 15-year-old run-of-the-mill red white and blue and did the same. This appeared to anger the devil rain clouds and they issued another challenge. Our resolve was unbroken and we forged ahead. The devil rainclouds hit us with their best shot and it felt like piercing cold needles on the hands and face. The temperature dropped 20° and our speed dropped 20 mph. The game continued volley after volley, cat and mouse for what seemed like hours. Pictures are very few this afternoon because we were immersed in the rematch. When the clouds broke for a moment we pitched our rain gear and jerked heavily on the throttle to leave the devil rainclouds behind. Sometimes it is better to fight and run away to live to ride another day.

Spent by the days efforts we retreated to our hotel in Albuquerque, New Mexico to refresh, regroup and plan our logistics for tomorrow's trek to Texas. In the meantime, we are looking for out of work meteorologist who might, for a few dollars, validate our belief that today's hail was as big as grapefruits.