We left our motel in Flagstaff at 7:30am, and had breakfast at the nearby Coco's. By 8:30am, we headed north on 89A. A few miles out o...
We left our motel in Flagstaff at 7:30am, and had breakfast at the nearby Coco's. By 8:30am, we headed north on 89A. A few miles out of Flagstaff, we decided to pull into Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument. The road into the park was surrounded by fields of yellow sunflowers, with tall green pines behind them. Really pretty, but too bad we didn't get a photo of it.
The road within the park runs a circular route back to 89A, with about 30 miles of scenic road. You can see the lava flow, which is black lava rock with sharp crags. You can see Sunset Crater itself, and views of the painted desert. Further down the road is the Wapatki Ruins, worth stopping and checking out.
Getting back on 89A, we continued north to US-160, and headed east. Everything on US-160 is all Navajo indian reservation, all the way to the Colorado border, about 230 miles. We got gas in Tuba City and Kayenta. Much of the landscape along this road is flat and uninteresting, with the exception of about 10 miles before you get into Kayenta, which offers some cliff formations.
We cruised most of US-160 at 85mph. We encountered a lot of groups of bikers headed the same direction. But for whatever reason, they were all riding at slower pace, maybe 65mph to 75mph. We blew past them all. We did see a few cars that got pulled over by the Tribal Police, so that explain why a lot of bikers were riding slow. But we managed to get through without incident.
We got into Teec Nos Pos, a town right near the New Mexico border. We were supposed to gas up here. But Tom talked to a local indian, who said it was only another 25 miles to Cortez. So, he decided to forego gas here. It turned out to be another 39 miles instead. So, we ended up having to get gas about 10 miles before Cortez.
Gasoline prices from Flagstaff all the way up to Cortez seemed to average about $3.00 a gallon. We saw some prices for regular at $3.20.
We stopped at Four Corners National Monument, but they wanted $3.00 per person to stand on the platform. Tom decided it was too much money, so he didn't want to go in. We took photos of the sign, however. I complained that we came all this way to check out Four Corners, and he didn't want to spend the $3.00 to see it. I think on the way home, I'll pay his ticket to get in.
We got into our motel rooms around 6:00pm, and headed out to dinner at 7:30pm. We went to "Lotsa Pasta", in Cortez. The food was really good. Lewis wanted us to sit outside on the patio deck. Turned out the deck was full of flying bugs. We ate there anyways.
We got back to the motel, and planned out tomorrow's ride. A lot of bikers here at the motel, and a lot of bikers riding up and down the street. There's supposed to be even more bikers in Durango.
Temperatures here in Cortez is ok. When we pulled into the motel, it felt like 85 degrees. When we came back to the motel from dinner, it felt like 65 degrees. It's supposed to get down into the 40's in early morning.
The road within the park runs a circular route back to 89A, with about 30 miles of scenic road. You can see the lava flow, which is black lava rock with sharp crags. You can see Sunset Crater itself, and views of the painted desert. Further down the road is the Wapatki Ruins, worth stopping and checking out.
Getting back on 89A, we continued north to US-160, and headed east. Everything on US-160 is all Navajo indian reservation, all the way to the Colorado border, about 230 miles. We got gas in Tuba City and Kayenta. Much of the landscape along this road is flat and uninteresting, with the exception of about 10 miles before you get into Kayenta, which offers some cliff formations.
We cruised most of US-160 at 85mph. We encountered a lot of groups of bikers headed the same direction. But for whatever reason, they were all riding at slower pace, maybe 65mph to 75mph. We blew past them all. We did see a few cars that got pulled over by the Tribal Police, so that explain why a lot of bikers were riding slow. But we managed to get through without incident.
We got into Teec Nos Pos, a town right near the New Mexico border. We were supposed to gas up here. But Tom talked to a local indian, who said it was only another 25 miles to Cortez. So, he decided to forego gas here. It turned out to be another 39 miles instead. So, we ended up having to get gas about 10 miles before Cortez.
Gasoline prices from Flagstaff all the way up to Cortez seemed to average about $3.00 a gallon. We saw some prices for regular at $3.20.
We stopped at Four Corners National Monument, but they wanted $3.00 per person to stand on the platform. Tom decided it was too much money, so he didn't want to go in. We took photos of the sign, however. I complained that we came all this way to check out Four Corners, and he didn't want to spend the $3.00 to see it. I think on the way home, I'll pay his ticket to get in.
We got into our motel rooms around 6:00pm, and headed out to dinner at 7:30pm. We went to "Lotsa Pasta", in Cortez. The food was really good. Lewis wanted us to sit outside on the patio deck. Turned out the deck was full of flying bugs. We ate there anyways.
We got back to the motel, and planned out tomorrow's ride. A lot of bikers here at the motel, and a lot of bikers riding up and down the street. There's supposed to be even more bikers in Durango.
Temperatures here in Cortez is ok. When we pulled into the motel, it felt like 85 degrees. When we came back to the motel from dinner, it felt like 65 degrees. It's supposed to get down into the 40's in early morning.
