Day 26, I outsmarted the wind

Riding from Kingman to Flagstaff is a two day journey. I also had two options for a route; stick to the main highway due east, or, ride historic route 66 northeast and hook back down into Seligman, the halfway point.

Before making a decision, I checked the wind forecast: blowing north east.

Route 66 it is.

The whole ride pretty much looked like this. All 80 miles.

I planned on wild camping for the night, there wasn't any BLM dispersed camping spots, and I didn't feel like shelling out $30 for a KOA spot.

First scouting mission was a bust. I followed a closed railroad access road for about a half mile, thinking it would lead me to this spot on a hill. The spot looked great from afar. Upon closer inspection, it was littered with barbed wire and mud.

Second scouting mission looked promising. A small dirt road broke off from route 66, once again towards to the train tracks. There were far many broken bottles and beer cans along the side. That is always a bad sign - usually means rowdy people there at night.

The third spot worked. Nestled in some trees, I found some soft ground, about 50 yards from the road and 100 yards from the train tracks.

Thankfully, I bought earplugs earlier in the day.

Freight trains plowed through every thirty minutes.

Joe