There were warnings of thunderstorms and tornadoes this morning so I took my time getting out of my hotel, hoping they would pass me by. I grabbed a quick lunch at a fast food place where several of the people there came up to ask me about my trip.
Got on the road at noon or so and it seemed the storms had not passed me by. It was very windy and dark and I could see darker clouds to the west.
I started out pretty slowly and there were a fair amount of hills. It started lightly raining so I pulled over to put on my rain jacket, only for the rain to stop. I continued on and as I rounded a corner I saw a low lying cloud bank and lightning flashes.
“What’s a little rain going to do?” I thought. On my left, the cloud bank hit a tall hill and splashed up over its peak. It was moving so quickly that it seemed like water. The temperature suddenly dropped. Felt like a ten degree drop but it could have been less. Then the rain came. It was pretty cold but bearable until the hail started. Then it got painful. Lots of lightning very close as well. After a mile or two of biking through the hail I stopped at a gas station and waited a few minutes for the storm to pass.
I moved on but a few minutes later the rain and hail came again, this time not lasting very long. I was completely frozen by this point so when the rain stopped I pulled over and put on warm clothes and kept on going.
The miles flew by today. Not really sure how or why, but I never stopped for a second lunch or real break.
I arrived in Tuba city and went to look for a motel when a man walked up to me and shook my hand. He was a native Navajo (did I mention I’ve been in the Navajo nation for a couple days now?) and was hitchhiking to New Mexico to visit family. He walked me to a motel and then asked for dinner. I was slightly disappointed – tons of people here beg for money and I was hoping he wasn’t one of them. But he suggested we eat together so we went to sonic and talked for a while before I bid him goodbye.
Today’s mileage: 70 miles.
Total mileage: 3072 miles.
Riding in lightening would be scary to me. Watch the weather reports you get there. Take care, Galen.
Just happened to check in and see you are by Yuma where my mother spent her childhood since Grandpa was a mining engineer. She graduated from UCBerkeley with degrees in Spanish and French when she was only 18. She loved her years in that desert town and visits to bird sanctuaries near there decades later! Look forward to next pictures.
Neither rain, nor sleet, nor snow, nor hail . . . .
Glad you have detoured to see The Big Ditch. Enjoy the clear skies, the stars, and the crisp (yikes, 27 degree low) temps. Soon enough you’ll be pedaling across the big desert and wishing for a bit of that chilliness.
Hey, I can’t view your site properly within Opera, I actually hope you look into fixing this.