Winslow, AZ to Chinle, AZ - 122 miles

After yesterday's odyssey, this was an easy day. Yesterday was a good way to make the rest of the trip look easy (hopefully). Leaving Winslow we rode by the famous "standing on a corner" corner in town. It is referred to by the Eagle's song "Take it Easy". Not sure if the Eagles made it famous or it already was famous. I rode with mixed bunch - Ed, Renny, Jim, some others. After the first stop, we entered the Navajo Nation by crossing a cattle guard. Apparently cattle roam free in here. As we went up the road, we saw some cows and sheep grazing right next to the road. I snapped a few pictures.

Pulling up to the second stop we met up with Brian and Nigel. We took off together and rode to lunch. The scenery was mostly brown plains, with far off mesas spotting the horizon on all sides. You can see around you for fifty miles in all directions. Plus we are so high up (I think around 5000 ft), the air is clear of pollution.

At the next stop at 100 miles, we gorged on more food. We had a great vantage point high above Chinle. The next 22 miles we whipped into town with a great tailwind and some decent downhill's.
We've been told the days will be getting easier as we get stronger. I'm starting to get to know more of the people on the trip. Some are going through some real pains. Apparently the "fast guys" group is no more due to various reasons. Keith is riding very strong and reported this. Some of the faster riders like to only stop very briefly and never for pictures. I like to stop for pictures and I enjoy the stops. But I still would not mind being in the first group once. Maybe in the flats of Kansas (maybe not!).

We have 19 more days of riding to go. We loose an hour as we switch time zones when we ride into Cortez, Colorado tomorrow evening. Well they are having an ice cream party soon; I will be gorging myself on ice cream and chocolate sauce.

Some other riders with laptops are maintaining a website with pictures, a map of the route, and some links to other sites. The address is http://www.caltriplecrown.com Click on the "Central Transcontinental" link.