Tuba City - Marble Canyon, AZ - I've never been so ill prepared or so determined to tour

June 7, 2019

Tuba City - Marble Canyon, AZ

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I have one bar of service and there’s no wi-fi here. Photos will have to wait another day.

Oren and I wanted to get on with our long day. Being early had worked well for us yesterday. We were at breakfast when it opened at 6 AM. I used to look down on the pre cooked sausages and eggs. Now I think we are at an upscale place if they have a hot breakfast. I do believe I’ve mentioned how much I like this motel. It’s too bad it’s not on a more common route so we could stay here again.

Jacinto had said he was going to eat with us, but we were finished and he hadn’t shown up. We did get a goodbye photo with him. Oren and I pulled away at 6:30. We crossed the street and lost an hour. Magically it was 7:30. I wonder how many other cities are divided by time zones?

We knew we had a gradual 35 mile uphill to the top and then a gradual 30ish mile downhill to Marble Canyon. I think this might be our low elevation of the tour. I will check when we have internet.

We had a real downhill to start. I was chilly, so I know Oren was freezing. The scenery to start was lots of red rocks and piñon with sagebrush and flowers. The lower we dropped in elevation, the fewer flowers and plants.

The entire day we followed a giant fault of red rocks. I will have to find out the name.

Oren and I mostly kept moving. He was slightly ahead of me the entire day. The longer we rode, the stronger the tailwind. It was really bending the grass over. I didn’t dare mention tailwind out loud for fear of jinxing us.

Oren stoped at the turn for Antelope Canyon. There were two tour buses overwhelming the small convenience store. Oren gave up and decided he could

pee on a bush. We had seen a hitchhiker earlier in the day. He laughed and said he was traveling faster than we were. He had started in Denver but I didn’t ask where he was headed.

We kept moving. It was nice to see the numbers tick up. The road surface varies some, but overall was good. Sometimes we had to ride in the traffic lane because of the ill placed rumblestrip. Everyone was polite, as we’ve experienced the whole trip.

There were a couple of elevation signs and one very precisely stating, 5,930 feet. We presumed that was the top of the climb. It’s alll downhill, baby! I know I was secretly fearing our nice tailwind would disappear and I wanted to get down the road. I think Oren felt the same.

We got to the turn to Marble Canyon on 89A. I have read here on CG how this is a bad road to ride. At least at this instant traffic was light and considerate. Perhaps there is more traffic early? Certainly there is zero shoulder and that could be an issue with traffic.

Oren and I had a discussion about Jacinto making the turn. I think he will be fine because it says North Rim in the sign. I told Oren I needed to find a guard rail to lean my bike on for a pee spot. Finally, there’s a guard rail. There’s also a cyclist coming the other direction! This is only our second tourist the entire trip. We didn’t get the young man’s name, but he was a German man riding cross country. He’s obviously not riding a traditional ACA route. He did tell us that they had no water at all at the Grand Canyon because a water line broke up high in the mountains. There was no water for showers or bathrooms. The restaurant was using plastic utensils and paper plates. You would think they’d send us an email? I’ve gotten nothing.

We said our goodbyes and continued on our last ten miles. The young guy anticipating the turn left to Page. Then he would have a tailwind.

We had a steep downhill into Marble Canyon. Elevation of 3,xxx. Oren says it’s 90 degrees out. I felt much hotter.

We went to the motel office and checked in. The bad news is no wi-if at all. They have a computer in the office for people to use.

We have a two bedroom apartment here. It’s past the gas station, so it’s a bit of a walk to the only restaurant.

Jacinto got in not to late after us. He promptly went back to the convenience store for a beer. Yes, after two dry days, now he could buy a beer. Then he walked back again with Oren. They went by the restaurant to check the hours. We are going to eat at 5:00 for our big activity. We sat around and ate chips and pistachios and drank the beer. Oren are a whole bag of veggie chips with over 500 mgs of salt. He was horrified. But salt sure tastes good when we’re riding.

Then Jacinto mentioned that his newly tuned up bike doesn’t shift well and the front hub is making a noise. He can hear those noises extra well now that he doesn’t have headphones. Oren says the front hub is shot and probably he needs a new one. We sure can’t do anything about that here. St George would be our best chance.

We went to dinner exactly at 5 PM. We made our dinner choices - baked potatoes only after 5. No problem . . . or so we think . . . it turns out when we went over the bridge (spitting distance away), that the time changed once again. Now it was 4 PM. No baked potatoes.

I ended up ordering chili cheese fries as an appetizer. We were the only guests in the restaurant, but it took 20 minutes for the fries to arrive. They were good. It took so long we decided to just wait and order dinner. Except now I'm full. I'm in the office typing this and then I'm not sure about dinner because I will be hungry later but don't want to eat now. Oren wants to eat now, but said we could do what we want.

In the meanwhile the cooler in the apartment wasn't working. Oren asked the front desk. She said to open windows to pull some air through. Jacinto asked for a fan just in case.

Now we can't figure out what time the sun comes up. My phone says 5 AM, but is that Mountain Time or Pacific Time? The waitress said it's better to wear a watch than use the phone. Imagine, a 20something recommending a watch!

We were originally going to eat breakfast here, but I think now we've decided to have oatmeal in the room so we don't have to second guess the time. Our next stop is Jacob Lake and it's also on Mountain Time.

We have a huge, huge climbing day tomorrow. To add to the fun is high winds. The forecast says tailwind to start, but somewhere in the 40 miles, it switches to a headwind. Of course, I'd rather get as far down the road as I can before the wind becomes a problem. The truth is, with a 4,000 foot climb in 40 miles - I will be happy if I can average 4 mph . . . that's a 10 hour riding day. How many waters do I need?

Wish us well . . . .

Jacinto is up to send us off. He didn’t leave u til a couple of hours later.

We are getting closer. We turned to the right.

A geologist would be in their element here.

I saw only a few of these princeplume. Thank you Bill.

This photo does not convey the creepiness of the posts standing in the middle of nowhere. They remind me of the Stephen King book The Stand and how Flagg would have heads posted on poles on the edge of town. Perhaps too much sun has kicked my imagination into overdrive?

Notice that they are very precise with the elevation.

We met this young German man just outside of Marble Canyon.

I think this is some sort of yucca that we’ve been seeing for days. Typically the plants are scrawny and small but have giant seed pods. This one is at our apartment and might be watered? It’s much larger than others.Bill identifies it as a narrow leaf yucca.

Today's ride: 68 miles (109 km)
Total: 314 miles (505 km)

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