500 MILES!!!!!!

Prescott turned out to be a really awesome biker friendly town. They had a beautiful park in the town square where Debbie and I took a nap under the trees and had a picnic. We met so many friendly people.



Adam and Lori, who we met early that morning riding through the switchbacks took us out to dinner. They both belong to a local cycling club and ride up and down the mountain 3-5 times a week, which is 54 miles. Wow! The day before when we met the other guys from the cycling club, one of them asked us, "so, what are you guys riding 120, 150 miles a day?" um.... Adam even did the treacherous ride through the California desert on his own once. We're not worthy! We're not worthy!

I hope once this trip is over I will make biking a regular part of my exercise routine too. (I'm actually thinking about becoming a spinning instructor.) -KKC



Riding off into the sunset...


Thanks for hanging out with us guys! We had lots of fun getting to know you. We loved Prescott so much, I'm sure we'll be back one day. Stay in touch.


That night we camped at Lake Watson, just a few miles outside of Prescott.


Day 16: The day started out great, we slept in a little (until 6am!) because we knew we would have a relatively easy ride that day. Then about 20 miles out of Prescott, I got my first flat tire! (not bad for 500 miles) when I went to go change it, I realized that REI had sold me the WRONG SIZE TUBES!!! Booooo!!! We called Bikesmith Cycle & Fitness, in Prescott who were nice enough to drive out and bring us some tubes. -D


Roy, who actually did six years of bike touring, from Bikesmith Cycle, came out and fixed the tire.

By now, we had lost the cool morning weather and were biking in the heat of the day. Then I got ANOTHER FLAT TIRE!! Luckily, I had the tubes now, so I fixed it myself. When we started riding again, I noticed that my bike was making a crazy sound. I wasn't sure why I was going so slow and getting so tired, until I realized that my rear brakes were on! I tried adjusting everything on the bike, but couldn't figure out how to fix it, so I had to ride for 15 miles uphill with brakes on. It was so hot that day, my back and legs were killing me, and it felt like we would never get there. I wanted to throw my bike into the desert and crawl into a snake hole.

We finally made it to Ash Fork. Three truckers who had passed us earlier and honked at us, came to our rescue and helped fix my brakes.

We had dinner at the only place to eat in town. We asked the waitress about the next town, Williams, and she said, "yea, it's way bigger than Ash Fork, they have more than one place to eat...and a Safeway!" The old guy in the photo and I bonded for a second when he told me all about the town idiot from New Mexico and how much the whole town hated him.


Ranch House Cafe, the only place to eat in Ash Fork.


After our dinner at the Ranch House Cafe, Elissa (who we met from Intentional Community) was nice enough to come out and pick us up in her big pickup truck. There was eight miles of dirt road to get out to where she lived, and after the two flats from early that day, we really didn't want to risk it. Driving to her house we passed by an alpaca and llama farm that belonged to her neighbor Anne.

Alpacas have the softest fur.

Anne raised them for their shearling.

She let us feed them. They were adorable.

We got to feed the llamas, too.



I don't know why I'm running away from them, they are clearly fenced off, and not dangerous.



Cute baby alpaca, awwwwww.



We finally arrive at Elissa's house after some serious off road driving. She lives way out in the desert in a beautiful ecofriendly ranch.




3 years ago Elissa moved out here by herself and turned a little cabin into a self sustaining eco friendly home. The place is seriously divine. Her house was full of healing books, tinctures, essential oils, music, crystals, herbs, incense, blessed water, blessed oils.... It was really such a treat for us to get to spend the night at such a wholesome peaceful environment. Elissa's home is so far out in the wilderness, at night, the star dotted desert sky seemed to go on forever in every direction.



The sweetest kitty.

I was looking at all of her crystals and there was this big orange one that brought me to tears when I picked it up. So crazy. It was Citrine, which I looked up and is supposed to have the power of the sun. -D

Even the outhouse was nice because you could watch the sunrise while going to the bathroom.


Her house runs on solar power, and she also had rain gutters on her roof to capture rain water. We are so impressed with all the work she's done on her land in the short time that she's been out there. She's one of the only women that I know who knows how to handle a backhoe.

She even has a trampoline with a mountain view! Elissa is working on building a community of healers out on her land. Check out her website BrighterEarth.com. We definitely had a healing experience out there with her.

Not too far from Elissa's home there were some petroglyphs on the sides of the mountains.



Day 17 : We rode uphill to an all American town called Williams. We were very lucky because the monsoon clouds covered the hot sun pretty much the entire climb up.
and it barely rained.

The historical route 66 cuts through Williams. A store window getting ready to celebrate July 4th.

A pretty native american outfit that Debbie asked me to buy for her.
Karin sold flowers to pay for dinner.

Get your kicks on route 66!

Debbie's new boyfriend. Sorry Rawn!


That night we camped at a little RV park in Red Lake


Day 18: We arrived in Red Lake late the night before. In the morning we saw that the backdrop to our camping site was beautiful.




That morning we met our "mother figure" for the day. Her name is Nikki, and she worked at the Texaco next to the RV park. She gave us free refills on our coffee, and also matching friendship bracelets.
"Friends 4-eva!" Thanks Nikki!


Sunblock. Debbie thinks I look like the wicked witch of the west.
(She does when her cape flies in the wind as she bikes!)


Lots of love. Happy 4th of July!!!!