Day Thirteen: End of the Road

This evening’s post is being typed a little slower than normal because my dog Maxx is sitting on my lap demanding more attention. I wouldn’t want it any other way!

The day started with a ride through Williams, AZ, before getting on the freeway. Again I ran into a set of gas pumps with no credit card slides. The sign said to pay first but the woman inside yelled out to go ahead and pump. I am good with that!

The photo above is from Seligman, AZ. This small town at the far west end of the state has all kinds of signage proclaiming themselves as the start of the historic Route 66. Have they not heard of California? Perhaps they were just a little ahead of themselves in expecting “the big one” to hit and drop California into the sea?

Crossing the deserts of AZ and CA today found me back on my quest to stay cool. The best solution to date was soaking my scarf and cotton shirt in water just before restarting the ride.  This works incredibly well in the hottest temperatures – for just about 10 minutes. By then the shirt is completely dry.  The solution would be to slow the evaporation some. To accomplish this, I tried wearing my jacket over the wet shirt. This blocked too much of the wind so the cooling evaporation was replaced with a feel of hot stickiness.

If I could not slow the evaporation, perhaps more water could be added. To accomplish this, I rewet the scarf and shirt, along with my heavy fleece jacket. I then placed the fleece inside the shirt, reasoning this configuration would slow but not stop the evaporation. This set up actually worked quite well! Contrary to basic reasoning, putting on the heavy fleece (wet) actually kept me cooler for a longer period of time. The downside is that the fleece I had with me is one of the typical man-made materials that really doesn’t absorb and hold water. Most of the water drained out almost immediately all the way down my legs. Thinking a heavy cotton sweatshirt may ultimately provide the best solution.

Once my triple layer solution dried, I stopped to get gas and rewet the clothes. As I walked in the small store I was confronted with a freezer full of ice. Next thing you know I was cruising into CA with a ten pound bag of ice shoved between the shirts. This did not work as well as expected. The bag’s bulk means it did not spread wide across my body so there was a central cooling sensation around my midsection but the shoulders were quite warm. Worse, the bag was leaking. My lap was frozen (use your imagination) and my entire seat area was soaked. When skin soaks for a while, it gets soft. This made my tender butt even more sore astride the seat. Somehow this never completely dried. Any time I walked into a store for the remainder of the trip, people stared at me as if I had pissed my pants.

About 60 miles before the CA border I spotted a sign at a truck stop for a Dunkin Donuts. Here is the last vanilla cream filled donut I am likely to have for quite a while. The star shape odd and it was a little under filled. Still good!

The rest of the trip was relatively uneventful with a focus on just getting home! Wonder where my next journey will be?