April 11

I'm feeling good about my decision to wait out the wind. As you can see from the photo above and the two videos I shot, it's blasting at times. When I went out to shoot the picture and videos, I could barely walk into several of the gusts. They pushed me backward. 

Also, the high-wind warning was just updated to a dust-storm warning.

I wouldn't want to be out on the highway on my loaded touring bike right now.

I've also changed my plans. A few days ago, when I was trying to figure out my next move, I looked into the possibility of staying at the Hualapai Lodge in Peach Springs. It was all booked up then, so I found a room farther down the road at the Grand Canyon Caverns Motel — a tourist trap I wasn't crazy about staying at. Well, as I was studying the map today, the Hualapai Lodge popped up. I went to its website and this time it had a room available, which I reserved for tomorrow night, Tuesday.

I'm hopeful this arrangement is going to work out better all around. Even though the wind is dying down tomorrow, it's still going to be blowing around 15 mph from the northwest. I'm heading mostly northeast, so I'll have crosswinds to deal with. But Peach Springs is just 47 miles, which is manageable. Grand Canyon Caverns is 60 miles, so I would have had 13 miles farther — over an hour more — to ride.

Doing it this way means I'll have a longer day on Wednesday — 60 miles — to Ash Fork. But the forecasts are calling for much lighter and more favorable winds that day.

So, at the risk of sounding smug (I'm gonna regret this), it's time to quote George Peppard from the A-Team: "I love it when a plan comes together."

I think I'll do well by this glorious plan if I leave extra early. Time of day doesn't seem to affect the winds here —  they blow whenever — but giving myself more time is a good thing. Also, Kingman is forecast to have 22 mph winds starting at 8 a.m.  If I can be down the road a couple of hours — where the increase isn't in the forecast — maybe I can avoid it.

And this just in. . . . Thanks to my friend Dirk Mathison for turning me on to an app called Sailflow, which has precise reports and forecasts on winds. Here's a screenshot of the report on Kingman today. The average wind speed between 1:30 p.m. and 6 p.m. was over 30 mph with gusts reaching about 58 mph. Whoa.

Meanwhile, the temperatures are dropping. The last few days have been in the 60s and 70s, but it'll be in the 40s and 50s tomorrow. And in Ash Fork on Thursday temperatures are going to be in the 30s and 40s. Brrrrrrr. Glad I brought cold-weather gear.

At least I'm headed to a place that sounds warm.

Peach Springs here I come.

Contact me: Thoughts or comments? Email me at richardridesusa@gmail.com.

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