Saturday, April 20th – Day 18 – Winslow to Holbrook

Best part of the day:     Fay getting to see a doctor about her eye

Worst part of the day: Fay’s eye still bothering her

Distance: 22.3 miles     Riding Time: 1hr 48min

Bed count: 9                   Sleeping Bag count: 9

It was a cool, but, not cold morning when the two of us set out for Holbrook. After an enjoyable breakfast that the hotel, we said our “until we see you down the road” to P&J and started off toward I-40 and mostly crosswinds.(Ready to roll solo!!)

It was not a good day for Fay today. Her eye was even worse waking up in the morning. It was not fun riding in the wind. It felt better keeping her eyes closed. But, we had to get to our next destination.

Our route had us exit off of the interstate onto a frontage road that brought us passed this sign. (“Here It Is!” What is “it”?)

It’s a Route 66 roadside attraction!

And it’s a large jack rabbit statue! (The jackrabbit was all decked out for Easter.)

This frontage road was a combination of decent pavement, lousy pavement, bumpy pavement and downright crappy pavement for almost 5 miles leading us into Joseph City.  But, what do you expect from a road that has been pretty much neglected since the opening of I-40 through these parts.(Just a section of this not-very-bike-friendly road.)

The ACA map said Joseph City had a restaurant and convenience store, but, we didn’t see either of these!

Continuing on, our path now took us in a southerly direction which inflicted us with some strong, gusty headwinds for at least 4 miles! It was slow and go, around 5mph. Seemed like it took forever to get off of that road.

After an easterly turn, we cruised along with the aid of a now cross/tail wind. Mostly rollers through barren cattle grazing lands. Upon reaching the outskirts of Holbrook, we got chased by not only one, but, two dogs! The first one chased Rob coming up on his left side. He managed to “outrun” it before it turned its attention to Fay. But, that didn’t last long before that dog turned away. As for the 2nd one, it came up in front of Rob. He slowed down, made himself look big and growled at it making the dog cower and run back for home.

When we finally got to Holbrook, we’d planned on staying at the KOA. We went to the local Safeway to pick up couple of things for dinner. Fay asked the pharmacist about her eye and she said I really needed antibiotics. We did some calling to our insurance and they said I needed to see a doctor to get diagnosed. The reason for that was because California law (or maybe it’s our insurance, not sure) does not allow prescriptions for out-of-state patients. This is possibly because of the opioid crisis She was able to call a local doctor that happened to be in the office on Saturday. So, off we went a couple of miles away in the headwinds. The doctor, Dr. Andrew Maestras, lives in the back of this 23-bed medical complex (which he owns!) and was there doing some paperwork. After his examination, he ordered me some eye and oral antibiotics. He suggested that I take off tomorrow and stay indoors tonight. Well, we can’t take off tomorrow, we need to keep on going. Dr. Maestras was quite a character, in his jeans, sport coat and Fedora hat. Very laid back.(Fay’s new doctor friend!!)

So, back to Safeway we went to pick up my meds. We were able to find an inexpensive motel close by. The room was nothing fancy, but, it suited our needs. After getting cleaned up, we had dinner at a Mexican restaurant right next door. Breakfast was included with our room coincidentally at this same Mexican restaurant!(Fay with her “eyes” as the two of us split a dinner-for-2, chicken and shrimp fajitas! Fay’s favorite!!)

Overall, it was a pretty miserable day for Fay. Hopefully, tomorrow will be a better day for her.

Until our next post….