Day 5 -- Lake Havasu AZ to Kingman AZ -- An uphill climb

After sleeping through a few alarms this morning, I woke up and had breakfast with Kevin before hitting the road at about 9:00. Today's route featured a lot more straight roads, a lot more sand, and my return to historic route 66. The first third of the ride was on route 95 and featured up and down hills with a slight net elevation gain. The rest of the route was on I-40. Riding bicycles on I-40 is actually legal in Arizona as long as it is on the shoulder. At first the shoulder was very rough despite the lanes being nicely paved and I couldn't help worrying that I would break another spoke. But eventually even the shoulder had a nice smooth surface to ride on, and the gradual uphill climb didn't feel too taxing.

Although the ride was scenic and not too long, I was feeling a little bummed for a while because I started to have some neck, back, and arm pain. I'm hoping it is just a fluke and not the beginning of a bigger problem caused by my biking posture. I was also a little disappointed when I took a rest and my bike computer reset. Luckily I took note of it before the break so my totals can continue.

I made it to Kingman around 2:00, and took a look around their downtown area which emphasizes route 66 and the heavily used railroad that runs through town. After that I headed a few more km up the hill to meet my host, Bonita, who I meet on couch surfing. Tomorrow will be more uphill and entirely on route 66.

Today's distance: 96 km
Trip odometer: 618 km