Needles to Kingman 04-15-2026 Day 5

The Red Roof Inn where we stayed had a terrible Wifi service. The blog the first night took me 3 hours because thee internet connection would drop or lose its signal level. It would take 5 minutes to save a draft, even if I only added a little change. Today we were hoping to get a quick “continental breakfast”. Based on yesterdays offerings, I had bought a breakfast burrito at the gas station across the street, so I could have something beside a PBJ sandwich. We waited until almost 7:30 for them to open the 7:00 breakfast. The door to the lobby was locked and no one answered the phone at the front desk. By 7:40 we were on the road heading across the Colorado River into Arizona.

Ron had some left over pizza from his dinner last night, but really needed more to drink. So, we stopped at a Walmart 10 miles outside of Needles. We brought our bikes inside the cart area. I decided to get a sorry excuse for second breakfast – Strawberry milk and a banana to have with my own trail mix.

We knew today was going to be the shortest mileage, but the most climbing we had done so far. As we continued north on AZ-95, we could tell we were slowly going uphill.

We turned on the Bullhead Parkway to avoid some of the traffic. It eventually looped us on to 95, but quickly took a road into a neighborhood and bike lanes. That’s when the climbing began in earnest.

We both needed a rest and refreshments. We were not going to have any facilities for the next 15 miles. We stopped at a gas station just off of AZ-68, which would take us almost to Kingman. We each had close to a liter of Gatorade from a soda fountain and a muffin we split. We filled our water bottles with Ice from the fountain and continued our climb. Over the next 9 miles, we climbed more than 2,000 feet. We decided to eat the elephant one bite at a time, so we would stop almost every mile to give ourselves a chance to recover.

There was a rock that seemed to mock us as we made our way up to the pass. I came upon a stalled vehicle on the shoulder. I offered to give them a tow, but they didn’t seem amused by my comment.

More than an hour after we left the gas station, we finally made it to the summit and could look back at the town of Laughlin.

After miles of descent, we stopped for lunch in Golden Valley. Our victory was short lived. We had another climb to get us on the final turn to Kingman. We struggled once more to finish a 4 mile climb that rewarded us with a view of the valley we had left. Now it was down hill to Kingman.

Kingman really played up its ties to Route 66. There was a downtown area that had murals and old stores, museums, and attractions that grabbed our attention. Unfortunately we were tired and didn’t have enough time to visit as many as we wanted. We did toy around a railroad exhibit.

Maybe it was because we were carrying our panniers, maybe it was the hottest day so far and the most climbing, but the 62 miles took us longer than any day so far. The shortest mileage day gave us the most saddle time. Details of the ride are here.

Tomorrow we have a long 80+ mile ride to Seligman. It’s going to be another long climb, “easier” than today as the grade should be less severe. We’ll see what happens. It’s all part of the adventure!

The Not So Lone Rider