Peach Springs to Williams, AZ 04-17-2026 Day 7

Yesterday Ron thought he had heard some conversations in French during lunch. We met up with some “French folks” that now live in San Fransisco when we were checking in. This morning, a woman in their group wished us well on our journey and was kind enough to take our picture before departing Peach Springs.

It was a hard climb out of Peach Springs and a rude start to the day. Luckily, the mental jukebox carried me up the first big hill. I don’t know what got Ron up the hill.

Our first rest stop after climbing 12 miles out of Peach Springs was at a cafe near a museum piece gas station. We got a snack for the road.

There was no other refreshments or facilities until Seligman. Because of yesterday’s accident on I-40 that took out power to the city, we weren’t sure if we would find anything there. We did find a few of the old “Burma Shave” signs and sayings along the way!

When we reached Seligman, our worst fears were confirmed. There was lots to see, but nothing to eat or drink. The power outage had closed all hotels and restaurants. The place that had 75 flavors of milk shakes could only tempt us, but not deliver.

Some other scenes from Seligman, including the hotel where we were supposed to have spent last night.

I met some women visiting from Poland. They taught me how to say “Thank you” in Polish, but I couldn’t get it right. They also kept asking where Ron was.

Since we couldn’t get anything in Seligman, we hoped our water would last until we made the 17 mile trek to I-40, then another 6 miles to Ash Fork. We had the usual hills, and few downhills. There were several more Burma Shave signs along the way as well. When we got to the I-40 entrance, we were in for a surprise.

As a commemoration of the 100th anniversary of Route 66, a crew was erecting a new sign. Ron found something more interesting. He got tips on out rigging his camper for an upcoming trip to Alaska.

We then hopped onto the shoulder of I-40 for the bumpiest 6 miles of the day, if not some of the trip. It was the only path to Ash Forks and lunch/dinner or whatever you call what you eat at close to 4 PM. After eating, we got back on to I-40. It was the shortest path to Williams and our hotel. It was not the path that had the least amount of climbing as we logged over 1800 feet of ascent in the less than 18 miles. We had both taken off our jackets during the climbs. When we got to the top of the off ramp, we were freezing. The sun was going down and we had just descended for the last mile at >20 MPH. We were almost shivering when we checked in past 6 PM.

We had passed a lot of very cool places and exhibits as we made our way to the hotel, but didn’t get a chance to explore. After cleaning up we walked back through town to grab ice cream. It was already dark. So ended the longest (time wise) day of the trip. With everything shut down in Seligman, our itinerary changes and some bike gear shifting problems Ron developed, we had plenty of adventure today. Tomorrow is a short ride to Flagstaff, get Ron’s bike tuned, and maybe take another look at Williams before we go. It’s an adventure. I accidentally stopped my GPS, so my stats are in 2 parts – here and here.

The Not So Lone Rider