Winslow to Holbrook, AZ 04-20-2026 Day 10

We took our time leaving the hotel in Winslow because we knew it was only about a 35 mile ride to Holbrook. There were not going to be any big climbs and we hoped the wind was not too big an adversary today.

We were on old Route 66, now called the Business I-40 route as we pedaled out of Winslow. It was only a few miles until we merged back with the larger I-40 and started riding the shoulder to Holbrook. Our first target was the Jack Rabbit Trading Post 16 miles away. Looking at the larger plan, we toyed with the idea of trying a frontage road if the opportunity came up. The frontage road along the interstate would likely be the remains of the original Route 66. Here is some video that compares the two. See if you can guess which is which!

We certainly needed the break from being in the saddle when we exited I-40 to the Jack Rabbit Trading Post. There were people coming and going. We got someone to do the camera honors for us.

We decided to take the frontage road rather than double back to the interstate. At first the old road didn’t seem too bad. But it didn’t take long for parts of it to show its age. It bumped us up and down painfully at times. We couldn’t get back on I-40 fast enough, but it was a few miles. The videos above highlight the differences. Here’s one more shot of what the road looked like – very similar to what we dealt with near Amboy last week in the desert.

Ron also wanted to highlight some of the various road debris we sometimes had to dodge.

We hopped off the interstate when we came to Joseph City. As the marker leaving town noted, this was named after Joseph Smith of the Mormon Church. There wasn’t much left of the town. But it did have its own High School and a Pioneer monument. When we hopped back onto the interstate we couldn’t help but ask ourselves, is that all there is?

We only had 11 more miles to reach Holbrook. The wind was getting stronger, but we still had mostly downhill terrain. We were both looking forward to seeing the Wigwam Motels. I had tried to book a room there earlier, but they were all booked up for our target date. As we pulled into their lot, we met one of the workers. He was telling us that they were booked up for weeks to come. He was very glad to have a job there since he had kids to feed. I told him that they get more expensive the older they get and he just laughed.

We had a little time to kill before we could check in to our hotel, so we went to a nearby Mexican restaurant for some nachos and beer.

We then wandered down the street to our hotel. It wasn’t the Wigwam, but it had more room, was clean, and had some charm of its own.

Our standard mode of operation after arrival was: Shower, wash whatever laundry you had in the same tub, wring it out as much as you can, dry it between any extra towels, hit it with a hair dryer if available. Then you are allowed to relax. Or in my case start working on the blog and hope that the Internet doesn’t drop and lose my work or take many minutes to upload a single piece of media. The warm dry air did a better job than the hair dryer.

The ride stats are here. The 3D view is here.

The Not So Lone Rider