Labor day holiday is coming up on Monday, Sep 6. I'm planning to
take the other 4 days of that week off as well. That gives me 9 days
off from Saturday 9/4 until Sunday 9/12. I've been thinking about
taking a bike tour somewhere up north to get out of the heat.

I'm looking at two routes, a "Route 66" tour or a Flagstaff-Payson
route.

The "Route 66" trip goes west and downhill from Flagstaff to Bullhead
City or via Oatman to Needles - 200+ miles. There are motels along
the way, so this route can be credit-card camping. I'm guessing
about 5 days for this route, including getting there and back.

I'm currently carless so I'm looking at getting there and back by
bus. Greyhound costs $25 for a one way advance purchase ticket from
Phoenix to Flagstaff. You can included your bike (packed in a box)
as one of your two bags, or add it as a 3rd piece of luggage for $10,
and they'll sell you a bike box for about $10. Greyhound has
stations in Bullhead City and Needles. The advance purchase fare
back to Phoenix is about $30.

The Flag-Payson route starts in Flagstaff and follows Kathy's Lake
Mary route to Happy Jack, but continues on through Strawberry and
Pine to Payson - 95 miles. Flagstaff to Payson would be self-
supported camping since there are no motels along the route. This
would be about 3 days. Payson to Scottsdale would add another tough
80 miles and maybe 2 more days. Alternatively, White Mountain
Passenger Lines will get you from Payson to Phoenix for $25, but I
don't know if they can take your bike.

If you are interested in going with, or have some other ideas, shoot
me an email.

tom adams