Route 66 -- days 9 and 10

 Day 9 had a number of different lives.  The first life was on some nice back roads.  Of course on this trip that means that they weren't paved, but as I said, they were nice.  Then we had many miles (over 40) on the Interstate (I40), which for the most part had a very nice shoulder.  As anyone who has bicycled on highways like that knows that there are many pieces of metal from tires that have come apart.  These pieces of wire are murder on bicycle tires.  When we were exiting the highway for a water stop, we found out that Barb had a flat.  The good news is that we weren't on the interstate changing it.  The bad news is that it was very windy above the interstate.  We decided (maybe not the right word) to spend the next 2 or so hours there fixing the tire.  The wire was the cause of the first flat, the pinch flats were the cause of the rest.  We lost count but think the number was 4 or 5.  To contribute to the pain, her tire was very difficult to get back on -- hence some of the pinch flats.  In at least one case, there were multiple pinches, so we fixed the flat but then after it was reinstalled it wouldn't hold air :(.  It was good that we had 2 spare tubes and a patch kit. The word frustrating comes to mind,  The good news is two-fold -- we are still married, and we got back in time for our dinner reservation.  So Barb didn't feel alone, I had a flat when we pulled into the last rest stop.  My tire was much easier to get on and off the wheel.  It was also easier because Jose, one of the crew, fixed it for me :)  (even without Jose, my wheel-tire combination is easier to work with).

That night we stayed at the Laposada Hotel. https://www.laposada.org/  It is a very interesting (in a good way) place.  It was one of the Fred Harvey Hotels.  There are also Fred Harvey restaurants.  In short, these hotels were the nice places along the Santa Fe train routes.  (jumping ahead here).  On the morning of Day 10, we had a 2 hour talk from 3 women from a group that works at preserving the Fred Harvey lore as well as that of the Laposada Hotel.  The Harvey Girls were the waitresses at the restaurants.  Originally, to get hired the ads read that you had to be between 18 and 30 and not married, and be of good morals/character.  Judy Garland was in a movie about them.  One of the things that the Harvey restaurants did was enable the train customers to order their food on the train ahead of time and their orders would be telegraphed ahead so they could be ready when the train pulled in.  This made it possible to eat a good meal (something unheard of prior to the Harvey restaurants along the train lines) in the 30 minutes the train was in the station refueling.  The women also described the history of the Laposada.  It was built around 1930 and had a budget of $650,000 (or something like that).  With the interior design, it came in at around $2 million -- a bit over budget.  It was designed by Mary Coulter.  It also has an art display from Tine Mion.  When the hotel fell on hard times, it was converted to offices.  Rather than destroy the artistic nature of the hotel, they put in drop ceilings and cubicles (this was cheaper).  Interestingly, this preserved the original building both from being demolished, or falling into disrepair.  Many other Harvey Houses were demolished.  Allan Afeldt is restoring the hotel and has brought back much of the Mary Coulter design. 

Day 10, which started in Winslow at the Laposada, was a leisurely day -- only 38 miles.  Much shorter than the 93 miles from day 9, and also a lot warmer than the high 30s start for Day 9 (it was around 60 degrees).  The only other thing to see in Winslow is the corner (from the song -- standing on the corner in Winslow Arizona, I such a sight to see... (from Take It Easy by the Eagles).  I tried and couldn't find a bakery :(.  A good deal of the day was on back roads with just a few miles of the interstate.  We did have to 'manage' a few fences.  I managed to get a flat on the back road. I was helped in fixing the flat by a group of horses (not that is not a typo).  In case you were curious, we don't have a monopoly on the flats.  Day 10 has us in another teepee hotel.  We also stopped at the Jack Rabbit Trading Post.

our hotel room at the Laposada