Day 12 Seligman to Williams AZ. 44 miles 6768' elevation

Original Destination...Flagstaff.....A special addition today, Kirk and Cindy joined Beth from Peoria AZ to provide support and Kirk will ride with Beth.....let's call this day...."Help is on the way"
The morning began at 4:45.  Beth missed her first turn,and ended up at I-40 Interstate Ramp...call 1...She proceeds onto the on-ramp over a cattle guard and renders the bike inoperable...call 2....Larry brings reserve bike to her location and does not have the proper shoes.....back to the motel room...and then back to original route ( lose 1 hour).  Next call Kirk is waiting for Beth to arrive at Ash Fork exit....call Beth, let her know....she arrives at Ash Fork...no Kirk...call Cindy..wrong cell...call Kirk...at SECOND Ash Fork exit.....call Beth to inform 2 exits in town of 100...go to next exit.....Kirk has been waiting 1 1/2 hours.....he has no biking shoes, and no tools or supplies (wrenches/tubes etc.)....I meet up with them and have repaired bike ready to exchange with Beth...she stays with old reliable, and I leave to find Cindy 10 miles ahead in Williams....arrive, still in car....call comes in Kirk is broken down, needs an Allen wrench ( he has one in Peoria, and Beth has one on the Bike...on the back of my car.....find Cindy....drive back....fix the broken pedal arm ( completely off bike)....now the gear shifter on his bike doesn't work....What to do???? Send him back to Peoria???  He has taken two days off to ride with Beth .....Gave him Beth's repaired bike....he does not adjust seat and looks somewhat?? Awkward riding with his knees near handlebars....and with an ascent of about 1200 feet ahead, he takes off and we take his bike back to Williams and Cindy drives to FLagstaff to a bike shop to get repaired.  Eventually, they stop and switch bikes and he adjusts the seat of her working bike to fit him. Ring Ring.....Kirk has a flat tire on Beth's bike ...and for the third time today is walking a broken bike up the hill......more about this later.....  Next call is from Cindy, she has repaired bike and drives back to Williams exit to meet Beth who has gone on ahead, while Larry is rerescuing another Kirk broken bike on the Interstate.  We arrived in Williams at 1:00PM and called it a day after riding through town on Kirk's repaired????bike, minus his water bottle which has somehow gotten lost along the interstate. Oh, did I forget he broke the pedal on Beth' repaired bike? Kirk has had a 14 mile ride of which he has walked about 3 1/2 miles of.
Back to the flat tire.....it happened AFTER a semi truck just passed them in a third lane ascent lane and blew a tire approximately 100 feet in front of them. The sound sounded like a cannon in the area of the hill they were in.  The tire shredded and went completely apart and the driver got control of the wobbling trailer.  He could not see Kirk or Beth because of the smoke from the tire blowout and thought he had killed them.  He came frantically running back with tears in his eyes thinking something terrible had happened, and was VERY relieved to find both riders alive, helping him remove debris from the interstate.   And this is why Kirk got a shred of steel in his tire from the leftovers of the blowout.
Things happen for a reason...all is well that ends well...we called it a day, and Beth got a well deserved afternoon of rest....she has been fighting a chest cold for two days.....an uphill battle with the ascending altitude.  The other three of us took a afternoon trip.