EDIT 08/01/06: Okay, now there are pics so it isn't quite as useless as it once was! --Wag--
Useless, because we didn't take and pictures! Well, we took a couple near the end of the trip but I can't upload them from this 'puter. Cables are still in storage.
Anyhoo, Monday was day 1.
Got up at 4:00am, hit the road at 5:00am from Yucaipa. We could smell smoke from the nearby fires and the wind was really blowing hard. We sent out our hopes that the firefighters were going to be okay. It was dark still but as much because it was cloudy as for any other reason. As we got on the freeway at County Line Road, it started to rain and then REALLY started to pour down on us. We stopped under an overpass to wait it out. As we looked on further down the road, it appeared that the rain was starting to taper off. We got moving again and sure 'nuff: The edge of the rain came up in seconds and we were out of it.
We took the 62 exit going north to Twentynine Palms. Got over the hill and gassed up in Yucca Valley. We SHOULD have waited the extra 10 miles and gassed up in Twentynine Palms instead. No biggie. We ate at a McD's in 29 Palms, then hit the road again. It was still early but just starting to heat up for real.
We went up to Amboy Road and rode that to, well, to Amboy, of course! Curiosly, Amboy doesn't appear on Google Maps. Not a real town, actually! Then we took National Trails Highway East, all the way to the 40 Fwy and then to Needles. The gas tanks were VERY thirsty. If I recall correctly, it was about 150 miles. I had 43.7 mpg and Nan had 55. We had ridden that entire road at about 65 mph and it really paid off in the gas mileage department, to say nothing of giving us that extra few miles to ride without getting stranded gasless in the middle of the desert!
Rode on to Kingman, AZ and ate at a very nice little buffet. I highly recommend it. It's called the Golden Corral Buffet and Grill on Stockton Hill Road, a couple of blocks north of the freeway. Usually, buffet food is the kind of food you just tolerate 'cause you're hungry but this place has food you can actually enjoy. Again, I highly recommend it. Needles had been VERY hot and while Kingman was also very hot, it was not quite as bad. Still, it was good to be able to cool off.
About an hour before Flagstaff, we got rained on big time. Very hard, heavy rain for about 10 miles. New experience for Nan and she learned that you CAN ride faster than 25 mph in a heavy rain!
(Sorry, Hon, couldn't resist!) The rain kept coming and going in typical desert monsoon fashion. We reached Flagstaff a little damp and holed up in a hotel there.
Nan's lower legs had really swelled up bad and we were concerned that we would have to spend more than just one night in order to give her time to recover. The bikes both have alarms with prox sensors so we parked them just outside the door to our room and felt secure enough.
Tuesday was day two.
Nan was feeling much better and I left it to her to decide if we were going to press on. She felt it would be okay and after dinkin' around with breakfast, we were finally on the road at about 9:30 or 10:00. That's way too late to start out in the desert. It was probably our most serious mistake on this trip. We should have gotten started no later than 6:00.
We took 89 south out of Flagstaff and thoroughly enjoyed some twisty riding for a few miles. Due to how late we had started, the traffic was prohibitive but still, that's a quick thrill road if you're ever in the area. I've always loved this road (Oak Creek Canyon), since I was a small child. 30 years ago, you could really enjoy the creek but now it's highly commercialized and you can't get Slide Rock to yourself anymore. Regardless, the canyon is just as beautiful as you could hope for.
By the time we hit the Sedona valley, it was REALLY HOT! Nan said she was having problems with the swelling again so we stopped in Camp Verde and stayed overnight at the Cliff Castle Indian Casino there. Nice place but a little over priced. Food at the casino was reasonably decent but no thrill. We gambled $8 in the slot machines and that was that!
Wednesday was day three.
We got outta there EARLY. We headed east on the 260 and went all the way through to Payson. This is a GREAT road for beginners. Wide, wide sweeping turns, out in the middle of nowhere and we didn't see any police activity on this road. I would have liked to have taken it at closer to 120mph but we were good little bikers and kept it to 65. Again, gas mileage was VERY good next time we gassed up.
From Payson, we kept going East on the 260 to Heber/Overgaard. This ride includes the ride along the Mogollon Rim and while there are better scenery rides out there, this one is about the easiest one to get to and still take your breath away.
We stopped for breakfast/lunch at a GREAT little family restaurant in Overgaard. I think it was called Karyn's Kitchen or something like that. New little place a guy and his wife just opened recently. I recommend this restaurant as well. Cute thing is, we pulled up on the bikes and just as we were completely dismounted we were met at the door by their two waitresses (19-ish) who just HAD to come out and see the bikes. They both wanted rides! We got GREAT service and the food really hit the spot. Prices were okay. Nothing bad about this place. The owner chit-chatted with us for some time and made us feel right at home.
As we left the restaurant, we met another, older waitress just coming in to work and she also admired the bikes. I joked, "Wanna go with us?" She said, "In a heartbeat!" and you could tell she really meant it. Her eyes told a story of depression and despair. I hope the other two waitresses don't take any hints about life from this woman. Glad she didn't wait our table.
Just as we were mounting up, the waitresses who had served us ran out and asked us if we had intended to leave the tip we had left. Absolutely, we had, and they went running back into the restaurant all smiles and giggles and happy! You can't pay enough money for those kinds of smiles.
We continued on to Eager and Springerville. Along the way, we passed through Pinetop/Lakeside. I have to say that this and many other places along our route are very dangerous at this time of year. If you ride through, you'll want to move there, for sure! We didn't dare stop! Well, actually, the clouds were starting to threaten so we stopped and bagged up the saddlebags with rain gear and then we pressed on. When we reached Springerville, we gassed up and then stopped at a little roadside park bench where we chilled out for a while and debated on whether or not we would stay the night or go to Pie Town.
We voted to go to Pie Town and spend the night there.
An hour later, we saw signs for Pie Town, blinked twice and were beyond it. The town seemed like more of a sore spot in the road. No hotels and since we weren't geared for camping, we had to keep going.
We passed by the VLA radio telescope. Very impressive. We were tired, however, and only briefly stopped at the visitor's center. Sometime in the next few weeks, we'll go back down there for the full tour. We decided to go on to Socorro and spend the night there. Some other people we met at the VLA told us that due to some event in Socorro, there were no hotels available. Bummer. We didn't want to be hunting for hotels while tired.
As we passed through Magdalena, NM, we saw a little hotel and pulled in there. Cute little place. Parked the bikes right outside the window and felt comfortable with that. The little starlings started going all twitterpated at 3:00am and never stopped.
Thursday was day four.
Despite the starlings of the night, we had a reasonably decent rest and pulled out first thing in the morning. We went on to do some business south of Socorro while we were there. In order to get where we were going, we had to ride about 6 miles of gravel road. Now, gravel roads are not that much trouble, generally. Street bikes can handle most roads that cars can as long as you take it easy. This one, however, had just been graded the day before and the rocks had all been churned up to the surface. In some places, it was deep and treacherous. Still, we were able to traverse it rather readily. I'll let Nan tell you about her experience with this little segment! It was a unique learning experience for her.
When we left, it was about noon. We headed north toward Albuquerque and stopped in San Antonio to have a burger at the Buckhorn Grill. Best green chili cheeseburger ever, in my opinion. It was closed. That was a disaster but the Owl Saloon down the street was open and their green chili cheeseburger was definitely worthwhile! We loaded up for the last time and pressed north.
It was effing hot. No other way to say it but we nearly boiled ourselves alive on the bikes. Meat was falling off the bones. It was tempting to get another hotel and wait 'til morning but we went on to Rio Rancho and put the bikes in storage.
Got a hotel.
Went and ate.
Came back to the hotel and crashed and burned.
Great trip. We didn't do the route we originally planned on the 191 from Safford up to Springerville but it's definitely on the list at the moment. We'll get back to that one when it isn't so horribly HOT!
Our house is supposed to be finished on the 25th so hopefully, this hotel living, which sucks, will be over soon.
Wish us luck!
--Wag--
P.S. Sorry we didn't stop to take more pictures. There was some great scenery out there.
<!--EDIT|Wag
Reason for Edit: None given...|1154447501 -->
Useless, because we didn't take and pictures! Well, we took a couple near the end of the trip but I can't upload them from this 'puter. Cables are still in storage.
Anyhoo, Monday was day 1.
Got up at 4:00am, hit the road at 5:00am from Yucaipa. We could smell smoke from the nearby fires and the wind was really blowing hard. We sent out our hopes that the firefighters were going to be okay. It was dark still but as much because it was cloudy as for any other reason. As we got on the freeway at County Line Road, it started to rain and then REALLY started to pour down on us. We stopped under an overpass to wait it out. As we looked on further down the road, it appeared that the rain was starting to taper off. We got moving again and sure 'nuff: The edge of the rain came up in seconds and we were out of it.
We took the 62 exit going north to Twentynine Palms. Got over the hill and gassed up in Yucca Valley. We SHOULD have waited the extra 10 miles and gassed up in Twentynine Palms instead. No biggie. We ate at a McD's in 29 Palms, then hit the road again. It was still early but just starting to heat up for real.
We went up to Amboy Road and rode that to, well, to Amboy, of course! Curiosly, Amboy doesn't appear on Google Maps. Not a real town, actually! Then we took National Trails Highway East, all the way to the 40 Fwy and then to Needles. The gas tanks were VERY thirsty. If I recall correctly, it was about 150 miles. I had 43.7 mpg and Nan had 55. We had ridden that entire road at about 65 mph and it really paid off in the gas mileage department, to say nothing of giving us that extra few miles to ride without getting stranded gasless in the middle of the desert!
Rode on to Kingman, AZ and ate at a very nice little buffet. I highly recommend it. It's called the Golden Corral Buffet and Grill on Stockton Hill Road, a couple of blocks north of the freeway. Usually, buffet food is the kind of food you just tolerate 'cause you're hungry but this place has food you can actually enjoy. Again, I highly recommend it. Needles had been VERY hot and while Kingman was also very hot, it was not quite as bad. Still, it was good to be able to cool off.
About an hour before Flagstaff, we got rained on big time. Very hard, heavy rain for about 10 miles. New experience for Nan and she learned that you CAN ride faster than 25 mph in a heavy rain!
Nan's lower legs had really swelled up bad and we were concerned that we would have to spend more than just one night in order to give her time to recover. The bikes both have alarms with prox sensors so we parked them just outside the door to our room and felt secure enough.
Tuesday was day two.
Nan was feeling much better and I left it to her to decide if we were going to press on. She felt it would be okay and after dinkin' around with breakfast, we were finally on the road at about 9:30 or 10:00. That's way too late to start out in the desert. It was probably our most serious mistake on this trip. We should have gotten started no later than 6:00.
We took 89 south out of Flagstaff and thoroughly enjoyed some twisty riding for a few miles. Due to how late we had started, the traffic was prohibitive but still, that's a quick thrill road if you're ever in the area. I've always loved this road (Oak Creek Canyon), since I was a small child. 30 years ago, you could really enjoy the creek but now it's highly commercialized and you can't get Slide Rock to yourself anymore. Regardless, the canyon is just as beautiful as you could hope for.
By the time we hit the Sedona valley, it was REALLY HOT! Nan said she was having problems with the swelling again so we stopped in Camp Verde and stayed overnight at the Cliff Castle Indian Casino there. Nice place but a little over priced. Food at the casino was reasonably decent but no thrill. We gambled $8 in the slot machines and that was that!
Wednesday was day three.
We got outta there EARLY. We headed east on the 260 and went all the way through to Payson. This is a GREAT road for beginners. Wide, wide sweeping turns, out in the middle of nowhere and we didn't see any police activity on this road. I would have liked to have taken it at closer to 120mph but we were good little bikers and kept it to 65. Again, gas mileage was VERY good next time we gassed up.
From Payson, we kept going East on the 260 to Heber/Overgaard. This ride includes the ride along the Mogollon Rim and while there are better scenery rides out there, this one is about the easiest one to get to and still take your breath away.
We stopped for breakfast/lunch at a GREAT little family restaurant in Overgaard. I think it was called Karyn's Kitchen or something like that. New little place a guy and his wife just opened recently. I recommend this restaurant as well. Cute thing is, we pulled up on the bikes and just as we were completely dismounted we were met at the door by their two waitresses (19-ish) who just HAD to come out and see the bikes. They both wanted rides! We got GREAT service and the food really hit the spot. Prices were okay. Nothing bad about this place. The owner chit-chatted with us for some time and made us feel right at home.
As we left the restaurant, we met another, older waitress just coming in to work and she also admired the bikes. I joked, "Wanna go with us?" She said, "In a heartbeat!" and you could tell she really meant it. Her eyes told a story of depression and despair. I hope the other two waitresses don't take any hints about life from this woman. Glad she didn't wait our table.
Just as we were mounting up, the waitresses who had served us ran out and asked us if we had intended to leave the tip we had left. Absolutely, we had, and they went running back into the restaurant all smiles and giggles and happy! You can't pay enough money for those kinds of smiles.
We continued on to Eager and Springerville. Along the way, we passed through Pinetop/Lakeside. I have to say that this and many other places along our route are very dangerous at this time of year. If you ride through, you'll want to move there, for sure! We didn't dare stop! Well, actually, the clouds were starting to threaten so we stopped and bagged up the saddlebags with rain gear and then we pressed on. When we reached Springerville, we gassed up and then stopped at a little roadside park bench where we chilled out for a while and debated on whether or not we would stay the night or go to Pie Town.
We voted to go to Pie Town and spend the night there.
An hour later, we saw signs for Pie Town, blinked twice and were beyond it. The town seemed like more of a sore spot in the road. No hotels and since we weren't geared for camping, we had to keep going.
We passed by the VLA radio telescope. Very impressive. We were tired, however, and only briefly stopped at the visitor's center. Sometime in the next few weeks, we'll go back down there for the full tour. We decided to go on to Socorro and spend the night there. Some other people we met at the VLA told us that due to some event in Socorro, there were no hotels available. Bummer. We didn't want to be hunting for hotels while tired.
As we passed through Magdalena, NM, we saw a little hotel and pulled in there. Cute little place. Parked the bikes right outside the window and felt comfortable with that. The little starlings started going all twitterpated at 3:00am and never stopped.
Thursday was day four.
Despite the starlings of the night, we had a reasonably decent rest and pulled out first thing in the morning. We went on to do some business south of Socorro while we were there. In order to get where we were going, we had to ride about 6 miles of gravel road. Now, gravel roads are not that much trouble, generally. Street bikes can handle most roads that cars can as long as you take it easy. This one, however, had just been graded the day before and the rocks had all been churned up to the surface. In some places, it was deep and treacherous. Still, we were able to traverse it rather readily. I'll let Nan tell you about her experience with this little segment! It was a unique learning experience for her.
When we left, it was about noon. We headed north toward Albuquerque and stopped in San Antonio to have a burger at the Buckhorn Grill. Best green chili cheeseburger ever, in my opinion. It was closed. That was a disaster but the Owl Saloon down the street was open and their green chili cheeseburger was definitely worthwhile! We loaded up for the last time and pressed north.
It was effing hot. No other way to say it but we nearly boiled ourselves alive on the bikes. Meat was falling off the bones. It was tempting to get another hotel and wait 'til morning but we went on to Rio Rancho and put the bikes in storage.
Got a hotel.
Went and ate.
Came back to the hotel and crashed and burned.
Great trip. We didn't do the route we originally planned on the 191 from Safford up to Springerville but it's definitely on the list at the moment. We'll get back to that one when it isn't so horribly HOT!
Our house is supposed to be finished on the 25th so hopefully, this hotel living, which sucks, will be over soon.
Wish us luck!
--Wag--
P.S. Sorry we didn't stop to take more pictures. There was some great scenery out there.
<!--EDIT|Wag
Reason for Edit: None given...|1154447501 -->
