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Day 1 Thursday a travel day.
It started out as an early day for
me. I left my home a 5:30am to hook up with Richard W. in
Victorville. From there it was off to Kingman to meet up with Wayne
at the Cracker Barrel. After a short break we were off by 10:00am to
the ride to Prescott. In Prescott we found 3 more riders in the form
of John G, Jim D and Steve D.. After a nice lunch it was off to
Peoria AZ to pick up George. He invited us into his home for some
much needed water and rest. It was very warm this day hovering
around a 100 degrees. It was nice to visit with Helen but she
decided to stay and relax and keep cool. Next stop was our final
destination for the day. It took a couple of hours to reach the
hotel and it was a very warm ride. We checked in and meet up with
Greg R, Rich S, Rob and Brenda and Skip and Manis. Those of us that
hadn't eaten went over to Cracker Barrel for dinner. After dinner
few of us got together and hung out in the lobby to visit.
Day 2 Friday taken the tour.
8am and kickstands were up and we
hitting the road. Michael and Gary had to get up early and to meet
up with us. They were right on time and raring to go. Our leader Ron
N took us up a beautiful ride up MT Lemon. The weather was much
cooler there being in the low 70s for a time. Great road and some of
us took off ahead of the pack to wear down some of the side walls of
our tires. Great road and views and well worth the ride up. After we
regrouped at the bottom it was off to Globe and Safford. Ron had a
lunch break at this nice BBQ restaurant. Ron again lead the way over
some great roads and scenery to our second nite in Safford. After
getting our rooms we went across the street to a nice place to eat
and they took care of us very well. We sat outside for a while
visiting before it was time to turn in and get some good sleep for
the next day over the Devils Highway.
Day 3 Saturday.
Once again it was kickstands up at
8am for a full day. Our coal was to have Ron take us over the Devils
Highway. Just getting there was a wonderful ride. We stopped by the
largest open pit mines in the us. Morenci Mine has one of the
largest copper reserves in the US. Pretty impressive when you look
across it and see those giant trucks that look like toys. After a
look see it was on for and exciting ride over the Devils Highway.
Ron let those that wanted to ride a little faster than the others go
ahead and have some fun. And fun we had. Even I did a little peg
scraping on those twistys. We regrouped again in Alpine for the ride
into Payson for some lunch. For some of us it took a little longer
to meet up for lunch. Jim D decided to do some triple digits on his
bike and the valve stem came loose with the centrifugal force of the
speed. If you don't have a metal valve stem be sure the plastic
keeper is secured on yours. Next time you have a tire change be sure
to change it our for a metal. We manage to get air back in the tire
and jerry rig the stem to hold air long enough to get him into
Springerville. I had a spare metal Valve stem with me and we found a tire
place to break the bead and install the new one. We were only about
an half an hour behind them for lunch. Then it was off for a
pleasant ride toward Flagstaff. 3 from the group split off and
headed for home while the rest of us got to our hotel in Flagstaff.
We checked in and had a nice dinner across the street and headed for
our rooms. I for one was very tired and glad to rest.
Day 4 Sunday, Time to head home or
other places.
Sunday morning we all left at
different times. Michael, Gary, John and myself left around 8:30 for
New Mexico. We stopped at Winslow, Holbrook and Gallop to check out
the sites. It was a Sunday afternoon just 10 miles west of
Albuquerque when John had a flat on his rear tire doing about 80mph.
He couldn't make it over to the right so he rode it down the center
median of the Hwy. He did a great job controlling the bike with a
flat and going down a sandy embankment. He told me what was
happening so I slowed down and drove down the median and made my way
back to him. It was soft but not that bad and had no problem. Well
we called a tow truck and after about an hour and a half he finally
arrived. While we were waiting Michael and Gary got a hold of Chuck
aka( F6 banger) and we had the bike towed to his house about 10
miles away. As we were leaving the Hwy I tried to make my way to the
turn around that the State Police use to go from one side of the hwy
to the other. It was about a 100 yards and I thought it would be
easier than going up the embankment of the road. Well I hit some
soft sand and the bike stopped and I tipped over on the right and my
foot got caught under the exhaust pipe. I got the foot our right
away and didn't think it was burned put just sprained or twisted.
John and the tow truck driver helped me get up and pick up the bike
as well. I walked around a bit and although sore I thought it was ok
to ride. It wasn't until the next day that the ankle came to life
and all the bruising and the burn show it's ugly head.
Many Thanks to Chuck for helping us get back on the road again with
his air compressor and expert advice on getting the bead back on the
rim.
Ron I can't thank you enough for all the work you did into Putting
this ride together. Great job. Looking forward to riding with you in
the future.
Dave
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