OK, heres another!!!

[Robin]

ANOTHER ARIZONA TRIP
05/10/07 TO 05/21/07

On May 10th we rolled out of Lawrence about 10am. Our destination was Arizona. As I have a friend in Arizona that rides a 1948 Harley Panhead chopper, I decided I wanted to take my chopper there as well, so we could get our bikes together for some pictures and some rides. So, we loaded up our two Harleys, and the 47 Harley chopper on the trailer, hooked it up the truck and off we went!

We drove through to Albuquerque, New Mexico, getting there about 3am. We were very tired so we stopped at a Flying J, gassed up, and then pulled into the parking area and slept until the sun came up. We had folded down the rear seat and made a bed there, so Glenda was able to sleep there, and I folded back the driver’s seat and slept.

After breakfast we were off and running again. We passed through Texas and New Mexico taking turns driving. When we got into Arizona, right off I-40 is the Painted Desert and the Petrified Forest. We toured through those for a couple hours, and the scenery is incredible, although driving through the Petrified Forest is like driving on the moon. We met and talked at length to a couple that lived on a big yacht. They travel the world on their boat and once a year they come back to the US to take care of business. This time while the boat was anchored in Panama, they decided to buy some Harleys and ride a few months touring. Wish I had their income!

After leaving the Petrified Forest, we continued on south on highways 191, 61, and 60 to Apache Junction where we had a camping cabin reserved. This is an incredible drive through some major canyons.

We stayed in the Apache Junction/ Phoenix area for 2 days, I got to go chopper riding with Craig and he took us into the hills on some scenic drives, and to a bike bar called Tortilla Flats. Cool place, must have had $100,00.00 in one dollar bills stapled to the walls and ceiling. Owner said that’s his retirement fund when he retires. Unfortunately, it was too HOT for us there; it would hit 105 degrees by noon.
As our original goal was to be in Williams Arizona, we decided to leave the heat and go there a couple days early, so we loaded the bikes on the trailer and headed to Williams. On I-40 at exit number 185, out in the middle of nowhere, there was a Harley Dealer and a bar called the Road House. The Roadhouse is like a bigger SlowRide here in Lawrence. Inside it is like an old time diner. Off to one side you could look through some windows and see a 2 bay Harley shop. Further back in the building was a large room full of old Hot Rods. Then the back part of the building was a shop that was a Hot Rod building shop. Pretty cool! When you ordered food, like a steak or whatever, they brought a single plate with meat only and it was raw. In one corner, they had a huge covered stainless steel grill where you have to cook your own meat! After it was cooked, all the other stuff was right there beside the grill. That was different.
We moved on to the KOA just outside of Williams and got a cabin. From there over the next 3 days we rode to the Grand Canyon, Zion National Park, Hoover Dam, we rode on Route 66 (the mother road), and some beautiful back roads. On the way to the Grand Canyon, we stopped at a Planes of Fame museum and looked at some old airplanes including General MacArthur’s personal Constellation. The Grand Canyon was grand; it was interesting listening to the other tourists, very few spoke English. I couldn’t guess how many different languages we heard.
Another day we rode north into Utah and went through the Zion National Park. We have to say, that was one of the most interesting rides we have ever done, the scenery was incredible! After leaving there, we headed back south again. By the time we got to Mesquite, we were so burned out by the sun in our face, we decided to stop and get a room. It was HOT and miserable.

The next day, we hopped on the bikes and headed to the Hoover Dam. This was a major piece of engineering and should be seen by everyone! There were all kinds of commerce on the west side of the dam, so we decided we would fuel up on the east side as we would be heading to Kingman, no such luck, there is NOTHING between the Hoover Dam and Kingman. Glenda’s bike ran out of gas about 30 miles from Kingman. We called AAA and told them we needed some gas and they said it would be about and hour and a half before they could get there, so we settled in for a long wait. But, looking ahead we could barely see some buildings. I rode there and found an abandoned gas station/ salvage yard. I went back and tilted Glenda’s bike over a bit and got some gas into the carb. It started and she was able to ride to the old gas station. The salvage yards out there are interesting; they still have cars in them from the 50’s that are still in good shape.

We had been there about 5 minutes when we heard someone behind us yell at us. We turned around and here comes this old guy with a long beard. He looked at Glenda and asked her if she was Glenda Kelly. She said she was and we were amazed at this, we didn’t know the guy. He explained that even though he’d been closed for a couple years, he was still on AAA’s list and they called him. He had a couple gallons of gas, but still not enough to get to Kingman. He told us to continue on the highway for about 6 miles, then 6 miles north on a country road we would run into Dolan Springs, and we could get gas there. We did and paid $3.79 a gallon for 86 octane, all they had. We got into Kingman, and then back to the KOA with no problems. The next day we packed up and moved into a motel in Williams. At the KOA, the grounds were just dirt, and not just dirt but the kind that is as fine as powder and sticks to everything. Every time a breeze would come up we would get covered by the dust, so we left.

We settled into the motel and it was nice. One of the reasons we were in Williams was we (Glenda) was supposed to meet up with the RUMBLE SISTERS. They are an internet based group of women riders that get together a couple times a year somewhere in the US. This time the western part of the group decided on Williams, Arizona. They showed up on Thursday and Friday. Boys, these women are riders; one woman in her 60’s rode 1800 miles in 2 days by herself to get there. There was about 20 total, 3 of them brought their husbands. Looking at the tags, there were tags from Canada, California, Texas, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, and 2 from Kansas not counting ours. Talk about a group of free spirited, independent women, they were awesome!

We rode with them some during the day and relaxed at night. We rode on Route 66 for quite a ways and looked in at all the nostalgia shops along the way. I didn’t realize the history of Route 66, I had just heard about it. Also, another ride you can’t miss if you go there is 89A from Prescott to Flagstaff, some of the most scenic mountain riding we have done, and it rivals Colorado. One of the towns on the road was Jerome, Arizona, which is perched on the side of a mountain. The road through Jerome has switchbacks in town! It was an old mining town, but now is pretty touristy. Sedona was awesome with the red rock cliffs in the background, but it looked like a very expensive place to live.

On Sunday the 20th it was time to leave, so we loaded up the bikes and headed home, getting to the house about 630 am on Monday. 1200 miles in 20 hours, not bad, we took turns driving and sleeping.
Forgot to tell you, that the Hells Angels had a run to Williams the same weekend, they were all over the place, and so was law enforcement, keeping an eye on them. There was no trouble as far as I know.
The only negative was gas prices. We paid up to $3.89 a galloon for gas. Putting out 70 bucks for 20 gallons seems obscene to me. We liked Arizona, but wouldn’t want to live there. It was too hot, too dry, too dusty and there was no color. We were so happy to see our green grass and trees!

Robin Moore

[shfls]

Awesome! Just awesome.

Robin, you should compile a book...with photos.

[Klem]

This day and age a blog or my place type thing would be easy access, easy to edit and have controls on who was allowed to view. Tom L had a nice one on his trips.

Don