Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Arizona Route 66 - part 1

Strom buddy Phil invites Adrian and I to join him on a partial Route 66 tour put on by a Scottsdale, Arizona motorcycle dealer.
The ride will start in Winslow, Arizona - 582 miles from my house (according to google maps).

Adrian and I don't have enough common cents to not ride in the cold, but it will be a speedy freeway ride to Cedar City, Utah where we will stay the night.

Our route for part 1;
A=  Home
B = Cedar City, Utah
D = Winslow, Arizona
E = Meteor Crater
F = Williams, Arizona

 After our cold I-15 jaunt we stay at the Crystal Inn and fuel at this Sinclair in the morning. 
This is Felix.
 We leave Cedar via SR 14 a beautiful canyon road, but again with the cold! At least now we will be off the freeway and on more relaxed US 89
(Yes that's snow on the mountain)
 We make Winslow just in time to join the group for lunch at La Posada.
The bikes. A good mix of machines, but we end up mostly riding with just the three of us.
 Another cool photo op in Winslow.

And....the famous corner. Me, Phil, and Adrian.

 These two women from England approach us and ask if they can take our pictures. We felt special until we overheard them asking the next person they saw if they could take their picture...
 The flat bed ford.


Leaving Winslow we ride on I-40 30 miles to the Meteor crater. This crater is over 1 mile across and 550 feet deep.

 On the way out I see this tree growing out of a rock.

 On we go to Williams, Arizona where we stay the night.
Our motel also has a large group of riders from Germany touring the US. They will spend 11 days seeing Route 66, The Grand Canyon, Zion National Park and other sights. There were 28 bikes, two sag wagons, and about 74 harley jackets.

More Route 66 sights in Seligman, Arizona.


This truck is needed in Washington DC.



More stuff in part 2

Monday, October 21, 2013

Arizona Route 66 - part 2


 Day 2 Route:
A = Williams, Arizona
B = Seligman, Arizona
C = Grand Canyon Caverns
D = Hackberry, Arizona
E = Kingman, Arizona

A motorcycle forum common to the three of us is My2Wheels. Phil 'tags' Seligman.
I don't think I could eat here...

Maybe the most plentiful thing along Route 66 is old cars.

 We stop at the Grand Canyon Caverns, but don't take the tour, instead we just oogle some more old cars.
 Herbie.
Nash
 Corvair
 And of course, Betty.

Next stop, the famous Hackberry General store.

The store owners daily driver; '57 Corvette.
More Hackberry sights.




Once again on the road we arrive at Kingman, Arizona where we have lunch and then keep moving.


The equally famous "Tombstone Trail"!
 More pictures in part 3

Sunday, October 20, 2013

Arizona Route 66 - part 3

Day 3 Route:
A = Near Kingman, Arizona
B = Oatman, Arizona
C = Needles, California
D = St George, Utah
This is 66 just before you enter Oatman, Arizona.
Lots of burros in Oatman.
 "That dumb ass walked right in front of me!"

Back on the road we make it to Needles, California.
 "Meh... Sew what?"

We make it to Lake Havasu and to Phil's house.
My bike has a couple issues; the velcro on my windshield protector gets weak enough that it falls off, and the second problem is I apparently have some debris in my fork seal as it is leaking a little bit.

Phil has some industrial strength velcro that solves problem one, and a very neat little tool that cleans out my fork seal and solves problem two.

Adrian uses the fork seal cleaner.
 The view from Phil's house, Lake Havasu in the distance.
Phil's awesome garage.
 Gen and I have been together for 80 thousand miles. Awwwwww....

Our 66 tour is done and the next morning Adrian and I must start for home, Phil will ride halfway with us. We stop in Henderson for breakfast at the Coffee Cup. The chicken fried stead was super. After Henderson we jump on I-15 to quickly burn up some miles.
We spend the night in St. George, the next morning Phil leaves early to ride south and home, 
From St. George Adrian and I ride SR 9 to  Zion National Park.
Some pictures of Zion.


 Out of Zion, north bound on US 89 we come to Mt Carmel. 
This is where my grandfather went to church and school as a child.
 We play leap frog with two trucks hauling these rocks. They must have had a large fork lift to get them on the truck. I don't know how they will get the rocks off, but I DO know I've been away from home 4 nights and I'm anxious to sleep in my own bed tonight!

And that's it. 1542 miles, 3 chicken fried steak meals, and 4 & 1/2 days of blissful riding!
Thanks to Adrian and Phil for a GOOD ride!