Ben Hardy and the History of the Chopper
Cool video about the builder of the most famous motorcycle in history.
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Turning 50
I’ve been running around most of my life as an 18 year old. In most ways, I still am 18. 30 never bothered me, neither did 40. I gotta admit, I stopped and noticed 50. Fucking fifty. I paused at that one. Thats half a century — Half a century I wouldn’t trade for anything.
I work with mostly young guys, who like to joke about my age. When they bust out the daily sales results, I’m still at the top end of that list, and it sorta makes me giggle. I can still out-ride anyone on a long ride, and can more than likely fix your bike when you break down because you did something stupid. They value youth because its all they know, and I value experience because you fuck up less. We balance each other out.
I stopped chewing Copenhagen Saturday morning. that’s what I’m laying on the altar of 50. That’s all you’re getting from me. Its been 3 days, and its easier than I thought it would be. Maybe I’m just ready. I won’t do it again: I’m pretty determined to be done with it.
Anyway, just another random Thought….
BBQ
I gotta think next to my family and Riding, making BBQ is *maybe* my next favorite thing.
I’ve owned several smokers, and have put some time in trying to learn the art of low and slow cooking of meats. I don’t know why. something about it just appeals to me. I tend to lean toward Texas style BBQ, which lets the meat speak for itself, and the bbq sauce is on the table if you don’t like what the meat is saying. Less Rub and Injections, more quality time on steady, low heat. The lower and the slower the better.
BBQ is like golf: no matter how many times you think you have your swing down or have practiced at the range, some days you still end up swinging from the red tees with your pants around your ankles. You never actually win, its just an endless pursuit of perfection.
Making a pork butt today: Shooting for pulled pork. We’ll know in a few hours, but I think I got this one…
No phone, no pool, no pets…
An oldie but a goodie. I remember listening to this in the 8 track player while the old man miles in the motor home. Classic!
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The Story of the Buckhorn Baths
Highway 60 is still one of the main roads into Phoenix. Back in the day, it was *the* road if you were coming in from the East. It runs through Mesa Arizona first, and there’s still parts that retain its past of epic sized neon signs and old school road trip memories. The Buckhorn Baths is the king of those places in the area. It just stands out. When I first saw it, it reminded me of Roys in Amboy on route 66. I liked this place immediately, and wanted to know its story.
Ted and Alice Sliger started the Buckhorn Baths. Ted was was an entrepreneur and a Texan, but found his way to Arizona and in the 30s, started a gas station on the corner of the Apache Trail and the bush Highway on the way to Saguaro Lake. A fire later destroyed their business. Ted, ever the opportunist bought a homestead on the far edge of highway 60 into Mesa to start over and try again.
With the brutal desert heat and water a necessity, The couple got tired of hauling in water and put together enough money to drill a well. It didn’t go so well. The results were an undrinkable, hot, odorless Mineral Water. Ted made the most out of it and they started the Buckhorn Mineral wells in 1939.
More and more people were travelling by car, and the Buckhorn started getting more and more business. Ted and Alice’s venture started to grow. They put in a cafe, motel, Curio shop and even a 9 hole golf course. They bought old bricks for $5 per thousand from a local school that was being torn down and built a trading post complete with a greyhound bus station. When local cowboys came through town and needed food and a place to stay, they’d be put to work in exchange for labor to expand his new enterprise. Ted was also a skilled Taxidermist and started a small animal museum to bring in customers.
Arizona seemed like a great place for Baseball spring training, and in 1947 Ted capitalized on an opportunity. His Motel and therapeutic mineral waters were a perfect fit to house baseball players. He cut a deal to have the world champion New York Giants stay there for spring training. He outfitted locker rooms into the facility for the team which are still there. This was the Giants spring training home for 25 years. Ty Cobb, Willie Mays and a list of baseball players all stayed here. Other teams soon followed into Arizona, and the cactus league was formed. Today, more than 1/2 of the Major League Baseball teams train in Arizona. It all started with the Buckhorn.
The Buckhorn continued to thrive through the 60’s and 70’s. The staff of 25 made beds, sold admission to the museum, cleaned and made food. The business had 27 stone tubs, 15 adobe style cottages with attached carports to get out of Arizona sun. The wildlife museum had over 450 animals, some that were extinct in Arizona. Ted and Alice lived on the property and continued the business of hospitality.
When Ted Passed away in 1984, Alice continued to run the place for 15 more years When route 60 was re-routed in the mid 1990’s, traffic all but stopped and Alice finally shut the doors for the last time at the age of 93 in 1999.
There’s been some on and off discussion on what to do with the place: The city of Mesa spent a couple of years trying to acquire the property but they weren’t able to pull it off. The whole 15 acres is currently for sale. Its currently listed on the National Registry of Historic Places.
Inside its still a time machine:
I busted out the drone and got some Arial shots…
Just a cool old place, with a great Story. God, I love Arizona.
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The Top 10 Motorcycle Roads in Utah
Top 10 Motorcycle Roads in Utah:
#10: Old Highway 91 from St George to Mesquite Nevada:
This was just outside my back door for 25 years, and I rode it a lot. I’m not sure I ever got sick of it. Before they put in the virgin River gorge and completed 1-15 at a million dollars a mile back in 1972, this was how you got to Vegas. Be sure to ride under the freeway at Littlefield to get the full effect.
#9: Highway 191 from Duchesne to Moab:
Leaving Duchesne you’ll ride up to 9,000 feet and down into some pretty historic parts of the Mining towns of Utah. Some great bars, history and open roads. Keep going and you’ll end up in Moab and probably find something fun to do. Everybody loves Moab.
#8: Highway 18 from St George to Caliente Nevada
Another road I’ve ridden a lot, but it never got old. Hay fields and hills that end up in the Canyon Town of Caliente Nevada. Remember to ride through Modena. There’s a few cool old surprises there…
#7: Utah Highway 89
I rode highway 89 mostly because I hated riding the Interstate. Its a great road that’ll take a few hours longer than 1-15, but much more interesting. You’ll ride through national forests, High mountains and High Desert. The home of Butch Cassidy, The big Rock Candy mountain and a lot of other cool places.
#6: Highway 189 through Provo Canyon:
I remember getting back from one the Easy Rider tours that went half way across the country and coming home from the Airport. After all those states and terrain, I still didn’t see anything as beautiful as Provo Canyon. There’s at least 10 or 11 waterfalls through there if you’re paying attention, including Bridal Veil Falls. Its a gorgeous ride, and Heber City Has some of the best people you’d ever want to meet.
#5: Highway 14 – Cedar Mountain through Duck Creek village.
A great 2 lane ride over Cedar mountain and through the pines. Missus Zip and I had our Honeymoon in Duck Creek Village. It’s a great ride. A nice side road at the top is over to Panguitch Lake, Or Even to the 10,000 foot top to Brian Head. Hard to beat 🙂
#4: Heber to Tabiona to Heber again:
You’ll go past Strawberry Reservoir and into Highway 35 and the mountains of Tabiona. Stop in Hannah and get a bite to eat, and kick a foot up on your freeway pegs and enjoy the scenery of really small town Utah. This is a great ride.
#3: Highway 9 through Zion National Park:
Zion is one of a kind, and a must see. It’s a twisty road through some of the most beautiful scenery you’ll find on the planet. Take 89 south through Kanab and Fredonia on the way home, over the edge of the Kaibab Plateau and through Colorado City.
#2: The Alpine Loop.
Head up Provo Canyon and turn off at Sundance Ski Resort. This road is kinda funky — its a narrow 2 lane (almost 1 lane) that takes you over the top of the mountain. You’ll have to be careful around the corners because there’s a lot of blind spots, but its drop dead beautiful and right in the middle of dense forest.
#1: Utah Highway 12.
My favorite road in Utah. You’ll go through Bryce Canyon, Tropic and Cannonville and Escalante. The Town of Boulder is beautiful (great fishing there) and over the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument. You’ll end up in Torrey after a great ride with a lot of terrain changes. The road into boulder valley is awesome. The whole road is good. For fun, take the side road into Antimony.
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In the footsteps of Easy Rider
I want to party with this guy — he Rode the route and did it right. This video cracks me up.
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Arizona to New Mexico Route 66
One of the first things I thought about moving to Phoenix was relief. Relief that I didn’t have to be trapped by weather to not go riding whenever I wanted to in December, or whenever. Sure, it gets hotter than hell down here, but you don’t slide sideways into a ditch because of the heat, and you sure as fuck don’t have to shovel it off your doorstep in the mornings and scrape it off the windows. If you live in the desert long enough, you become a desert rat, at least I did. I’m lucky enough that my wife is on board and she loves the desert as much as I do. To me, the Desert means freedom.
I didn’t exactly know what the Monsoons were though before I moved down here. You still have the check the weather to go for long rides, because the thunderstorms down here are biblical. The dust storms that sometimes precede them are pretty epic as well. This ride had been planned 2 weeks earlier, and although I don’t really mind riding in the rain, its better if the weather is good. It looked like it was going to be nice this last weekend, and Friday morning I loaded up the bike and planned to leave early and get to Albuquerque and explore some new roads I’ve never seen. Once there, I’d figure it out where to go next on Saturday morning.
I left work around 1 and hit the road, up Arizona 97 toward Payson and into some higher country. It was around 110 degrees and pretty hot, but the road climbed quickly and I knew it wouldn’t last long.
I got out before the weekend traffic and the roads were killer, and the weather cooled down 25 degrees. It was awesome. This has always been my theory: It takes 3 days to have a good ride, at least: the first day all the bullshit drains out, the second day you feel like yourself again, and the third day is just pure inspiration. I think the more of a 2 lane road you get the faster the bullshit drains out, and as I got further and further away from home the ride just kept getting better. I was starting to realize I had a whole weekend of this. It was starting to get really damn enjoyable.
I went through Springerville AZ, gassed up, stuffed some beef jerky into my vest pocket and headed on down the road — the sun was going down and I wanted to see as much of the country as I could. I knew I’d be pulling into Albuquerque in the dark. I hit the road. The sunset was at my back and the shadows were getting tall and the weather a little cooler. Perfect riding.
About a half an hour later, it was dark. I started heading north on New Mexico 36, and decided I wasn’t going to make ABQ tonight. I knew there was a KOA in Grants that was closer, so I decided to ride there, crash for the night and figure it out in the morning. I twisted the throttle and enjoyed the ride, happy in my new plan.
You gotta love riding at night in the Desert, especially on a new road. Up north, I always worried about critters on the road like Deer, elk and even moose at night. I suck at spotting Deer during the day, let alone at night. A perk of the desert is the night riding. You can relax a little, sing out loud without looking like a moron, and enjoy the ride.
I passed some pretty cool scenery I think the last 40 miles into Grants. It was pitch dark with no moon but my headlight was picking up the sides of some massive rock formations. The turns in the road said this was interesting terrain, I just couldn’t see any of it. Another nice surprise that I’ll need to go back and check out. El Malpais National Monument is what I was missing it turns out. Even as I type this out I’m curious as to what I missed — I’ll go back again.
I rolled into Grants about 10pm. The Lady at the KOA was a sweetheart and gave me an upgrade from a tent spot to a cabin for 10 bucks. I guess the thought of setting up a tent and sleeping on the ground made me an easy sell. I called Missus Zip, watched the local news, checked the weather and was asleep in an hour.
Day 2:
I was up at 5. Some call it a curse to be an early riser, but by God I think its a blessing. Especially on a route 66 road trip by yourself. I was stoked, and the day was mine.
I showered, watched a couple of Episodes of the Rifleman while I drank coffee and it warmed up a little. I decided to head Toward Albuquerque on route 66 and double back toward Flagstaff
Wait though, the Rifleman — I’ve never watched it before. Two thumbs up!!
Budville New Mexico Route 66
San Fidel New Mexico Route 66
I was glad I doubled back. It rained a little here and there, but I was enjoying the 160 mile ride from Grants to Albuquerque to Grants again. I wished I’d had taken more pictures.
Grants has lots of great history — It started out as a railroad town in the 1880s, became a logging town till the 1930s, and was mostly known as a Uranium mining town till the 1980s. When the mining boom ended, Grants went through a pretty rough time. Tourism and the resurgence of Route 66 has brought it back. Its still one of my favorite route 66 towns.
I stayed on route 66 west bound, avoiding as much interstate as I could. The clouds and rain started to clear, and the sky started opening up. It was turning out to be a helluva good day to ride.
I rode through Gallup and on through the border back into Arizona.
Side note: One of the things about riding is you don’t miss much of the experience. You’re part of it, rather than just observing it. The heat, the cold, the weather, the smells. It heightens your senses I think. I noticed the predominant smell in New Mexico is weed. Most of the place smells like Marijuana, and I don’t know why. I think everyone smokes pot there. Just an observation…
Arizona Route 66!
If you don’t rubberneck and look for side roads, or have a good Route 66 map made by those in the know, you’ll miss a lot of great spots on the Mother road. The interstate signs don’t always tell you where some of the best parts of route 66 are. This is one of my favorites — the Querino Canyon Bridge.
It started getting hotter as I rolled on through Joseph city, Jackrabbit City, did a couple of laps through Winslow. I opened it up and headed toward Flagstaff.
I rolled into flagstaff KOA that evening after riding for 12 hours, feeling pretty tired and just wanting to set up my tent and crash for the night. I rolled into my tent spot and my overly-enthusiastic camping neighbor was on me before I could even shut the bike off. I could appreciate that kind of friendliness normally, but I guess he couldn’t see by the look on my face that I was beat, and it wasn’t all that mutual right now. He kept touching my bike, peppering me with questions about where I’d been, what year my bike was, how long I’d been riding….. it to the point I thought there was something wrong with this guy.
He asked what I did; I looked at him and said — “I just got out of Prison and I’m re-building my life”.
It worked.
I set up my tent, called missus Zip to let her know I was ok, and crashed for the night.
Day 3: Flagstaff to Home
I woke up, showered and broke down my tent. It’d been a damn fine ride, and I could be home in 2 hours if I hauled ass, but I wasn’t ready to end my ride.
I got off the interstate as quick as I could, and hit the back roads toward Payson AZ again to head home. Another new road.
Arizona is my favorite state. It has it all: The desert valleys, lots of old history, mountainous Ponderosa pine forests, sane gun laws, the Grand Canyon, route 66 and high desert plains. I rolled down slowly off the mountain and found a couple of cool little towns I want to go back and explore again. Strawberry AZ and Pine AZ. Lots of bikers and twisty forest roads.
The traffic was heavy coming off the mountain. I was tired of following cars so I took a side road toward a historical marker in Strawberry Arizona.
I stopped and ate in Payson, and headed on down the road (and into the heat again) toward Home.
I was home by 1. Great ride. God, I love Arizona.
3 Days, 2 States, 1,110 Miles
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Glen Campbell – Gentile on my mind.
Glen Campbell has always been good Road Music. Rhinestone Cowboy, Galveston, By the time I get to Phoenix…. It’ll hit the spot at certain times on a good road trip. I’ve always been a fan.
The man had serious talent. He had a solid career as a session guitarist; The righteous brothers, Merle Haggard, the Monkees, Roger Miller and the Beach Boys. Hell, the Beach Boys tried to hire him to Replace Brian Wilson on tour. He Decided to do his own thing instead, follow his gut and then turn out some of his own hits. He Had a few.
I guess he lived in Phoenix for a pretty long stretch — The radio stations on my daily commute have been full of stories about him. From Alice Cooper to Radio Hosts who worked with him here, and even to his neighbors who knew him. Turns out, he was as down to earth and friendly as he was represented. Basically, a helluva good human being.
RIP Glen Campbell. You sir, were gentle on all of our minds. Thanks for what you did.
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