mrzip66

It woke me up in the middle of the night last night.

I could use a little Texas. I posted that last video of Merle Haggard, and realized how dumb it was that I hadn’t ever been there. It’s 900 miles away. There’s a lot of roads in between here and there I’ve never been on.

I’d also like to go back to Marfa. And Alpine Texas seemed pretty cool.

I rolled the past the Judge Roy Bean Museum in Langtry, and didn’t stop. The home of Judge Roy Bean. That shit has haunted me. There’s a lot of good stories in there.

I need to scout the perimeter.

Really, Fuck New Mexico. There, I said it. They smoke a lot of weed there and sit around and paint pictures, and I find i’m not all that interested.

But Texas? I need to go.

I know I’ve said this before, but I’m sick of seeing the world on fire. So, I’ve stopped watching.

The news has become retarded. Remember the Jerry Springer show? Where nazi’s would throw chairs, or they’d pit black vs white, or whatever they could find? Good, decent people didn’t watch it, because it was inflammatory. The Jerry Springer and their producers did it to get ratings. Yeah, thats the news now.

Social media: It was great when it started: A place to get connected with old friends, and see what everyone was up to. Now? it’s the lord of the Flies. I started muting everyone that didn’t say something positive, and I’m almost down to just advertisements from Harbor Freight, Home Depot and Harley Davidson.

The truth, as much as I hate to say it is usually found in the middle.

I’m getting back to the basics. And I’m enjoying it more.

Glad I was able to get out a couple of weekends ago. It was a short ride, but any overnight ride you can get is good. I’d been completely burned out on my Job, The whole Covid-19 thing, the state of the world and just feeling trapped at home was weighing on my soul. Having been me for 53 years, I knew a good overnight ride was just what I needed. Somehow, It’d reset a thing.

The night before a good ride is like Christmas morning expecting Santa; You wake up several times, check the time and try to go back to sleep. By 4:30, I’d said fuckit and made a pot of coffee, showered, and started to load the bike. By 5:30 AM the sun had started cracking over the Superstition Mountains. The day was clear, and it was only 75 degrees. I kissed Missus Zip goodbye, and backed my bike out of the driveway.

I hit US60, and headed west towards the other side of the Valley of the Sun. The road were a lot less crowded than they usually are at 5 AM. Signs of people working from home.

I hit interstate 10 and headed west. Phoenix is a great big Valley. From where I’m at on the east side, its almost 100 miles to what you could call the west side. 80 miles of that is suburbs, downtown and everything else. The parts of Arizona I like the best are the rural parts, and where people start to get interesting. That’s where my ride really started to get good, once I got through the city.

I left the 10, and headed northwest toward Salome AZ. It had warmed up quite a bit, but as I rose out of the desert floor it started getting cooler as I headed toward old highway 60.

I’m regretting I didn’t spend some more time along that stretch, as I write this. There were some cool old signs, and some old stories I’m sure. I’ll have to go back at check it out.

I finally hit Lake Havasu and the parker dam around 10 AM or so. I was getting hungry, but I figured I’d save my money and pay it in Oatman. With the travel ban, covid and everything I figured they could use the money.

I love the history of Lake Havasu: it was a town of a few hundred when The McCullough chainsaw founder decided he wanted to buy London Bridge and make a thing here. London wanted to sell it, and he bought it for 2.4 million dollars. He then tagged it, brick by brick and brought it to Arizona. Everyone thought he was nuts. He brought it here, and the town exploded from there. Hell, my wifes grandma bought a lot in town, in the 1970s to retire, and lived there till the day she died. Seems like a little vision, can go a long way.

The BBC did a pretty good article about McCulloch and Lake Havasu a few years ago, check it out. It’s a cool story. Much respect to that guy. Hell, he started a town.

I hit Topock and the Colorado River on the edge of the state.

Took some pictures, and headed up through Golden Shores and Oatman. A great ride. This was route 66 from the 1920s to the 1950s. It was the way the okies from the dustbowl came, as they worked their way to California for a new life. It’s twisty and hot, with great scenery and hot temperatures. I remember my first trip through here; this road was dirt, and largely forgotten. The resurgence of route 66 brought it alive again, and its a great road now.

By the time I hit Oatman, I was ready for some food. I’d gone through all my beef Jerky, and my water was gone. A little time out of the sun would be good as well.

Since I first got the route 66 bug back in the late 80s, I’ve seen a steady increase of growth and resurgence on route 66. It’s usually pretty well traveled, but not that day. It was dead. I was the only bike in town, and a couple of cars at best. Only a few shops open, and after walking the town I realized I wasn’t going to be eating here. I spoke to a couple of business owners there and asked they were concerned about how they were going to make it. I know how these small little tourist towns are, and how difficult it is to run a small business. I left half sad, but mostly pissed off that we’ve made this virus into something that will fuck a persons livelihood over.

I rode down the mountain with that thought, fairly pissed off the whole way. My thought’s were, and still are: How did we get to this point? We’ve had pandemics before, but somehow this one got “branded”. Hell, in 1968 we had a flu that wiped out a million people. We’ve had a lot of other diseases that didn’t show up on peoples radars over the years that have killed people too. The common flu kills at least 70,000 people a year. We’ve overcome worse pandemics than this. Why can’t common sense rule the day?

I’m pretty good at taking in the details of a big picture I think, and the numbers for me just don’t add up. But then again, I may not be the right person comment on this, because supposedly 5,024 people die on a motorcycle each year (the odds are 1 in 770) and I’m sure as fuck not going to give that up.

Anyway, that was my thought coming down out of Oatman.

I hit Kingman, and hit up Mr D’z. It was open, and had the first sit down meal I’d had in a month. It was fucking awesome. A waitress, some good food I didn’t have to make and a smile. The burger was awesome. I think it had some pastrami in it. I was so happy to have something be normal I tipped her 20 bucks.

From there, I pointed the bike toward Seligman, and old Route 66. Kicked my foot up on a footpeg, enjoyed a little music at full blast and headed toward the place I was going to stay for the night.

Through Hackberry, and onto Peach Springs and into Seligman.

Stayed at the Supai Motel. I’ve always wanted to stay here. It has the best neon in Seligman, and figured it’d be cool to see it in the morning. I took some pictures, and headed out of town.

From there, I’d had a gut full to think about. I hugged as much of route 66 as I could, but most of it seemed like it was on the Interstate. I didn’t take too many pictures, but had a lot on my mind. Mostly good.

I’d gotten what I needed out of this ride. A time to think about things, a few miles and fuel for the fire to go back to work and do my thing. I got perspective. It seemed good, and right.

What I came up with, on that ride home can be perfectly summed up here:

At the end of the day, I’m a father, a husband and a Grandfather. The world is changing. What I choose to do, is build my kids. Maybe Pass a thing down. You can find a good a thing if you look for it.

Life is good.

Ride safe, ya biker pricks.

Pretty much Disgusted. With the whole thing. Someone said the other day that “2020 is like a BDSM session, and no one knows what the safe word is”. I laughed, because its kind of true. This thing is dumb as hell.

Well, I’m not playing anymore. I see these people in some of these major cities, and It reinforces to me that people have just lost any critical problem solving measures. We’ve gotten soft, angry, entitled and spoiled rotten as a society.

I’m not saying its perfect, and I’m not even being political. That cop who put the knee on the neck? Yeah, he’s at fault. The people who riot and take over city blocks are at fault. The people who think getting rid of the police are at fault. The people who don’t see what a beautiful and unique thing the US constitution is, and would rather be controlled are at fault. The people who are so angry they’ve lost reason are at fault.

Yeah, I’m not playing the game anymore. There’s a whole helluva lot of good out there, and I’m just going to seek it out and strive to live around reasonable people. Raise my family, ride my motorcycle and enjoy my freedoms. The world is polarized now, and they’ve forced me to draw sides, and I choose the good, honest, reasonable side. The side that treats people how they want to be treated. Even if I end up there alone.

I’m not hiding my head in the sand, I just see no point in arguing with idiots. There are enough people with principles in this world, that will be the ones who end up having to rebuild what is destroyed that I enjoy that kind of company much more.

If the shit comes down, I know what side I’ll be fighting for, but I’ve known that for years.

Lifes too short.

Anyway, still working on my blog post from my ride a few weeks ago, lol. I’ll get it this weekend I swear.

Stay safe out there, and stand up for the good, ya biker pricks.

I’m kind of jacked up about it. Looking forward to a little time in the saddle.

I had meant to go today, but I pushed it back a day. Yesterday morning I went out on the back patio to enjoy a cup of coffee, and ended up pissed off. The impomptu lawn we’d planted 2 weeks earlier just wasn’t working. I’m no farmer, and noone would ever accuse me of having a green thumb . What I saw wasn’t working. I had sprouted more weeds than lawn, and my excavating background quite honestly didn’t like the final grade of it all. We needed to make a change. Missus Zip is a sport, she got out of bed early and we rented a tiller, and plowed the whole thing up by 7 AM. I then raked that thing out properly, with a 2% grade going to the back end of the yard to account for drainage. We planted seed, and spread manure over the whole thing to hold in water for the seeds to sprout. The kids are now in charge of weed control. I think we got things on the right track now.

It looks like I’m now working from home for the foreseeable future. I just couldn’t look at a lawn with bad grading and weed sprouts, and no lawn. If this is my office now, I want to make it the way I want it.

That has absolutely nothing to do with motorcycle riding. Sorry, I’ll get back to the point.

I think I’ll head out early. It’s gonna be hot AF in the valley, and I’d like to get to Lake Havasu and up into Oatman by noon. From there, the trip should be great.

I gotta say, I love having a nav on this bike. Dammit, I’ve fought technology in riding, but its nice to pre-plan a route. I stare a lot at maps anyway, and before I had a nav I’ve rubbernecked past what I thought would be a good one as I passed it, but now I can plan them out and send them to my bike. Thats kind of cool to me. This trip, I’m going to ride some old route 66 alignments that I haven’t ever been on. I’m not afraid of a dirt road or two, so some of that has gone into the planning. I can handle an 800 pound bike on dirt.

A decent day tomorrow: 400 miles and another 350 the next day. It should give me some time to kick the feet up on a footpeg, make some miles and enjoy everything in between.

Got any good night riding stories? The best thing about riding at night in the desert, is the lack of sizable critters. It always has freaked me out at night riding up north at dark. The worst thing I can hit at night down here is a ground squirrel at best, or at worst a Javalina. Up north, a deer or an elk would have ruined my ride. Let alone, a moose. I was always a bit freaked out and conscious of that.

I had a German Sheppard charge me once, in Utah. He came out of nowhere, and I saw him coming. I sped up just enough for him to hit my engine guard (instead of my front tire, where i’d have rolled), and bounce off. The dog ran off, and I spend the next few hours trying to find the owner, but I never found him. Damn dog bent my engine guard.

I had a buddy once hit a shitzhu dog, out in the middle of nowhere Nevada. That one was weird. He just….”poofed”… and we rode on.

This last Easy Rider tour I had a deer cross right in front of me, out in the Texas Panhandle. It happened so quick, I only had a chance to drop my clutch but nothing more. I wasn’t paying attention, and to be honest I can’t spot deer for shit. It was about a 90 pound Doe, at It was the closest I’ve had to going down. My timing was good. Or the Doe’s was.

I’ve been lucky, thataway. The riding gods have always been with me, it seems.

Any stories out there?

It’s become ridiculous.

I find it funny that I have to wait in tight line at home depot, to get in a wide open store (where I’m now safe).

I find it funny that everyone is wearing masks, when they haven’t been proven to actually work.

I find it funny that I can’t go to a local sit down restaurant I like, but I can go to the liquor store (because its essential, somehow).

I find it funny that the people who have been preaching “support local” have been also preaching “stay at home, wear a mask and don’t go out”. While, the big box stores that they somehow hate, are thriving, because their local competition can’t take customers and are going out of business.

I find it funny that the people who are liberal are preaching safety while the people who actually have something to lose are preaching opening up.

I find the whole thing funny. This virus, somehow only transfers to things deemed “not essential”

I’m fucking done playing the game. Common sense, is the actual problem here.

I have 70+ year old inlaws that I truly love. I’m concerned about their safety.

Me? I’m not afraid of this shit at all.

I’m smart enough to keep the 2 apart. I can make that decision myself. If I get the covid, I’ll keep my in-laws safe. If they get it, I like the percentages enough I’ll still be safe enough, to take care of them.

Numbers are my worst subject, but I can add up these numbers. Fuck, Ray Charles could see this:

In 1968, a million people were killed by the hong Kong Flu. Nobody really noticed. Certainly, noone shut down everything.

In 1956, the Asian flu killed 2 million. No-one wore masks, and no one shut down private enterprise.

Hell, in 2018 — the flu killed 20-50 million. Show me proof that anyone noticed in the US, let alone shut the whole fucking thing down.

This isn’t the bubonic Plague. Yes, its more contagious than the normal flu, but it’s not nearly as deadly as society is making it out to be. I’m not dumb. I’ll take my chances, and the chances of those around me.

Something is seriously wrong here. I’m not playing the game anymore. Yes, I’m more conscious of washing my hands, but i’m more conscious of local business I love that arent going to survive the fear and end up shutting down, and then I’ll end up taking my wife to breakfast in the morning at wal-mart.

If you’re frightened of the Coronavirus, then stay home. If you’re not, let freedom ring. Everything in-between, you’re smart enough to figure out. We all know the rules by now.

Yeah, I’m done playing.

Ok, I’ve kinda accepted the world is going along with this Covid thing. I almost feel like I’m taking crazy pills — I mean, how can you not see some of this shit for what it is?

Yet, its a Friday. Maybe, just go enjoy a thing and get the hell out of the house. Making a playlist for my ride, and just glad I have a week off for R&R. I’m gonna make the most of it.

Remember this gem from the early 80s? It’s still a favorite, and going on that playlist.

Enjoy your memorial day, Ride like a motherfucker, take care of your own and remember what the actual day is all about.

I’ve been about as domesticated as I think I’m ever going to be this last month. Home? It’s great. Love my wife and kids, I love my house. But hell, you can only spend so much time in the garage, do yardwork, and stare at the walls in my bedroom slash Covid-19 office. The highlight of my month was killing that fucking gopher in the backyard, and buying a propane weed burner so I could start small fires in the backyard in the name of weed control.

I am proud of taking the jump to play around with making something out of wood. It’s pretty satisfying taking something raw as wood and making something out of it, especially since I didn’t know jack about it before. I finished up some end tables this last weekend. They’re ok, but I’m already restless to take it to the next step and I’m looking at table saws, routers, and the like. Eventually, I won’t suck at it, and I’m enjoying the hell out of the pursuit.

But I gotta get out. I’m ready to ride.

So this next weekend I have a week off. I scheduled it months ago, before all this covid shit happened. With work and the adjustment of working at home, I hadn’t thought about it all, but I’m thinking maybe hitting up some old haunts in Northern AZ and route 66 to see how thing have changed. Either way, I gotta show those places to the new bike, and if I haven’t I haven’t *really* broken her in. I’ve made enough furniture and spent enough time around the house that the wife has given me a hall pass for the trip. Hell, I’m sure she wants some for herself too.

I was born to ride. It’s in my blood somehow, and I enjoy the living hell out of it.

I hope all you biker pricks out there are ignoring the nonsense, riding it like you stole it, and enjoying your free god-given rights. If you’re not… I don’t know why you are reading my blog.