Rides | MrZip66

Holbrook Arizona's Wigwam Motel – Route 66

1 Comment / Rides, Route 66 / mrzip66 / March 22, 2009

Finally. I had 2 days to ride. what seemed like the longest winter of my life is about over. Over enough that I can load up my bike and sleep in the freezing cold if I need to, but at least I’m RIDING.

I couldn’t sleep all night. I finally got going around 7AM to load up my bike and head out of chandler, leaving Robyn and the kids to play in the pool all day and go shopping while I pointed my bike toward Holbrook. The weather was great, but got chilly as I climbed into Payson and the mountains of Heber, then finally down into Holbrook. Holbrook is as far east as I’ve ever been on route 66, and I had to see what I think is an icon of the mother Road: The wigwam Motel

Built in 1950 by Arizona motel owner Chester E. Lewis, the plans were based on the original of Frank A. Redford.

Lewis first became aware of the distinctive wigwam designs when he was passing through Cave City in 1938. He purchased the rights to Redford’s design, as well as the right to use the name “Wigwam Village” in a novel royalty agreement: coin operated radios would be installed in Lewis’ Wigwam Village, and every dime inserted for 30 minutes of play would be sent to Redford as payment.

Lewis operated the motel successfully until closing it in 1974 when Interstate 40 bypassed downtown Holbrook. Two years after his death in 1986, sons Clifton and Paul Lewis and daughter Elinor renovated the motel, finally reopening it in 1988.

Fifteen concrete and steel teepees are arranged as a square with one edge missing where the main office is located. They are numbered from 1 to 16 (there is no teepee 13). The diameter of the base of each teepee is 14 feet (4.3 m), with each unit 32 feet (9.8 m) in height. Behind the main room of each unit is a small bathroom with sink, toilet, and shower. Current rooms contain the original restored hickory furniture, two double beds, cable TV and a window mounted air conditioner; there are no telephones or Internet access. Vintage restored automobiles from the 1960’s and earlier are located throughout the parking area. Small green metal benches etched with the words “Wigwam Village #6” are scattered throughout the complex as well.

The Lewis family continues to run and maintain Wigwam Village #6. Elinor often shows up at 4:00 pm to open the office, and if requested, will fill a small ice bucket (there is no ice machine in keeping with the authenticity of the restoration) for customers. Near the registration desk is a small room which contains many of Chester Lewis’ memorabilia (including a necklace of human teeth of unknown origin).

Nearby places of interest include Petrified Forest National Monument and Meteor Crater (Barringer Crater). Wigwam Village #6 was featured in the second episode of Oprah and Gayle’s Big Adventure on Oprah’s TV show. It is located on Historic Route 66, 811 West Hopi Drive, Holbrook, Arizona.

It was still early, and I’d intented on meeting the owners to pitch them a web site in trade for letting me stay at there for free (Holbrook is a perfect place to start a route 66 journey east from St. George), but they open late so I headed west.

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Holbrook Arizona's Wigwam Motel – Route 66 Read More »

First GOOD ride of 2009

Leave a Comment / Rides / mrzip66 / March 22, 2009

This story ends good. It ends with me pulling the Street Glide back into my garage again, after not seeing it for 3 Months and change.

Early this week I had the opportunity to run down to phoenix when my Mom asked me to run an errand for her and pick up some weaving stuff, so it became my chance to get my bike back. The weather was going to be perfect, other than what looked like a pretty cold and rainy sunday. Robyn and the kids needed a bit of a vacation too, so all in all it came together pretty quick: The plan was to drive to phoenix friday morning, then Robyn and the kids would stay a day and swim in the 90 degree weather, and I’d take 2 days to get my bike home. I decided to head up to holbrook and take route 66 west and camp out in seligman. The next day I’d head home.

I took a ton of pictures. I’ll take it a section at a time of some of the route 66 places I’d never added before in sections one at a time:

[googlemaps http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=Santa+Clara+Utah&daddr=I-40+W+to:136th+St%2FS+Gilbert+Rd+to:AZ-87+to:AZ-77+to:I-40+W+to:I-40+W+to:I-40+W+to:Parks+Rd+to:AZ-66+to:AZ-66%2FE+Chino+Ave%2FI-40+Bus+to:AZ-66+to:E+AZ-66+to:Santa+Clara+Dr&hl=en&geocode=%3BFXrAGAIdpnZY-Q%3BFYa4-wEduDlW-Q%3BFXZBCgIddj1d-Q%3BFbZRFAIdTg1v-Q%3BFRxhFQIdOqhs-Q%3BFdzbFwIdL9hg-Q%3BFbK0GQIduKNV-Q%3BFYgLGgIdDmRT-Q%3BFeZOGgIdv2BI-Q%3BFdgFGwIdMsFF-Q%3BFWolHgIdFj1A-Q%3BFbB2HQIddi07-Q%3BFW6aNgId5q85-Q&mra=ls&via=1,8,9&sll=35.299435,-112.302246&sspn=7.636561,19.775391&ie=UTF8&s=AARTsJqpavkmvkmDlB_Q2g_NGvCyOnoF5Q&ll=34.714525,-112.467041&spn=8.666162,14.0625&z=6&output=embed&w=640&h=480]

First GOOD ride of 2009 Read More »

FLSTF Fat Boy

Leave a Comment / Rides / mrzip66 / March 4, 2009

A few pictures I took on the red Hill the other night on my way to a BACA meeting of the fat boy.

FLSTF Fat Boy Read More »

3 old friends

Leave a Comment / Rides / mrzip66 / September 15, 2008

I had big plans this weekend to ride with my brothers from BACA, but at the end of the day only 3 people showed up. Me, and my 2 old friends Justin and Matt. We’ve been friends for a long time, since high school 20 years ago. We get together fairly often, and when justin called me and told me that he and matt were in for a friday ride to caliente and back the next morning, It was good news. I was seriously about to go by myself as usual, but having 2 good friends go with was great.

We headed out friday around 3 or so, and made our way through gunlock, and north on 18.

Matt has a really good looking and well taken care of 94 Dyna Wide Glide, and Justin has an 08 Street Glide. We rounded up past enterprise and showed them modena. We kicked around checking out the old store and I managed to talk to the guy who lives next to it. He said its been vandalized pretty heavily the last few years from people helping themselves to old radiators and sinks, and the roof started on fire a few years back. Its old. He said he’s got pictures from the 1880s that show the hotel/store but wasnt quite sure how old it is. Its a cool old building.

we then bombed into Caliente, checked into the motel, and found the bar and drank beer to our hearts content. Matty is on the wagon, so jug and I got drunk and we all played pool. Jug is a dick. Noone can beat the guy at pool. I came close, but sunk the 8 ball and lost by one ball twice. the man has skills.

The next morning we loaded up, had breakfast and was home by 2. Great ride. One to do again. Its close, and its in nevada. I gotta take robyn.

Totals: 230 Miles Round Trip – 2 States

[googlemaps http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&saddr=37.149809,-113.68927&daddr=1945+Swiss+Cir,+Santa+Clara,+UT+84765+to:CR-3184%2FN+Gunlock+Rd+to:Caliente+NV&hl=en&geocode=%3B%3BFfwNOAId9uc3-Q%3B&mra=mi&via=2&sll=37.474858,-113.90625&sspn=1.013561,2.471924&ie=UTF8&s=AARTsJpZWq9FC9H5DRbqjnGF3umnyK6NXA&ll=37.474858,-113.90625&spn=3.051492,4.669189&z=7&output=embed&w=425&h=350]

3 old friends Read More »

St George To Salt Lake to St George

Leave a Comment / Rides / mrzip66 / September 2, 2008

You can feel it starting to turn in the mornings. Its cooling down. The normally perfect 8AM ride to work requires a jacket now. So when I needed to head up to Salt Lake to take care of some family matters, and coupled with the fact that my bike is a third the cost of what itd take to drive my truck up, I jumped at the chance to spend the day riding to Salt Lake. It may be the final time this year.

So I headed up highway 18 toward Cedar, and figured that I’d go up through Minersville and milford again, and see what I could find along my way.

One of the reasons why I love my bike, is for 20 bucks and some beef jerky, I can get 150 miles away from my problems in life, and the funny thing is, not only is that a cheap vacation, but its also where I get most of my best answers to my problems. Its the best of all worlds.

In cedar I called my brother, and he was game to finish up early if he could and meet me on the road somewhere. Right on! So I headed north, fueled up in Minersville, and headed up to Milford to get some pictures of a place ive passed a million times, but wanted to get some shots of: the Milford Hotel. Its been cleaned up a bit since I was there last, and is primed for resurrection possibly. Cool old hotel.

I met pat just outside of eureka, I met up with Pat after riding through a 4 inch high grasshopper massacre, that for a while made me think my tire was flying apart. My leathers were yellow, and my bike was covered with bugs, but only completely, and only the lower 6 inches of my bike. I was like moses parting the red sea of locusts, which of course is a combination plague. Moses couldnt have done it I dont think, but street glides can. Its just how I believe.

we boogied out, hit 1-15 and headed for the cabin. Of course, when I get together with pat after an evening ride, it can only mean one thing: Single Malt Scotch. We drank 18 year old scotch, which is something money cannot buy. Its drinking with blood, with high alcohol content *IN* your blood. Makes you sleep well.

SEPTEMBER 4, 2008

Woke up, made some calls, waited for my sack ass to accept a reasonable temperature, and headed south behind Utah lake, through Eureka and Delta, through the parowan Gap (where i’d never been) and south on 1-15. Parted locusts again south of Eureka, and enjoyed the ride. I also got bored, busted out my camera and filmed the road while I listened to ring of fire by johnny cash. Through the wind, you can hear it. It is a mighty road song. Mightier than you. I don’t even know you, but I am quite positive it is mightier than you. Johnny cash bows to no man, even you.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-28spAsyTY&hl=en&fs=1]

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742 miles, 1 State, 3 days

St George To Salt Lake to St George Read More »

Currant Nevada, Warm Springs and Rachel.

7 Comments / Rides / mrzip66 / July 29, 2008

Woke up around 8, and randy took my bike down to the auto parts store to get something to fix his cable. Nothing. So we ate breakfast across the street, and parted ways… Randy to head north to Wendover and then to Morgan, I headed west to Tonopah. I debated whether I should go. 500 miles in a day isnt a short jaunt, its a commitment that might mean not getting home that night if something happens, or I take too much time. I decided to go.

The ride out of Tonopah surprised me.

It was nice! long sweeping turns and nice and cool outside. My head wasnt in the ride tho. I was feeling guilty for not heading home, spending money (even though this trip was extremely cheap) and not coming home and getting ready for my work week. I struggled to get my head into my ride untill at the junction of hwy 6 and 318: Halstead’s Blackjack Inn. For one, I love ghost towns. I love seeing civilization in the middle of nowhere, where a person has taken a risk and put his shingle out to start a business and to piece together its history. I love it.

Halstead's BlackJack Inn — Halstead’s BlackJack Inn

Second, there was an old trailer that im sure had a ton of history that someone had spraypainted on that put my mind in the right place:

"Home is something some of us never find" — “Home is something some of us never find”

That was the ticket. I headed out with a new point of view, and knew this was going to be a great ride.

Currant Nevada

Nevada always suprises me. It wasnt what I was expecting, theres more there than just sagebrush. I want to explore it all now. Life in nevada comes in surprising places, and in little pockets.

"Home Cooking - Come on In" — “Home Cooking – Come on In”

At the end of a really awesome 50 mile ride I found Currant Nevada. its still on the road signs, but there isnt much going on there. I was there for probably 20 or more minutes and never saw a soul, let alone a passing car. It was almost apocalyptic — the abandoned bar/motel/rv park/gas station was overgrown with weeds, but looks as though the people were vaporized mid spot. theres still bedding and pillows on the beds, clothes hanging in the closets in the hotel. In the restaurant, theres an unfinished bottle of wine on the table. The bar has a cowboy hat on it, and a stocked bar. Theres vines growing under the doors, and the calendar reads november of 1996. It was trippy, if anyone knows a story, or THE story behind this place, please email me or post here. I’d love to know it.

Food in the plates and a half empty bottle of wine on the tables... — Food in the plates and a half empty bottle of wine on the tables…

Almost apocalyptic - Wierd — Almost apocalyptic – Wierd

From then on out, it was 100 miles of Flat and long, with the only turns coming at the mountainous rises from the high desert floor.

I’ve never ran my bike out of gas before. I know around 100 miles the needleleaves from being pegged full, and at 175 miles its pegged empty and pretty much out of gas. My ride was 170 miles between gas stations, and I was pretty confident when I left, untill I started wondering how much the extra weight and wind resistance on a full tour pak would make. I know at around 1/4 tank it drops visibly fast. You have about 10 or 15 miles max. I pulled into tonopah and i was nearly empty, and my gas gauge read 174.4 miles. Awesome.

Pulled into tonopah around 2:30 pm, checked out the place a bit, and stopped into a local watering hole for a brewski, and doubled back to head toward Rachel and home.

Warm springs is another place i’d love to know the story of. I stopped there, stretched my legs and checked out the old bar/cafe and the house across the street. some of the grafitti inside told the story, and theres a warm spring that runs into a pool on the site that is fenced, but I’ve read about people still using it. The writings on the wall suggest that the house was inhabited as late as 1988, but whether or not thats true is another story. The house is starting to fall in on itself a bit. In the back were evidence of an RV park.

Warm spring is at the junction of 6, and the Extraterrestrial highway I headed south toward Rachel.

Little A'Le'Inn in Rachel — Little A’Le’Inn in Rachel

At rachel I stopped to check the Little A’Le’Inn out. This place is famous if you run in UFO Circles (which I dont, but find it interesting), and is the closest town to area 51. I think its awesome to see a place survive for 20 years out in the middle of nowhere, and hopefully will for 100 more.

I walked in, and the only other people in there were from Pittsburgh. I had my penguins shirt on, and we talked for a bit. Really nice guys, just checking out area 51. Its just amazing that 5 penguin/Steeler fans meet in the middle of nowhere. I had me a patty melt, a couple of Guinnesses (obviously a place with good taste), took some pictures and started heading for home. Ill come back to rachel. They let you pitch a tent for free there, and are extremely friendly folks.

The guy at Little A’Le’Inn told me about the mailbox for area 51, 20 miles outside of town so I stopped and took pictures. The real story of the mailbox can be found here, but the box was interesting nonetheless. I guess alien afficianados gather around it at night looking for evidence, and holds the claim as the most famous mailbox in the world. I took some pictures and moved on.

20 miles of good road later, I was at the junction of Extraterrestrial highway and nevada state road 93. I felt closer to home now, but this was all new. If I go left, I go through caliente and the map says its a scenic drive, and Im home in probably 90 minutes. If i go right, its 3 hours. I went right. I figured left is a ride erik and I can do later possibly, and I didnt want to go home yet.

I got gas in ash springs, and was surpised to see so many people again. the pumps were all full of people and I had to wait, and the store was busy. Getting close to civilization again. Lots of trees and a couple of lakes. I opened it up and started heading south toward moapa.

I’d had the rain at my back all day, but heading south at moapa it caught up to me. It came down pretty good. Had to wait it out a bit in glendale. No big deal, the break was nice before the stretch home.

I made it home around 10pm. Id done 480 miles that day, and honestly, I could have done 500 more. The bike ran great and I 100% enjoyed riding in nevada. Like i said, it surpised me. I want to check it all out now. Nevada is no longer a state to just get through, its a place to explore. To be able to find places like I’d visited today that were so intact and not vandalized was amazing to me. I need to find out more about them and go back again.

Ride totals: 3 States, 485 miles in 12 hours

NOTE: I didnt realize but the date on my camera is wrong this trip.

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Currant Nevada, Warm Springs and Rachel. Read More »

Great Basin National Park – Day Two

Leave a Comment / Rides / mrzip66 / July 27, 2008

Woke up this morning, went and by the time I got the tent down, loaded the bike and made a phone call Randy showed up. Its good to see him again. We bullshitted for a minute then headed out by 10.

The road was great. on the way to delta, Randy showed me a spot where he and his grandpa used to go, an old general store in leamington. Its closed now, but looked like a cool place. Randys grandpa was one of a kind. when we lived in Long beach in 89, got to know him a little bit and the stories of him and the things he said and did always make me smile.

burned through and ate in delta, then headed on the straight road to great basin national park. It was a nice ride, not too hot, 5 or so degrees out of being just perfect. We stopped at the nevada/utah border because we had some time to kill before the cave tours at lehman caves, grabbed something cold to drink and headed to the caves.

Apparantly we killed too much time, and just barely missed the tour.

Wheeler Peak Campground, end of the road — Wheeler Peak Road

So we bought some of the last 2 tickets for the day and headed up to wheeler peak drive, to kill an hour before our 90 minute tour. Wheeler peak drive was really nice, climbs 10,000 feet in about 10 miles or so, up into the pines. From the view areas you can see clear across nevada. A nice nevada surprise. We considered bagging going into ely and camping up there. I’d like to take the RV up and go back there with the kids. Definately a beautiful place, and not too far away. We went to the top, and raced back down just in time to grab our tour of the caves, without a minute to spare.

I’ve been in a few cave tours before, and I’d have to say this was the best. Lehman Caves is a wet cave, so its still very active in growing and was nice and cool down there. In addition to being the coolest looking cave I’ve ever seen, our tour guide was great. You could tell right away she really loved people and loved what she was doing, and it showed in the first 5 minutes. She made the stories and geology of the cave come alive for everyone, and the 90 minute tour was perfect.

The skies had clouded up even more and you could smell the rain that was about to happen. We decided to head into Ely, it didnt look like it was going to be any drier than it was at that moment, so we loaded up and headed out.

Just as we hit the town limits the wind started raging. We pulled into the KOA a

Randy, Fixing his throttle cable in the Motel Room

nd I ran inside to see if they had at least a cabin to crash in for cheap, since putting up a tent in a storm just didnt seem like fun. They didnt. we headed into town and got a room at the white pine, a bit of a roach motel that Ive stayed in before with the family. It was shmeggy, but it was better than a tent.

Heading up and down the passes Randy broke his return throttle cable. Randy got his bike from a guy for $125 bucks, and I gotta say, it ran great. For a 1980’s bike that had been neglected for so long, to come out of the trip with something as minor as a throttle cable was impressive. Randy didnt mind, he’s a good field mechanic and came up with a few options to fix it in the morning. We ran down to the casino, got a gristle steak, and then went back to the room and crashed.

My first options anymore are to ride by myself. I dont mind it, and I don’t have to deal with anyones crap and can ride at whatever pace I want. Randy is one exception to that. Everytime we ride its always good, with zero hassles and the conversation is good. Today was a perfect example of that. We didnt ride too far, but all in all it was all good.

Rode 208 Miles today

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Great Basin National Park – Day Two Read More »

Day 1: Run to Nephi

Leave a Comment / Rides / mrzip66 / July 26, 2008

This morning I had every intention of going to Tonopah, but right now Im in Nephi.

Randy emailed me this morning and told him I was going to tonopah, and he said he’d meet me there. Hah, hes a die hard. Love traveling with this guy. Somehow that morphed into delta, and when I couldnt get a tent spot in delta and no parks in delta to crash, I rode to Nephi.

I managed to get out around 2:30 and hit 1-15. I hate 1-15. I hate freeways. But I didnt havfe all the time in the world, and wasnt sure what I could find as far as camping in nephi, I rode to cove fort and through Richfield. The rain was awesome going over the mountains into richfield. It came straight down, rather than straight into my face. I was soaking wet for about 20 miles, but once I got over the pass I could see the storm move south and blue sky ahead. Took hwy 89 north through manti etc, and off through fountain green and moroni.

One of my favorite thing about riding is the smells. Alfalfa, rain, Wet fields, even manure. You get it all. I can associate about half a dozen places with certain smells, now I have one more: Moroni smells like chicken shit. I can see why thats an insult, because chicken shit is no damn good. You speed up to get the smell of chicken shit out of your nose. You cant wait to stop smelling chicken shit. I may not drive through moroni again without checking the winds. nasty.

Im in nephi right now, found a nice little place with power and storm clouds brewing miles away. it could rain tonight, but I could give a shit. rain doesnt kill you. Not riding i think might.

The tour pak was awesome on its maiden voyage. I cant believe how much space I have now. a glutton of space. I hauled an extension chord up, just in case, which im using now. I still have room. One thing I did notice about the tour pak is how light and shaky it makes the front end of the bike, especially at slow speeds. with a passenger over the back wheel, its not bad. its normal, without one, and 25 pounds or so its a bit more edgy. I think I need to invest in a solo rack for the tour pak. I need to invent a way to get a quick coupler on it. I think Ive got a way I can do that.
So randy is coming out at 6AM from morgan. He should be here around 9 I’d guess. Then we head out. I’d like to go back down to tonopah if we can. I wanna cross that long desert, and randy is the only guy who’d do that without bitching about the heat. the question is, does he have the time. He’s gotta be back sunday night. Wherever we go, itll be fun.

First blog report from the road. hah, i love this.

Day 1: Run to Nephi Read More »

Jerome and Grand Canyon AZ with Randy & Dave

Leave a Comment / Rides / mrzip66 / August 29, 2007

Randy Beckstrand is a great friend, and has been for a long time. I really owe him a lot, he got me into riding. The stories that Randy has about riding are plentiful, and quite frankly with the exception of my brother Pat, theres noone I love riding with more. It doesnt matter how many miles, or what bike he has, randy is up for a ride. Before he got married, and I got married, we had plans to ride from the 4 corners of the USA, so its rides like this I really enjoy.

Dave Grisham I’ve known since high school. He’s an intense guy, and always has something interesting to talk about. Plus he is down to ride long rides.

Randy Lives in Kanab, so Dave and I headed out about 3 from St George to meet randy. We hooked up with him in Kanab about 5 or so, and started out across the desert.

You could feel the electricity in the air, and almost taste the storm that was just miles away. I wasnt sure if we would hit it, because it looked pretty heavy. Just a few miles away from the gas station outside of Glen Canyon dam, it hit. It hit HARD. Im not exaggerating when I say it was one of the hardest cloudbursts Ive ever seen, let alone rode a 700 pound motorcycle through. Cars were pulling over it was so hard, but we kept going untill finally we couldnt see anything anymore, so we just stood by our bikes and just enjoyed the moment, because all we could do is laugh.

We were all soaked. My leathers were saturated and heavy. It was great. The nice thing about rain in an August Desert is once the rain stops, you’re air conditioned for quite a while, depending on how long the sun is out. Since it was evening, I was pretty sure it was going to be a cooler ride till we hit flag.

The rain finally broke as we waited at the Gas Station, and we headed out. It was good weather the rest of the way, and by the time we started to climb the mountain heading into flagstaff, the sun had long set and it was dark. We rode through town, and checked into our room about 9 or 10 O clock. We then got a cab, and headed out to get a beer and dinner. Really, a perfect day.

Dave noticed a noise in his bike, a bit of a grinding sound. Sounded like it was down by his primary. The next morning, we headed to the harley dealership in Bellemont to have them take a look. We hit the highway down to bellemont, which was about 15 miles away or so. We went through route 66 near parks, and stopped at the dealership. Dave took it all in stride. He rented a full dresser Ultra, and they told us theyd call us.

So we headed out, down I-40 to Williams. We stopped and ate at a outside restaurant in williams, and the town was pretty packed. Williams, everytime I go there has either some route 66 celibration, a classic car run, or a ton of motorcycles. Being the last town to be officially called Route 66 makes williams a pretty proud route 66 town. You always have to stop there.

We rode west out of williams, down 1-40 to Ash Fork. Ash fork claims to be the flagstone capital of the world, but to be honest theres not alot there. Its a tiny little town, that usually doesnt show much of a pulse to me as route 66 towns go, but Ash fork is another town that has history for me. Just outside of Ash fork is an old section of route 66 thats long been bypassed, that Robyn and I spent 2 years finding, from a picture in a magazine in 1990 that showed a bridge with a mature tree growing out of it. Everytime Im in the area, I head down and see that bridge.

At Ash fork we headed south, down Arizona Highway 89, and got gas in Chino Valley, then west to Jerome. I’d been to Jerome before, but never on a motorcycle.

Jerome is another really unique town. Its an old mining town built on a hillside, and the winding roads leading up to Jerome are great to ride. We pulled into Jerome and caught a really good, live band playing at a biker bar there. There were alot of bikers there, and it seemed like everyone was really friendly. Jerome is another ride I’d like to do again. Its worth the wide swing to hit it.

While we were in Jerome, Dave got a call from the dealership about his bike. They fixed it! It was a loose bolt in the primary drive, and was really close to coming off. If it had come off, it would have been a big deal. Like Complete rebuilt, expensive big deal. Instead, it was just 150 bucks deal. The riding god’s were with us. With that news, we needed to head back and get Daves bike. We had 3 or 4 hours.

So we mounted up, headed through sedona and north up through cottonwood canyon to get home. By this time, it had started raining again. It wasnt bad, but it was steady. The kind of rain that doesnt even bug you, because it just makes a cool ride interesting. Once you’re wet, you’re wet. Slow down, and enjoy the ride. It rained all the way back to Flagstaff, then broke and we headed west again into Bellemont to get Dave’s bike.

The dealership in Bellemont is great. One of the better dealerships, they worked hard and were extremely helpful in getting us back on the road from everyone we dealt with. MUCH better than Zion or Las vegas harley davidson, who I’d rather not give money to. Bellemont HD, you rock.

We spent the night in Flag again and crashed early. In the morning we headed back to williams on the freeway, and headed up to the air museum. Spent about an hour there, and then blew through the park, took a picture, and made time to head home.

Once the grand Canyon was out of sight, the vacation was over and we just made time to get home.

This will always be one of my favorite rides. 2 great friends, the rain, and the whole experience just made it nearly perfect. “effortless” as randy would say. I hope we can do it again.
It was a great ride

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Jerome and Grand Canyon AZ with Randy & Dave Read More »

Finding General Patton

Leave a Comment / Rides / mrzip66 / March 30, 2007

"A good plan, violently executed now is better than a perfect plan next week" - George S. patton

Everything in life is pretty rushed, and demands decisions and results. I think thats why motorcycling is such a relaxing thing, is when Im on the road, there are no time frames. Being home by monday is a loose goal, other than that, anything goes.

Ive always been a fan of George Patton. The first VCR movie my dad bought was Patton. I watched it so much I had it memorized. Ive read his war Journals, and 2 biographies on the rebel and pure leader that was George S. Patton. Before he went to Africa in 1943, he set up the desert training facilities for tank warfare in the california desrert, so I set out to see it.

Left Friday night and made it to Kingman. Holy crap, it was cold. from the time I left hoover dam to kingman, i froze my nuts off. I took a sleeping bag and had every intention of sleeping off the side of the road somewhere and watching a movie on my Ipod, but I was just too cold. I needed to get warm, so i stopped and stayed at the quality inn in kingman, I pulled in around 10 PM.

Woke up the next morning and headed out by 8. It was a bit brisk in the morning, but the weather was supposed to be warm for the rest of the weekend. Visited the route 66 museum in kingman, bought some videos, and headed out to Oatman, Needles, Goffs, and down to Amboy.

Amboy showed signs of life again. THere were people fixing up the gas station trying to get it selling gas again. Shouldnt be long. From Amboy, I headed south into twentynine palms, and up over joshua tree national park. Nice ride, I’d never been up through there. It got a bit cold up on top, but once I dropped off the mountain it was nice again.

I took a wrong turn though. I didnt notice, untill I dropped into yucca valley. 75 miles out of my way. No big deal. Just more stuff to see, right? I drove through alot of crappy traffic, and down into palm springs where i crashed for the night.

The next morning, I rode the 30 miles to Chiraco Summit and the Patton Museum. Great little museum, and well put together. Watched some videos, geeked out on period memorabilia, and bought some T shirts for me and the kids. After about an hour or so, I headed back through the way I originally intended to go: back up through Joshua Tree and eventually back up through amboy.

After Amboy, I took old route 66 through newberry springs on a really old and unimproved section of the old road. Rattled the kidneys out of me, but I had to do it. I stopped and ate at the Baghdad Cafe. I loved the movie, and ate there before it was called baghdad cafe. Now I get it that these old bypassed route 66 businesses barely make any money, but there is no excuse for a place to be dirty. Baghdad cafe, while proud that it is a route 66 tourist destination, and was in a movie, is disgustingly dirty. I seriously expected to find a roach in my food, and if I wasnt so damn hungry and could eat anything, I wouldnt have. Ill never eat there again. Water is free, and you can clean up on a smoke break. Ive lived and been all over the world, but that was the grossest place Ive ever eaten. Hate to rag on a mom and pop store, but that place is sick. It’s an embarrassment to route 66.

From newberry, i took the fastest option to 1-15 and headed home. Made it home late that night.
Ride Totals: 4 states, 1005 miles, 3 days

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Finding General Patton Read More »