Part One
4-10 October, 2022
After three years of very little riding and scratching my riding itch online on this forum in order to stay somewhat sane . . . the window of opportunity finally opened up for me to ride west! I intended to head out towards the end of Sept, but delayed to see if Hurricane Ian might fool predictions and head further west over to my house. It didn't and so I departed on 4 October. The starting idea for my ride was to go to AZ and meet
Igofar, whose inputs and testimonials I'd been reading for years. I reached him on his "White Courtesy Phone" and yes, he was going to be in town and available. The second piece of the plan was to ride a great road
George introduced me (and others) to in . . . 2010 (I think) - US 191 (formerly US 666). With those two ideas in mind, I added visiting some family and friends and some sights to see.
So, all my trips start . . . in my garage.
For those who want to follow along, here's my route, 4,000 + miles of smiles:
First goal, as almost always, was to get out of Florida, so it was a quick I-10 ride over to Mobile then I headed NE. First night spent in Pine Bluff, AR. As I grew up I developed a fondness and respect for one of two great art forms America has given to the world . . . The American Western movie! As you'll read/see references to our western history and the movies that recount (accurately and inaccurately) the stories will abound.
Spent the second night in Woodward, OK, where I've been several times before, to see if one of my favorite statues was still there. It was.
Two men, with a handshake, make a deal based solely on their word being their bond. It harkens back to the days where individual responsibility ruled; sadly disappearing these days I'm afraid. Apropo that the statue sits in front of a bank.
From there I rode up through Dodge City, Kansas, where I had to smile when I turned left on Wyatt Earp Blvd. I know there are quite a few of you out there who do NOT like riding in Kansas, well . . . I do. I love the vistas of the great plains and have to admire the lonesome cowboy riding his 1 HP stead for days to cover the ground passing under my wheels in an hour or two. Lots of miles, no rest stops or refreshments but worth it for the beauty of the land, sunrises and sunsets.
Next stop was Denver, CO., where I visited with relatives for several days, eat good and spent some time touring the Denver Art Museum, a wonderful facility. Took a nail in my front tire riding through town and had it replaced at Coyote Motorsports in Denver, a shop I've been to before. More about that later. Visiting done, I headed south to get into the NM and AZ mountains and US 191.
Left Denver with the intent of making some time on I-25 and overnighting in Socorro, NM. On the way, I was surprised by my first ride in a hail storm! A little rain at first which became a storm of hail pellets a little bit bigger than peas. Bounced right off my suit and helmet (think rain on a tin roof), but really stung the back of my hands through my gloves! The pellets were all over the road and I was planing on finding a place to pull over but ran out of it after only about 10 minutes. I never felt any sensations like the road was getting icy or anything, but I am glad the pellets didn't get any larger. When I pulled in to Socorro to find a hotel it was only about 4:30pm. I was heading west from there so did some quick research and fund there were motels in Datil, NM, and as there was plenty of light left, continued on. Two lanes, no traffic . . . nearly heaven as I headed into the sun. Arrived in Datil and . . . the motels were dark, no cars and obviously not open for business. Hmmmm, already on my aux fuel tank and starting to feel a bit peckish . . . do I head back to Socorro (about an hour) or continue on to Reserve, NM, and hope for the best? No brainer, onward to Reserve.
Beautiful ride on NM 12 to Reserve, arriving in the dark. My fuel gauge was flashing and indicating I still had 15 miles or so left before empty. Two stores with gas pumps, the first one - closed for the night. The second one - only one pump and OPEN! No pay at the pump, so went in to arrange getting some gas. The woman at the counter asked if she could trust me not to drive away, with a serious evaluating look, to which I replied "absolutely" and she turned the pump on. When I came back in to pay she noted there weren't any restaurants in town and all the motels had been completely booked for the past several days. I passed a nice looking motel on the edge of town, so bought some microwaveable food and rode back to it. The Mountaineer Inn is brand new; the owners were celebrating one year since they opened and they were nearly empty, no problem getting a room. They had been booked up through the previous night for hunting season. Life is good. It was a wonderful room with sticky buns and some other food in the room for no extra charge.
10Oct22 - the real fun begins. I departed Reserve, NM, and headed NE to Alpine, AZ, for breakfast. The town is aptly named as I was taking deeper breaths since the elevation exceeded 8,000 feet. Had a great breakfast then headed south on US 191. It wasn't long before I was above 9,000 feet and descending down a road as fun as I remembered from my past two runs.
It's all paved with gravel shoulders . . . some of the time. The road surface varied with surface changes marked with signage indicating a code for what was used and when it was laid down. Saw a few deer on tight blind turns just standing on the side of the road, I expect waiting to see what the approaching noise was. When encountered, all were within arms reach. Only one decided to cross in front of me and it wasn't a problem while the others just watched me slowly roll by.
For several hours, after departing Alpine, I never saw another vehicle. Magnificent views which I stopped occasionally to admire whenever I needed to rest my cheeks from the strain of mile after mile of twisting road and ear-to-ear smiles!
US 191 as it winds its way down to Morenci, AZ.
I took a nice break to enjoy the Morenci Copper Mine, North America's largest. It has grown exponentially since I last saw it 8 years ago.
The little Tonka like truck down below isn't . . . it's HUGE!
Here's a tire . . . I wish I could have had someone take a picture of me next to it for perspective.
After this educational stop, I continued south on US 191 heading towards Tucson and Oro Valley. Turned west on I-10 into Tucson then up to Oro Valley (home of
Igofar, AKA Larry) and checked into my motel. End of the day, 10Oct22.
