My father was a busy man, and I’ll always remember the time he took time out to go one on one with me and took me to yellowstone.   We shot from the hip, slept in the truck and  It’s a memory I’ll always remember.   Not because it was the best trip I’ve ever done, or even that it was yellowstone.   It’s because my old man chose me to spend his weekend with.   I’ll always remember that.   I was about 13, and it was a pretty special trip for me.

My daughter wendy has struggled a bit since she moved from her old school to her new.   She’s a fighter, and she may never know how proud I am of her, but I am.    I called her wednesday from work and asked her if she was up for a motorcycle adventure.    her answer was yes.

So friday at noon we headed out East.   My loose plan was to hit page, then either stay in Kayenta Arizona, or somewhere outside monument valley at dusk.   To be honest, Just like 35 years earlier with my dad, we were shooting from the hip.  I hadn’t booked a thing.  Thats how I like to ride, lets see what wendy thinks about that.   My gut feeling was she’d roll with the punches.

We stopped in page to get some stuff we’d forgotten and stopped at the subway to eat.   Immediately inside, a lady saw my B.A.C.A. patch and told me how much  B.A.C.A. had helped her kid in idaho.   She was nearly in tears and you could see how grateful she was.    I told her that once a B.A.C.A. Kid, always a B.A.C.A. kid and she’s got an army of bikers across the nation committed to keeping her safe.   It’s nice to be able to say that and mean it.

After page, we had to stop for an accident on the way out of town, then headed toward Kayenta Arizona.   From there, we pressed on to Kayenta arizona to stay the night.   My thinking was, that wendy is 13 years old, and I didn’t want to burn her out on long rides by pushing too hard.     I can make miles, but after all, she is young.    I had to keep reminding myself, and being on a bike for 8-10 hours at a time my be my idea of fun, but this trip was for her as well.    By the time we got to Kayenta, she was a bit cold, a bit tired and wanted to crash.   we called robyn to see if we could find a place to pitch a tent or get a room, but there were no real options.   I told wendy we’d have to push another 50 miles to Bluff Utah, where I had called ahead and knew we could stay, and her answer was “lets just do it”.   I knew then, wendy was my riding buddy.    She had a bit of her old man in her.

We hit monument valley right as the sun was going down, and it was gorgeous for the few views we had of it.   She was cold, but we dropped 1500 feet in elevation and in 50 miles, we hit Bluff Utah, pitched our tent in the dark, and went and ate ribs at the local stakehouse.

My intent on this trip was to talk, and relate to my daughter.   Reconnect.   I don’t really remember what it’s like to be 13 years old, but I know she struggles with the things that are important to a 13 year old.  Boys, school, and wondering where you fit in.   We didn’t talk too much in depth, but I knew tonight was not our night.    We went back to the tent where my daughter immediately crashed out, and I made some phone calls to my business partner, a few BACA friends and caught up on what happened at work.      What happened during the day both encouraged and discouraged me:   I knew that I was going back to work monday to face problems.    I knew this was going to effect my ride.    I was also clear on what my objective was this trip:  Ride my bike, and connect with wendy and help her out.

We woke up early that morning and I knew it was cold.   Cold that I would normally deal with, but I had my daughter with me.   We got going around 10, broke camp and got some conveneince store breakfasts in Bluff.      We had 50 miles to get to 4 corners.     I’d never been there, but 50 miles is an easy ride.

4 corners to me, was anti climactic.  First off, its not that actual 4 corners, its 3 miles off. Second, It kind of pissed me off that I had to pay 3 bucks a head to see it. It was cold and windy, and not all that cool. Yes, wendy and I can say that we’ve stood in 4 states at the same time, but then again who really cares that we can say that.

we paid our 6 bucks at 4 corners, and headed on toward gallup new mexico.     New mexico is gorgeous and I want to explore it more.    We got gas in gallup, and headed south.  I knew we’d stay the night in holbrook by this point.   We could press on to flagstaff, but the weather in Holbrook was the best and I wanted to have some discussion time with wendy.     Sunday, I knew we’d make miles and head home.   I wanted some quality time with my daughter.   It’s half the reason we made this trip.   My mindset from 4 corners to holbrook was anything but right.  I knew I was going back to work monday with a lot of problems that had to be solved, that   depended on me.    I struggled to get my mind right and into the ride.  The 90 miles from 4 corners to Gallup New Mexico had me struggling with indecision of if I was doing the right thing by riding so far from home, and what I had to get done monday.     Long rides sort that out.    Eventually, I got back into the moment and realized that anything I do with my daughter and family is much more important and worthwhile and that I needed to focus on her.     By the time we hit Gallup, I was looking forward to having some quality time with my daughter.   I was 24 hours into the ride.  I knew it had to be tonight.

We stopped at Denny’s, got our bearings and I knew we’d hit the point where the bike was going to be pointing closer to home.    I also know theres something really familiar about route 66 that I’ve always loved.   Maybe wendy would pick up on my vibe and I could share that with her.

We pulled into holbrook around 4 pm, and pitched our tent at the KOA.     I decided I was going to show wendy some route 66, and she was excited about that.   We had ice cream at a local route 66 food spot, and rode through the town.   As we headed back toward the KOA, I was thinking that maybe a campfire and a discussion would be a perfect chance to talk with Wendy and we could have a moment that would nail the reason I took her on this trip.     We bought some firewood, and sat and talked for a couple hours.     Honestly, it will be  moment I’ll always remember.   I hope she remembers it.   I babbled about her future, remembered what it’s like to be 13, and as long as it takes to burn a bundle of wood, we got that much closer.   She’s a great kid.  I’m so proud of her.   In those 2 hours, I think she got that message in a way that 25 years earlier my father maybe even didn’t get across to me.     I knew I’d nailed the moment.

The next morning, we woke up early, broke camp and headed toward home.   As the sun came up, the eagles “tequila sunrise” was in my head, and so I queued that up in the ipod and listened to the eagles as we headed toward flagstaff.     We got off at winona, headed into flag, got some hot chocolate and coffee and both talked about how good the morning ride was, even tho it wasn’t all that warm.

I find it funny how “vibes” for lack of a better term, work. I woke up in a great mood, with the right music and the first thing wendy said when we piled off the bike in flagstaff was how much she enjoyed listening to the Eagles greatest hits. It was the right vibe. I think about that alot to be honest.

From flag we dropped off the mountain, and headed the 5 hours toward home.   If wendy had her way, we’d have ridden another week.   She’s my riding buddy and long rides and big mileage isn’t too big for her.    We’ll do this again.   Hopefully for years to come.

 

948 Miles,   4 States, 2 1/2 Days.

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All rides are good.   Anything over 200 miles where you sleep somewhere new is memorable.   Some are more memorable than most.

Early Friday afternoon I rode north to  meet my brother Pat at Beryl Junction, about 50 miles away.  He rode down from Salt Lake and it’d been a while since we’d ridden together.   A few months.   I was pretty glad to see him.   I’ve said this before, but it’s pretty effortless to ride with him.   We’ve settled into a good mixture of  fun, beers, an occasional cigar, and busting each others chops.    It’s always good company, and Pat is a rider to the core.

We rode the 50 miles to Caliente and stopped at the Knotty Pine for a brew and some burgers.    We thought about staying in Caliente for the night, but decided to head on into Rachel Nevada, and I’m glad we did.   We rode, Wyatt Earp Style.   Great Fun.

Rachel was great. we had supper there and a few more beers  and The Little A’Le’Inn was a nice place to stay.   Good Service, cheap prices and interesting people.   We we smoked cuban cigars and drank 18 year old scotch as the sun set on the nevada desert.   We crashed pretty early, watching Soylent Green on the VCR.   Soylent Green, as you know, is people.

I gotta tell you, if you can’t have a good time riding to the UFO capital of the world on the edge of Area 51, smoking cuban cigars, 18 year old scotch and staying in a single wide trailer converted into a motel room watching Soylent Green…. well, your wick is wet.   Have If you haven’t seen it, here’s a preview:

Chuck heston is the Shit. I swear the man does his own stunts, in a leisure suit no less! Charleton Heston is my president. I’m gonna be a dick and give you the spoiler right now. If you don’t want to know it, then don’t click this one:

Side note:  There, I found the cure for a sore throat at 11 pm at night.  A “Nuclear Bomb” is  3/4 shotglass of Tobasco sauce, and 1/4 shotglass of tequila.   Instant cure.

The next morning we woke up, skipped breakfast and headed 50 miles to warm springs.   Warm Springs Nevada i’ve been to a few times, but this time we checked out the hot springs and some of the old structures.   Lots of ghosts there with some unknown stories.   I’d still love to hear of someone who knows when warm springs was alive and kicking.

From warm Springs we went into Tonopah and finally had cell service again, called our wives and had lunch, then moved onto Beatty.

Then we found Goldfield.   I wished we’d spent more time there.   At one time it was a town of 30,000 people as a Nevada Boom town from the turn of the 20th century.   400 people live there now, mostly because it’s still the county seat.   Some neat old artifacts and really old buildings in great shape.    I want to go back.   Supposedly, the hotel is haunted, and we just drove right by it, not knowing.

From there on, it was just hot.   Well over 100, we opened up and made time.   We still had to get to what was our loose destination, the Ghost town of Ryolite Nevada.    We pulled in around 1:30 and gassed up, and found us a good bar to settle into to decide what was next.   We decided to stay for the night.    Our original plan was to ride to Mt Charleston, 100 miles away and tent for the night.     We both realized that the 4th of july weekend would make it rough to get a camp spot.  Besides, this was a pretty good bar!  and there was 3 more next to it, and a hotel across the street where we could park the bikes and walk.   We got a room, and then headed into Rhyolite.

Rhyolite Nevada is a ghost town I’d seen on the history channel a week earlier, and realizing it was not all that far away, wanted to go see it.     We headed the 4 miles up the road to go check it out.

Rhyolite started in 1904 when gold was discovered.   by 1908 Rhyolite had 10,000 people, forty-five saloons, 3 of the most modern banks in the state, an opera house, a Stock Exchange, a slaughterhouse, two railroad depots, three public swimming pools and dozens of businesses. Rhyolite supported over 85 mining companies.   It had power, piped water, telephones, sidewalks and entertainment.

By 1909, it had less than 1,000 people. By 1915, 20 people. by 1924 it’s last remaining resident died.

All that’s left is some of the most bitchen ruins I’ve ever seen. Including a house made up entirely of bottles, a full train depot, and crumbling buildings.

We stopped and had a beer in the heat, and tripped out over the history and archetecture of a city who’s time had long since passed.   It’s amazing to see that in only 100 years a town can disappear.   Monolith’s to the history of man.

We took a dirt road deeper into Rhyolite to check out the old jail.   When we pulled up, a woman approached us and explained she was making a movie and asked if she could use one of our bikes.    I said no.   I did not know this woman, and quite honestly, noone sits on my bike but me unless I know them pretty well.    Pat was much more open and talked me into letting them use it in their movie.

So a girl got out of her car, walked up to my bike, and started taking off her clothes.     It got pretty interesting, and I found that I was hasty in saying no so quickly.     I’m a happily married man who is loyal to my wife.   This was also not what I thought I’d find at Rhyolite.   They were 5 kids from UCLA making a movie about a muslim woman.  I started up the bike so they could get the full effect.    I will say this, they have good taste in motorcycles.   Fast women I think, can sense speed.

We shook hands, got a picture or two and headed back to the bar to have dinner.

Beatty nevada was a pretty cool town for a town of 1100 people. We found a good spot that served a mean sandwitch, the right kind of beer, and listened to a classic rock band play songs directly from my Ipod and had a great time. Even the fireworks in beatty we’re pretty good. You could sense the town pride.

We staggered back to the motel and crashed. Pat headed out around 7 to make the long ride back to Salt Lake. Thats another nice thing about riding with my brother – we don’t get get butt hurt — either one of us — if we split off to do our thing. We’re both pretty self-contained. I realized he had to go, and he realized I was probably a bit hung over and was 3 hours from home. Around 9 I headed out of town, and made it home.

Great ride. Quite honestly, the whole weekend was great. Maybe my favorite ride I’ve done.   Always wanted to stay in Rachel, and being with my bro just made it fun.

Go riding.

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641 miles, 3 states, 3 days.

 

H took the beer holster, ready to drrrrrrink

My 2 closest friends of 25 years went riding this weekend.   Not a long way, but 120 miles away out in the middle of nowhere in a small canyon town of Caliente Nevada.      I like to ride longer distances, but when old friends want to ride at all I’ll take what I can get.  the company was great, the weather was perfect and the beer flowed.

On the Road to Caliente

Harrison and Justin are just great friends.    We went to high school together, and have seen our share of shit in 25 years.   We rode out, played pool, drank beer and enjoyed each others company.    It was a great weekend.

Caliente is a small railroad town out in the middle of nowhere in Nevada.    The population is about 1,000 people.    The Knotty pine is an outstanding bar, and the beer and food are cheap, so it’s become a bit of an easy overnighter for my friends and I.

By the time I hit Crozier canyon/Hackberry I knew I had one more picture in me and I knew what I wanted.   Unfortunately, the winds were picking up, my shutters on my camera apparantly were hanging, and I just knew I needed to get home.   I could see heavy clouds forming in the direction of Kingman and Las vegas, and I had 5 hours ahead of me without rain gear.    I took the last 2 pictures of my trip haphazardly and then opened it up to get home.

From Hackberry, I rode into kingman feeling confident I’d make it home dry so I went into Denny’s  on Route 66 and ordered me a superbird and several cups of coffee.   In that 45 minutes, the clouds became dark and heavy and I questioned whether I should get a room in Kingman for the night.    I need to buy rain gear.   The fact that it was cold and I knew rain would freeze me to my bike faster than the movie Dumb and Dumber, I had second thoughts.   I said screw it, I’d deal with it as it happened.
It rained all around me.  In front of me, and behind me, and I only got a little wet.   Spring break traffic was rough near hoover Dam, but at the end I made it home dry and ahead of Robyn.

I’m so freaking glad to have my Street Glide back.   I love it like one of my kids.

Frontier Motel

I passed through Peach springs and Valentine to get to the cool neon warmth of The Frontier Cafe in Truxton Arizona.    Truxton is a pretty new route 66 town by most standards.     It came about as a hotel and cafe in 1951 when Donald Dilts built it to take advantage of the traffic that passed by this part of the highway.  The name of the town comes from the Beale Camel Expedition when Lieutennant Ned Beale stopped at the spring here in 1857 and named the town after one of his relatives.    After the Motel and Cafe was built, other businesses started to spring up.

I’ve seen the sign have better days, but not long ago a route 66 preservation fund of one sort or another raised some money to get it painted, and cleaned it up.    I tried to wait for the hanging signs to swing horizontally for a picture, but 45 degrees was better than 90 so thats all I could get from the wind Gods who were in force today.

Truxton Cafe

I was hoping to get some breakfast here as well, but soon realized route 66 doesn’t wake up in this neck of the woods till noon.   It was getting windier, cumulous clouds were forming, and I knew I needed to get to Kingman so I could start to head north and have the 35 mile per hour winds to my back.    I was riding sideways by this point.

I have always passed Truxton and not spent alot of time here, which is a shame.   I’m usually done with waiting from visiting the grand Canyons and ready to make miles and haven’t stopped to appreciate this cool route 66 town.   I’d have loved to see it in its heyday.   I can imagine with a stream of steady 50’s, 60’s and 70’s traffic this place could sling hash and pour coffee not to mention keep its rooms full.   If it we’re ever open when I was there, I’d book a room and enjoy some time here because I’d imagine it would be a cool experience.

The Caverns Inn!

I’ve been going to the grand canyon caverns since 1991, but had never eaten there.    I left Seligman thinking I’d get breakfast there, and the signs on the way up the road to the caverns sayd they’d have it there for me.   Not so, not untill 10, and it was 9.    I took a couple pictures and headed down the road.   I understand.   I’m just glad they serve food at all, and stay in business.   They’ll do what they have to do.   Someday I’ll actually have food there.

As I rode past williams, got Gas in Ash Fork (which I wanted to ride a little more but will next run), I headed down crookton road and into seligman.   The music sounded sweet, my hands were cold and the wind was gusting.   The sun was also setting and I didn’t really care because I knew where I was spending the night, and it was at a place I’d visited 20 years earlier.   The heart of route 66 Arizona, and the place where the revival of the mother road started:  Seligman Arizona.

I’d passed by the KOA in Seligman for years, and it just looked stark and treeless.   I knew I had to stay there, because I’d packed a tent and it would just make sense.     So I did.   I knew beforehand from reading the KOA site that the proprietor was a hockey fan, but when I showed up this sat prominently on her desk:

Sidney Crosby, Troy Polamalu & Marc Andre Fleury

I knew she was quality people.   We immediately hit it off.   We talked about the penguins and the steelers seasons.   She was awesome, and moved from the Burgh’ to Florida, then came here on a visit and bought the Seligman KOA.    She’d cleaned it up a bunch, the bathrooms were straight up immaculate.    After we bitched about the old coach, cheered on the Pittsburgh Steelers defense and talked about how theres a terrible towel in the Snow Cap, I went out set up my tent just as the sun set.     Ahhh, It felt good to know where I was sleeping.

Seligman KOA with the Street Glide - Home for the night...

After I got the tent set up and I was situated, I rode the 2 miles to the other end of town to get me some chicken fried steak and I slowly rode through town to get some night pictures of the neon signs, just like I’d pictured when I first thought of this trip.   Not a ton of neon, but I got what I could:

Route 66 Motel

Supai Motel

Stagecoach 66 MO E

That night, I sat in my tent and had intended to post on my blog, but forgot the password for the wi-fi, so I watched a few episodes of Sons Of Anarchy on my laptop and fell asleep by midnight, assisted by a few snoots of Tennessee whiskey I’d bought at the Jack Rabbit Trading Post.    My first day in 3 months with the street glide kicked pure ass.    It was smooth, and quite honestly I couldn’t be happier to ride again.    I knew tomorrow was going to be colder than a witches tit in a brass bra, but what the hell.   I’d figure it out.   I just had to beat the storms that we’re coming inveitably and get home.

Bellemont is another great route 66 place for me.   It’s only 10 miles from Flagstaff, and I’ve stopped here often as it’s the only harley dealership till Kingman.    There’s also a bar and grill next door that’s really clean and big, so I stopped in for a beer as it was the afternoon and I needed a Guinness.

No Vacancy Sign, from the 1969 Movie "Easy Rider"

Right over the pool tables is another reason I came into Bellemont.    Have you seen Easy Rider?  If you haven’t, then X out of your browser, shut off your computer and run down to hollywood video and rent it.   It’s a classic.   Not only did it change the movie industry, its got some of the best riding scenes with some of the best music around.   At the start of the movie, right after the credits Wyatt and Billy go to get a room at the Pine Breeze inn after riding all day, and the man comes out, takes a look at them then closes the door and turns on the sign above.    Thats the very sign from the movie, and I had to see it.       The people here are one of a kind.   I walk in from out of nowhere, and at least 3 people came up and introduced themselves and we talked.   The bartender was even very nice and listened to my stories.    Theres just a good feeling here.    I’d love to be here with Mrs Zip on a friday night.    That’ll happen.

I stayed for a couple brewskis then took a few pictures and headed on down the road.    It was getting colder and windier.

Before I left, I had to come get a picture of the Pine Breeze Inn, from the movie Easy Rider again.

I’ve got other pictures here, from a previous visit last year with some screenshots from the movie.

The Pine Breeze Inn

Click Here to See the entire route from the 1969 Movie Easy Rider

After twin Arrows, I realized I was running out of daylight and there was thing I wanted to see.    I spend alot of time in flagstaff and have ridden it a dozen times, so I stayed in 1-40.   Doing so, I bypassed winona as well.   No biggie.   I’ll come this way again.   I seem to always find a way to get down this way.

Parks Arizona, Route 66

So I ran through Parks.   Parks is an interesting place, as its chock full of route 66 alignments going all over the place.   At least 3 different ones.  My family and I come down to parks fairly often with the RV because it’s close to flagstaff, and the weather in always nice and cool and in the forest.   I love parks.   It’s just got a good feeling, and although I know that “I wasn’t born to follow” video from easy rider was filmed 30 miles south of here, that song always goes through my head because the scenery looks the same.   Parks is just cool and I never bypass it.

The store in parks is especially interesting.   I’ve seen it go from abandoned, to used to now being abandoned and for sale again, but it’s always survived.   In 1931 route 66 went from one side of the store to the other, and so they just changed the frontage and front door.    Not far from here theres other alignments from the 20’s with some pretty cool culverts I’ve taken pictures of from 20 years ago that I’ll scan and post sometime.   In the meantime, I love this section of route 66.   It just feels like home somehow.

After Two Guns, the next place to visit was Twin Arrows.

Twin Arrows Arizona Route 66

I remember stopping here in the 80’s when I first got the route 66 bug with my wife.   We got gas, had a burger and headed into flagstaff.   The last few years I’ve watched it close, get vandalized and start to fall apart.     I pulled up expecting to get some pictures and reminisce about a fallen route 66 landmark.    I didn’t realize how far it’s fallen.

Twin Arrows Trading Post

I jumped the barrier and took a few pictures, and got a few inside.    It’s amazing how the walls still shine with fresh coats of paint, but the roof is failing and the windows are broken.   Sad.   When I got home, I searched and found that there is Hope for Twin Arrows and it may be Restored, At least it’s being looked at.   I hope they do it.    I’ve noticed that even with the last few years the arrows themselves are starting to rot and fall apart.