Everyone who rides, has a default ride. At least, I gotta think so.
It’s that It might just be around the block, down the street or around the county. It’s that ride you have to dry off the bike after washing it in the driveway, or its just that excuse to get out of the house and ride that bike of yours.
It’s the ride you do, when you don’t have to think about where to go. the road, where you dry your bike after washing it in the driveway;.
Mine? it’s changed over the years.
My first ride was down the street of Carterville road, in Orem Utah. It was the street I grew up on. I remember a lot of blind corners, and a couple of times running from the cops when they could see I was way under age to be on city road.
then, I moved to the southern part of the state. It was the Utah Hill; Old US Highway 91 which went from Alberta Canada to Long Beach California back in the day. It was a great, hardly travelled road with lots of bends, and some open stretches that were perfect for a Harley. The fastest I’ve ever ridden on a bike was on that road.
right now, my go-to winds through a mix of farms and subdivisions, toward old highway 80 and Florence Arizona. From there, its 150 miles of killer riding, and some surprises and history that I haven’t totally figured out
its a great loop of open road in my county. I do it at least twice a month.
A few weeks ago, I rode down to Yuma and got a room in an older, mid century modern motel and just had a ride. I really blog about it much, or even take any pics but I did see a lot of things that made me want to go back and check out. And, of course, all I need is an excuse to ride somewhere.
Its been nice down here. Mid 50s to high 60s, and great riding weather. I woke up on Friday morning, loaded the bike with a few things and headed out toward Yuma, taking the longest possible route I could take.
A lot of this was old highway 80, which pretty much ran the lower length of the state. There’s still a lot of old ghosts along this section, and since it was decommissioned in 1989 there are still a lot of old buildings a long the way, and some side roads that have some bitchen old history.
While Route 66 was the way through northern AZ, Route 80 was the way through the southern part of the state. Decommissioned in 1989, and recently given historic status, there are a ton of old alignments you can still ride.
The road was straight, the sky was clear and my bike was purring to be out. Fuck me, so was I. I’m not built to be home as much as I have the last year. To me, exploring is life. I don’t know why, but its in my DNA.
Sentinel Arizona. There’s not much here, but some bitchen old buildings and I’m sure, a lot of stories. If, you can find em.
This whole part of Arizona and California holds a ton of WWII History. In 1941, almost 18,000 square miles of western Arizona and southern California was designated for military tank Training. My favorite general George S Patton was the commanding general in 1942 where he trained troops in desert warfare in preparation to free North Africa from the Germans. This place, reeks of killer history.
I got off Interstate 8, and headed north toward Camp Hyder and Camp Horn, to see what I could find.
The Road to Camp Hyder. A gorgeous day to ride. Old Camp Hyder Barracks, still in great shape. The great thing about being remote, is the idiots haven’t come to vandalize. Wide shot of the Barracks.
A few miles past Camp Hyder, I found another bitchen old place: Agua Caliente (spanish for “hot water”)
Agua Caliente: A 2,700 acre ranch dating back to 1860’s.
At one point it had 22 room resort and was a popular destination before Arizona even became a state.
The Natural hot springs were a popular stop on the way to fort Yuma.
I got excited. I found a great little spot to dive into the history of, maybe come home and tell a story about and do some research on this place.
Right after I took that last pic, I dropped my phone. That was the end of that.
I think I’m buying a digital camera. Like, one with a neck strap, and that I can grip with my fat little fingers, and not this slippery little thin smartphone. I seem to break a lot of em on my bike. I might even go back to a flip phone, and just use it for making calls. I was sorta pissed. Luckily, I was able to get my pics off.
Well, it pretty much ended things. But, another excuse to go back. Missus Zip is heading out of town next weekend and I might go back and document it.
Found some bitchen old spots on the way to Yuma a couple of weeks ago on a ride down there, so I mustered up a hall pass with Mrs Zip and gonna head out Friday morning and just enjoy the ride.
A couple of military training facilities from the early 1940s — Part of the Desert Center area that stretched all the way to Indio California.
Rode down to Yuma today. Not a huge thing, there were some side roads I wanted to explore and got a room down here. I’ll head back home in the morning.
I love a good, 2 day ride. The ride itself is awesome, and staying in a different town and doing it again the next day is even better.
I swear I forget that. I shouldn’t, because its proven itself over and over. A good ride like this, drains out some bullshit and adds fuel to the fire. A little road inspiration. God help me, I love it so.
I had absolutely nothing to do today, and I knew I couldn’t just sit around. Mrs. Zip was wanting to put up Christmas decorations and get ready for thanksgiving and having guests at the house. Normally, if I’m needed I wake up with a list of things she wants me to get done, and when that didn’t happen I could tell I was clear to go find me a road on the bike somewhere.
I got 60 miles out of town and realized I’d forgotten my wallet, and had to double back home then back again. Normally, that’ll piss you off, but I was enjoying the ride so much I didn’t really care.
I found a new road while poking around. A pretty good one.
I’m digging some of these small towns in Pinal county. There’s still a lot of things to go explore.
Some rides are just an absolute pleasure. I’m gonna go do it again tomorrow I think.
Always have loved this song. It’s a good song for out in the middle of nowhere. Plus, kinda fits my mood this morning. I need to ride and sort some shit out 🙂
This video was filmed about 30 miles away from my home in Pinal County Arizona.
So its funny. My last post about how I thought social media was retarded and that I think they’ve massively overblown the whole covid thing got me banned from twitter. I don’t really care, or even use twitter. I think I set it up about a year or so ago that when I post, it automatically posts to twitter.
I guess I’ll get over it pretty fast. 🙂
Time to vote! Looking forward to finally exercising my right after work today.
My daughter asked me if I was worried about the rioting, no matter who wins and Missus Zip had to kind of tell her: “sweetie, republicans don’t riot. If we lose, we just go back to work” It’s democrats who riot and burn shit down.
Country deejays knows that I’m an outlaw They’d never come to see me in this dive Where bikers stare at cowboys who are laughing at the hippies Who are praying they’ll get outta here alive
The loud mouth in the corner’s gettin’ to me Talking ’bout my earrings and my hair I guess he ain’t read the signs that say I been to prison Someone ought to warn him ‘fore I knock him off his chair’
Cause my long hair just can’t cover up my red neck I’ve won every fight, I’ve ever fought Hey, I don’t need some turkey telling me that I ain’t country And sayin’ I ain’t worth the damned ol’ ticket that he bought’
Cause I can sing all them songs about Texas And I still do all the sad ones that I know They tell me, I look like Merle Haggard And sound a lot like David Allen Coe
And the bar maid in the last town that we played in Knew the words to every song I’d wrote She said, Jimmy Rabbit turned her on to my last album Just about the time the jukebox broke
Yeah, Johnny Cash helped me get out of prison Long before Rodriguez stole that goat I’ve been the Rhinestone Cowboy for so long, I can’t remember And I can do you every song, Hank Williams ever wrote
And I can sing all them songs about Texas And I still do all the sad ones that I know I can’t help it, I look like Merle Haggard And I sound a lot like David Allen Coe…
But the country deejays, all think I’m an outlaw And they’d never come to see me in this dive Where bikers stare at cowboys who are laughing at the hippies Who are praying they’ll get out of here alive
The loud mouth in the corner’s gettin’ to me Talking ’bout my earrings and my hair
Hey! I haven’t been on this thing in a while. Quite frankly, I haven’t had much to say, so I haven’t. I popped out of bed at midnight tonight like it was 6 AM, all bright eyed and bushy tailed. My brain thinks its morning.
Got me a little road trip planned with the missus in 2 days, heading up to Santa Fe area to get out of the house, and I’m fairly fired up about it. With the exception of a few rides here and there, I haven’t gotten out much.
I honestly can’t stand this supposed Pandemic. I think the way we’ve reacted (and stayed this way) is the most insane thing I’ve ever seen in my 50 plus years on this planet. I see fear in people where they shouldn’t, and a lot of people are determined to hold onto it. It’s dumb as fuck.
Discretion? yeah, we should have that. But not fear. I don’t think I’ve ever made a good decision where fear was involved, and I think that holds true for society as well.
But anyway, I digress. For good and bad, here’s what the last 6 months has taught me:
TV is a huge waste of time. Quite honestly, the media has gotten stupid. I’ve quit watching the news, especially the commentary. I already know what I want, what I think, and how I’m going to vote, and I don’t need to hear the pundits. It serves absolutely no purpose.
Social Media – I’m pretty much done with that as well. I see people who spend so damn much time on it, posting 5 or 6 times a day and it’s like an endorphin drug to them. I have a lot to say about this one, and maybe I will later. The stupid comments and reviews — It’s like watching the Jerry Springer show back in the day, and I don’t care about the drama. Social media, as a whole is good in small doses, but I don’t need to have my head in it.
I quit Drinking. I got hammered drunk a few months back, and the next days hangover was ass. I just realized how much I didn’t really need that. It’s counter productive, so I just stopped and haven’t missed it.
Man, my family. It’s my most important asset. I have great kids and grandkids. Hell, grandkid #2 is on the way, and my daughter and her family live a few miles from us now which is fairly bad ass.
Woodworking! Huge plus there. I’m not sure I would have jumped into it without working from home and axing the commute out of my day. I’m enjoying the hell out of it, and actually got my garage shop set up pretty well. I built a massive workbench with my table saw built into it, and and working on rounding out my router table. I’m improving what I’m able to build, and starting to become more and more proud of the pieces I’m starting to be able to produce. I dig this sport.
I should probably get back to bed, but my mind is thinking about this road trip. I’ve got a week off after today, and after the trip with the wife I should be able to get some good riding time in. The weather here has been around 100 and below, which means it’s starting to snow…. somewhere 🙂
