Harley Touring | MrZip66

I love route 66

Leave a Comment / Dunn Brothers, Route 66 / mrzip66 / November 22, 2008

I had a great ride last weekend with pat. sometimes it takes me a while to decompress it all when I ride with other people because I had alot going through my mind as we took the trip, and it was all good.

I got my act together by around noon on thursday, and by 1 I met up with my brother and we headed south to overton, which I knew would be our first gas stop on our way to kingman for the night. Our rooms were booked, so our destination was set.

what kept going through my head as I rode was Qui Gon Jinn, talking to a young Obi Wan Kenobi. “keep your mind on the here and now, don’t center on your anxieties”. Its funny how you sometimes recall things. That quote there, is another reason I like to ride. The road forces the here and now most times, and the here and now forms your future. Its mortar in the brick wall of why Riding is such a positive for me.

We hit Lees along the way, which has become a required stop, we talked a bit

and I knew this ride was going to be a great one right then and there. Pat is going through a transition right now, and this ride was for him… showing him my most frequent and common path along route 66 to california, and quite honestly my favorite. I was only hoping he liked it as much as I do, because some people I show this route to don’t get it: Its varied, old and full of americana. If you’re not into those sorts of things, its just sagebrush and old buildings.

we rounded the 60 miles behind lake mead, hit hoover dam and headed into kingman for the night. It was a great ride. 40 miles before kingman we stopped and had a couple of beers and a place Ive visited a bunch but never stopped into. Going there with pat first made it perfect. Another point of view on a route I’d taken before. That night, we had a round of scotch and rested up for what I was hoping was going to be a great weekend.

DAY TWO

The next morning we stopped by the harley shop, and milked a bit of time to make the ride into oatman timely. Oatman is one of my favorite stops. Not only for the winding road, but for the town itself. its a throwback, and ive seen it revive in the 20 years ive been hitting up route 66. Its doing good. we stopped into the oatman hotel for a couple beers and a long lunch, then headed out through golden shores, topock, past the colorado river and down through amboy.

Roys in amboy is doing well. They sound like gas sales are going good, and within a week or so theyll have the reverse osmosis filtering they need to get the restaurant open. From there, theyll start working on the hotel. If that happens, Amboy will replace kingman as my friday night stop for weekend rides. I try and support them as much as I can. I love the fact that the town of amboy is starting to revive. It says something about people to me.

from Amboy, we headed south and Pat pointed

out something I missed last time. Just a few miles south of amboy, they process chloride from the natural drainage point of the valley. We passed through and headed up to twentynine palms, through the town to get gas, and up over Joshua tree national park. The sun was in our eyes, so we missed alot, and the ride was winding down and we had 100 miles to go yet.

Just like last time, we took missed our turn and was 60 miles out of our way. Just like last time, I didnt really care. the weather was good, and aside from the initial traffic, I was enjoying the ride. we rode down through the windmill farms and into palm springs for the night, got wasted at applebees and crashed for the night. As always, I 100% enjoyed the company with my older brother.

DAY THREE

We debated a few different routes, but decided to double back after going to our loose reason for taking this ride: The patton museum in Chiriaco Summit. I have been, and will always be a fan of George S. Patton. Ive read a couple of biographies on him, as well as several other books about him including his war diaries. He is a testament to recognizing what he was best at in life, as well as focus, which I believe makes anyone a “natural” born leader if he has the passion. He did. I really should invest in helping preserve this museum. The land around here is what trained men to help us win world war 2.

We stayed for about an hear, then h

eaded back up through Joshua Tree and back up through Amboy, where we stopped and took some pictures of the chloride leeching trenches. Then made time to get back to Kingman. Oatman dies at dark. We had dinner and headed back to kingman, hit up a local bar for a couple and then crashed for the night.

DAY FOUR

Sunday morning we were both in the mindset of getting breakfast at the hotel and hitting the road to home. We had a 4 hour ride, plus pat had another 4 hours ride to get home. At overton, we parted ways and pat made miles to get home. I rode home slow, mozying back to be home by 1 to watch the Steeler game with Megan, something we’ve done for the last 4 years together.

The last thing pat said to me was “thanks, you saved my life this weekend”. I knew what he meant. He’s saved mine before. He’s got some tough decisions to make, and letting those decisions come to him and having a good ride, versus sitting around and feeling the weight of his situation is what he meant. I love my brother.

Something flipped for me this weekend. Ive always rode by myself and preferred it that way, but I have a feeling if I did it that way now I know I’d wish he was there. We work well together.

Here is a Link to my Picasa Gallery About this Route 66 Trip , which is sometimes easier to view

I love route 66 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 »