Passes & Canyons Blog

Strapping down Tom’s Kawi in Dave’s trailer.

When Tom pulled his Kawasaki off the road as we RMMRC riders were headed south on US 191 I had no idea why. But I was right behind him so I pulled off, too, as did Bruce, behind me, and Charley, behind him. Then Dave came along with his Ford F-250 and trailer and it fortuitously was one of the only places we had been past in quite a while large enough for us all.

The problem appeared to be that the engine was not getting enough fuel. Filter? Fuel pump? We couldn’t diagnose the problem right there so it was a simple decision to load the bike into the trailer. Dave had ramps and plenty of tie-downs, so let’s get it done. Right about then Bruce said he would ride ahead and let the others know what was going on, and off he went. The rest of us were thinking, gosh, maybe your muscle would have been good to have to get this thing rolled up into the trailer.

Fortunately, Tom had the idea that maybe he could start the bike and get enough out of it to ride it up into the trailer. We sure hoped so. And he did. The engine died just as soon as he was up but it did the work. Now just tie it down.

I’ve never been at all expert at using tie-downs so I just stood back and watched while the others did their thing. But I noticed a few things.

I had a boss once who was fond of the saying that all of us are smarter than any of us. That is, put our heads together and we’ll probably come up with better ideas than any one of us could do alone.

While the others were focused on “let’s run this line from this bar to that hook-up,” I was the one thinking “yeah, but do you really want to run it over that rail, rather than under it?” Or when I saw one tie-down hooked to a crash bar midway up and said, “don’t you think this is going to slip down and then be too loose?” With the response being, “yeah, let’s connect it above that joint so it can’t slip down.”

So I made a contribution. Which was better than standing there feeling useless.

Once everything was secure we took off and Tom had to have been of mixed feelings. On the one hand, his ride was over. He would be sitting in the truck with Dave the rest of the trip. On the other hand, oh my gosh, how expensive would the tow bill have been to have some truck come way the heck out there and haul him anywhere? Plus, then what? Sit in a motel for four days while the local shop is getting parts and fixing the bike? You couldn’t call the whole situation good luck but it turned out to be about the least bad luck he could have had. I’d be happy with that.

Biker Quote for Today

If I can’t be a good example then I guess I’ll just be a horrible warning.

I guess this is one way you can work on steep slopes alongside a highway.

As John Lennon famously remarked, life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans. This was one of those days.

The plan the RMMRC had in mind was simple: head south out of Gallup to Alpine, turn east and then south to Silver City. Right. We did head south out of Gallup, retracing the route the OFMC took last year going the other direction. For a long time it didn’t look familiar to me until we stopped at the same junction–AZ 61 and US 191–we stopped at last year. Roads look different going in different directions, plus it was probably a lot greener this year than last.

Then on to Alpine. John was leading and at Alpine the only gas station is where the two highways meet. The plan was to get gas in Alpine, John made the turn and kept going. Several of us knew this was wrong. Tom was behind John motioning for him to turn around but no response. I finally just pulled off and stopped but everyone behind me kept going so I went after them. Outside of town everyone finally stopped and turned back. There was discussion at the gas station of whether we wanted to go the way we first started to go, US 180, or not turn and go south on US 191. We would take 180, but first, it’s a little early but maybe we should have lunch here.

We went in a restaurant and seated ourselves but got no service. They were very busy. Forget this, we agreed, let’s just ride.

Back out on our bikes we were ready to go and several took off after John in the direction agreed upon when Bruce motioned toward Tom’s bike sitting there with no Tom in sight. OK, whoa. Charley radioed John to stop, that we weren’t all ready yet. Just then Tom came out of the store across the road and was startled to see everyone ready to ride. So he geared up and got ready but by the time he was ready, the ones who had gone ahead had apparently conferenced and made the decision to go the other way. They came back, passed us, and made the left turn. We shook our heads and followed.

I knew the way we had planned to go was beautiful, going through a canyon and over a couple passes, but US 191 turned out to be a motorcyclist’s dream: 50 miles of tight turns, ups and downs, scenic views, and almost zero traffic. I mean, like almost zero. And if you look at the map you’ll see why: it doesn’t really take you anywhere you can’t get to a lot easier and quicker on other roads. It makes you wonder why this road was ever built. But for motorcyclists it is heaven.

Not so much for other vehicles. Dave was following us in his Ford F-250 with trailer on behind and he noted when we stopped at one point that it was really work for him and he knew we were all just having fun. But 10 mph and 15 mph turns with his rig are just not fun.

And then at one point Tom pulled off at a place where there was a bit of shoulder. What’s up? The other guys were gone up ahead but there were Bruce, Tom, and me, and then Dave pulled in with his truck.

Tom had no power and was barely able to keep moving. Seemingly a fuel issue, either filter or pump. But his bike was not going any further under its own power. For Tom’s incredible good fortune, however, there was Dave with a truck and a trailer and lots of tie-downs. This whole business of getting the bike loaded deserves and will receive its own separate post; suffice it to say for now that we got the bike loaded and strapped down and took off again.

Just ahead we found that the road goes right through–not around, through–one of the biggest open pit mines in the world, the Morenci Mine. I’ve seen huge open pit mines before but this had to be 10 times the size of the biggest I’ve ever seen. It’s really hard to comprehend until you see it, and even then. And you really do go right through the thing. On all sides of you there are these humongous earth movers carrying their loads of ore and it’s astonishing.

So that was a highlight. We then met back up with the rest of the guys in Morenci, the town, and were on our way. We missed the turn we intended to take and so followed AZ 75 to where we got on US 70 almost all the way to Lordsburg, back in New Mexico, and turned northeast on NM 90 up to Silver City. Long day; nice to park the bike and walk away from it.

Biker Quote for Today

There is absolutely no excuse for what I’m about to do – let’s ride.

I put 2,143 miles on my Concours in 10 days going down to Arizona Bike Week, in Scottsdale, and the Overland Expo, in Amado, and there were parts that exceeded my expectations and others that fell short. It’s always that way, isn’t it?

It was some hard riding. Three of those days were in excess of 400 miles, with one of those being more than 500 miles. The weather in Arizona was blazing hot, hitting 100 some days. Nights were just as balmy as could be. If I lived in Arizona I think I’d sleep all day and be up and about all night. (That photo above is of me in the Kawasaki tent in Scottsdale, courtesy of computer simulation.)

While a large part of my riding was interstate, there were a couple stretches on the two-lane that were really good. Those would be the run from Holbrook, AZ, down to Scottsdale, which went through some forested mountains, and the route from Lordsburg, NM, over to I-25 a little south of Truth or Consequences. That last road seems to me to compete with the Tail of the Dragon for curves. I definitely recommend it.

Arizona Bike Week itself was a bit of a disappointment. There was little going on during the day, when it was blazing hot, and at night it depended on what group was playing in the party tent. The nights that Skid Row and Heart played there were a lot of people. The other nights were pretty slim. My conclusion is that this rally is primarily a local event that is primarily of interest to folks nearby who drop in for an evening.

Of considerably more interest was the Overland Expo down in Amado. This expo is for people who want to go adventure touring, whether on two wheels or four, and there were some amazing people in attendance. Ted Simon, who wrote Jupiter’s Travels, was there, as was Lois Pryce, who is well known for her travels as reported in Lois on the Loose and Red Tape and White Knuckles.

It was fascinating to see all the specialized gear–not to mention the incredible vehicles–that the vendors brought to show. It was also very interesting to speak with the organizers, Roseann and Jonathan Hanson, about their vision for the expo. I’ll have more on them and the expo later.

In truth, I had never seen all that much of Arizona before, so it was great to see so much of it now. Arizona has its own sort of very real beauty, but I have to say, I was glad to get into New Mexico where the beauty is less harsh. I could live in New Mexico but I don’t think I’d ever want to live in Arizona.

Most of all, though, the trip was a chance to escape the winter doldrums. It was, after all, the first bike trip of the year. It got me out of my day to day routine and away from this computer. The writing I do for a living is mostly about my motorcycling experiences in one way or another, and now I have a lot of new experiences to write about. I’d say that counts as a successful trip.

Recent from National Motorcycle Examiner
Arizona Bike Week builds up slowly (with photos)

Biker Quote for Today

Ahhh…the sound of a bike far off in the distance, late on a clear evening, calls to me, saying rise up and catch the wind under the moonlight’s embrace.

The weather allowed me to ride to Scottsdale for Arizona Bike Week. Barely.

Sunday morning dawned warm and sunny–the weather gods were smiling. Apparently they were smiling because they knew the trick they were playing on me.

After writing about how I hoped I could keep my hands warm on this trip I got an email from Mike Landon suggesting that I get some of those thin, neoprene gloves that doctors and dentists use, and wear them under my regular motorcycle gloves. Like a “second skin” he said.

I also found that the glove liners I use for skiing would fit inside my motorcycle gloves–which themselves are Thinsulate-lined–so I had hopes that one or the other approach would suffice. Then for insurance I went to a sporting goods store and bought some chemical handwarmers to tuck inside the gloves if need be.

Always eager to experiment, I left home with one glove liner on, one mylar glove on, and not using the handwarmers for now. Twenty miles later, at Castle Rock, it was clear my fingers were getting cold on both hands equally. Then I hit nasty weather going over the Palmer Divide, with fog and light mist. Cars coming the other way had snow on them. Yikes!

I got to the south end of Colorado Springs and had to stop. My hands were in serious pain. While nursing my hot chocolate and getting warm at a convenience store I asked everyone who came in what they knew about the weather further south. The consensus was that I should be OK heading that direction. And when I was ready to leave I slipped a couple of those chemical handwarmers in my gloves, using both glove liners this time.

My take on using the mylar gloves is that they really did seem to do as well as the glove liners, which definitely counts. The ladies at my dentist’s office who had given them to me had mentioned that as your hands sweated the moisture would collect inside them and they were right, so I figured that since I had the glove liners it would be better to use them. Without the liners I would definitely have used the mylar gloves and been glad to have them.

The weather did improve as I continued south and my hands stayed comfortably warm. It must have been pretty cold as the pads never did feel particularly warm. Apparently every bit of heat they were giving off was needed. Stopping later and putting my gloves back on they seemed quite warm.

I paid $1.49 a pair for these chemical warmers at a sporting goods store but I’m told you can get them in bulk at WalMart for 50 cents a pair. And they’re supposed to be good for 7 hours of heat but after 9 hours these were still pumping it out. In other words, I will always have some of these tucked in my tank bag from now on. They’re a lifesaver.

So to make a long story short, I rode 530 miles Sunday to Grants, NM, and then on to Scottsdale the next day. That photo is of my bike at a rest stop along the highway in New Mexico. I’m ready for Bike Week to get revved up but right now I’m at a local Kawasaki dealership. Seems those tires I thought had enough rubber on them to get me here and home again were only up for half of that ride.

Recent from National Motorcycle Examiner
I’m here for the party–where is it?

Biker Quote for Today

“Adventure” is “Trouble” in the past tense.

I’ll be leaving on my first big motorcycle trip of the year in about a week so I’ve been getting that nagging feeling that I need to be figuring out where I’m going and especially where I’m going to stay along the way. That staying part really matters to me because I’m on a very tight budget and if I don’t limit my spending this whole thing will end up costing me money. Ideally I’m supposed to make some money off it selling the articles that I write about the trip and the events I’m going to. (Although that campsite in the photo above, in Laughlin, NV, was too gritty event for me, so I only stayed there one night.)

Right off the bat I got a bit of a surprise. I use Microsoft Streets & Trips to map out routes, and if you want it to it can show you the shortest route between any two places. I put in Denver and Scottsdale and was surprised to find that it routed me west on I-70 and then south to Scottsdale. I had in mind going south on I-25 and, catching I-40 at Albuquerque, and then going south from Flagstaff to the Phoenix/Scottsdale area. I don’t normally like taking the interstate but in this case I need to cover distance and I just want to get there as quickly as possible. Plus, the weather is still an unknown and I figure going south first is my better bet.

So I added Albuquerque to the route and presto, there’s what I had expected–sort of–and it was only 9 miles longer. What was the sort of? What I hadn’t considered–because I really don’t know Arizona all that well–is that the more direct route leaves I-40 at Holbrook, AZ, and cuts southwest to Scottsdale across some desert, some forest, and a mountain range. Cool! Whatever I lose in speed by leaving the interstate I’ll surely regain by the shorter distance, and I’ll be riding a two-lane road through some places I’ve never been before. That’s more my idea of a fun motorcycle trip.

Then where to stay. Last year going out to the Laughlin River Run I spent three days getting there. I stayed the first night at my brother’s in Grand Junction, and the second night at the home of some people in Cedar City, UT, who I connected with through the Motorcycle Travel Network. I checked the MTN first thing but there are no members along my route.

If I ride to Albuquerque the first day it’s going to be a long ride but that will also leave me just as long a ride the next day. Plus, at interstate speeds on my Kawasaki Concours, a highway-loving machine, that should only take me five hours of actual riding time. The fact is, if I really wanted to push it I could probably go the entire 850 miles to Scottsdale that first day but that would be truly extreme. Besides, when I ride that leg between Holbrook and Scottsdale I want to be able to enjoy it. So I looked for somewhere between Albuquerque and Scottsdale as a likely place to spend the night.

First I checked Gallup. I’ve stayed in Gallup before and what I’ve found there are semi-expensive motels and super-cheap ones where I would fear getting bedbugs. There is a KOA there that would run me $24. That would be OK. But what are my other options?

A little east of Gallup are the two towns of Prewitt and Grants. Both of them seem to have camping, for less than the KOA. I’m thinking that by the time I get to either of those towns I will be so ready to get off the bike that not going that extra 50-60 miles on to Gallup will be extremely attractive. And if I get to each of them and the camping isn’t available or whatever, I can still go on that extra distance to Gallup.

So OK. I guess I’m set. I always have some trepidation before I set out on one of these trips and this one is no exception. On the other hand, I’ve been feeling kind of down and discouraged lately, I think from being cooped up all winter, and this would seem like the perfect antidote. I’m itching to get on the road.

Biker Quote for Today

If you owned a plane would you trailer it, too?