Planning This Arizona Motorcycle Trip
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?
