Cross country BMW motorcycle trip begins!

Mike and I have been planning a cross-country trip on our BMW motorcycle for months. The goal is to ride the BMW in every one of the lower 48 states. Because we lived in Vermont before we moved to Arizona 5 years ago and we love traveling on our BMW, we only have 19 states left. However, these states are spread throughout the country. We're starting our trip on the southern route:  heading east from Arizona through the southern states all the way to Florida. Then we turn north through the east coast states and stopping in Vermont for almost a week to visit family and friends before we head west to eventually ride through the northern states. After South Dakota, we plan to ride through Colorado to visit our oldest son and then finally back home to Arizona.

We'll be gone 5-6 weeks depending on weather and whim. It's the first time we haven't had a set return date on a trip, and we're loving the freedom of taking the trip one day at a time.

Today was our first day of the trip, riding on familiar roads from Arizona to Farmington, NM.

After a short ride north on I-17, we turned east on AZ 260, riding through pine forests leading to the top of the Mogollon Rim. The benefit of starting out at 6am on a Sunday morning is that we saw very little traffic, and most of the day had the roads to ourselves - except for some of the local wildlife. Just before we turned north onto AZ 87, we saw two large female elk grazing in the forest just off the side of the highway.

The landscape changes from forest to high desert on AZ 87 north to Winslow, with long-distance views to the shadowy mountains to the north and west. Winslow is famous for being part of the Eagle's song "Take it Easy" where there is a statue 'standing on the corner in Winslow Arizona' and it's on the old Route 66 that crossed the U.S. from Chicago to Los Angeles.

From Winslow, we continued north on AZ 87 through the Navajo and Hopi reservations where we saw more horses and sheep than cars.

At Second Mesa on the Hopi Reservation we turned east on AZ 264, and then north on AZ 191 where we stopped for lunch in Chinle. The Navajo Nation covers 27,000 square miles, and the smaller 2,500 square mile Hopi Reservation is surrounded completely by the Navajo Nation. Riding through both of these reservations the miles slide by quickly because of the lack of traffic and people, plus we make great time on the lightly traveled roads.

4 years ago we discovered Indian Route 13 that winds through the Chuska Mountains between Lukachukai in Arizona and the Red Valley in New Mexico. It's one of our favorite motorcycle roads because of the steep, twisting, winding road that runs over the Buffalo Pass - our first mountain pass of our trip.

After crossing in New Mexico we rode past Shiprock, the remainder of a volcanic eruption 30 million years ago. The prominent rock formation that rises 1500' above the desert is sacred to the Navajo.

From Shiprock we left the peaceful 2-lane highways and headed north on the busier 4-lane divided highway US 491 to the town of Shiprock, then east on US 64 along the San Juan River into Farmington, our stop for the night.

Starting our cross-country trip on familiar roads gave us the opportunity to ease into the routine of motorcycle travel. Tomorrow we continue east riding through the mountains of northern New Mexico. More steep and twisty roads are in store - our favorite!

Colorado bound

"I was standing on a corner in Winslow Arizona....." lyrics from the song by the Eagles kept running through my mind today. Our first stop on a 2-day trip to Colorado Springs was Winslow and as we rode northeast from Prescott I kept humming the classic Eagles' song.

We're headed to Colorado Springs to watch our son, Nate, race in the Pike's Peak Downhill longboard race this weekend. It's our first opportunity to ride the BMW on a multiday trip since we moved to Arizona one month ago. I'm amazed at the varied scenery on today's 415 mile trip:  up and down steep mountains, long sweepers through pine forests, brilliant green valleys bookended by high, dry mesas; mile after mile of sagebrush, deep and dry washes and creek beds, irrigated farmland, and terrain that we can best describe as 'moonscapes'.

After lunch in Winslow, we traveled on Route 87 north and Route 264 east first through the Hopi Reservation and then into the larger Navajo Nation, 27,000 square miles in Arizona, New Mexico and Utah. The road stretched out in front of us, and at one point Mike figured he could see 14 miles into the distance.
 

 

We saw preparations for the Navajo Nation Fair as we rode through Window Rock, and talked with a couple of people at the gas station about the hundreds who come into town for the fair, pow-wow, and rodeo competition.

Just east of Window Rock we crossed into New Mexico, the first time we've been in this state. We turned north onto Route 491, one of the Navajo Nation scenic roads known as the Trail of the Ancients because it winds through countryside first settled over 10,000 years ago.

We were surprised to cross canals filled with water and bright green fields of corn and hay as we rode closer to Farmington, NM our destination for the evening. The Navajo Agricultural Products Industry operates one of the largest farming operations in the country.

It felt jarring to ride down the 9% grade into the busy city of Farmington after spending the past 7 hours riding through countryside where we often didn't see a house for miles. At one point this morning a sign announced "no services for the next 51 miles" and at the end of the day we're in a city of 45,000.

Tomorrow we head north into Colorado and the Rockies, and I already have another song in my head:  Rocky Mountain High by John Denver.