Ending our trip with a familiar ride through the high desert in Arizona

The last day of a motorcycle trip is always a bit sad. We've been gone for 17 days, and on the BMW for 12 of those days yet we both would happily continue our trip. We both have work waiting for us, so we're doing the responsible thing and heading home.

We spent last night in Kingman, AZ, at a hotel near this one on the original Route 66. Kingman was founded in 1882 as a railroad siding for the newly constructed Atlantic and Pacific Railroad. There are many museums, historic buildings, and signs promoting Route 66 in Kingman, and it's fun to spot as many of them as possible.

We headed south on Route 93, a continuation of our southern ride yesterday from Las Vegas. We took the scenic route to our home in Prescott by turning onto Route 97 north, a winding 2-lane paved road with roller coaster sections that dip down into washes that flood during heavy rains. It's monsoon season now, but the skies are clear and sunny today with no threat of flooding.

We turned right onto the Bagdad Road into Kirkland, watching the saguaro cactus cover the hills and reach toward the sky. It's too cold for saguaro to grow in Prescott, and we like to spot the last northernmost saguaro on each trip, knowing that we're close to home.

We continued winding our way north, turning onto Iron Springs Road in Kirkland that takes us into Prescott. The past 2 weeks we've traveled on unfamiliar highways, looking for unexpected sights and learning about the areas we're traveling through. Today we're enjoying riding a familiar route, not needing a map or GPS to guide us home.

Over the past 17 days we've traveled 4,100 miles through 10 western states. The only western state we missed was Utah, and only because we broke down in the Nevada desert yesterday and had to change our travel plans. We're already planning a shorter trip to Utah, just because we can.

The last day of our 2120 mile trip from Arizona to Boise and back on our BMW motorcycle

Today was our last day of a 2120 mile trip from our home in Prescott, AZ to Boise, ID and back. It's been windy most of the way, but today the weather forecast was for wind gusts up to 47 mph, so we started the 2.5 hour ride early to beat the worst of the wind.

We started in Kingman, AZ in the Mojave Desert with views of the Hualapai Mountains which range over 8,000'. Kingman is at 3336' elevation, and we wound our way through the Mojave and Sonoran Deserts with views of the shorter Aquarius Mountains at a little over 5,000'. We've been on US Route 93 since early yesterday, starting in Ely, NV. The section from Wickieup to Wickenburg is called the Joshua Tree Parkway of Arizona, and we saw fields of this gnarly, scrubby tree that Territorial Governor John Fremont called "the most repulsive tree in the vegetable kingdom" when he first saw them on a trip through the desert in 1844.

US Route 93 from Kingman to Congress

We turned north off Route 93 and headed on a winding trip up Route 89 toward home. It really is "up" because we climbed in elevation from 3000' in Congress to 4,700' in Yarnell and then even higher to over 6,000' as we rode through the Weaver Mountains into Prescott.

from Congress toward Yarnell

These are favorite roads for motorcycle riders, and we passed two groups of riders today as we twisted and curved our way through the mountains.

The wind picked up as we turned into our street, and by the time we had the bike unpacked I could hear the wind howling through the trees and around the house.

We celebrated as we saw the BMW odometer roll over to 20,000 miles on the first day of our trip. The last week runs together:  did we ride up the unexpected mountain pass on the first or second day? Why does the time zone change from Mountain in Utah and Idaho to Pacific in Nevada? Is today really Tuesday? I have vivid pictures in my mind of long stretches of lonely desert with snowy mountain peaks towering over windmills in the valley, lush green parks in Boise, and friendly people in small towns when we stopped for gas or lunch. I remember the feel of the hot wind as we rode through 90 degree temperatures on a bright sunny day around Lake Mead, and the cold wind that snaked under my jacket when we crossed the snow covered mountain passes in Utah.

John Muir, one of the first promoters of preserving wilderness areas, said that "The clearest way into the Universe is through a forest wilderness." I feel he would agree with me that a desert or mountain wilderness also qualifies.