3400 miles, 17 days, 4 states on the BMW

It's bittersweet whenever a motorcycle ride comes to an end, and especially so after a fantastic 17-day, 3400 miles in four in our favorite states:  Arizona, Utah, Wyoming and Colorado. We planned a short, 96 mile ride today to beat the heat (and have time to do laundry) from Flagstaff to Prescott, Arizona.

Flagstaff sits at about 7,000' elevation and the temperature was in the mid 50's when we hopped on the BMW at about 7am. We headed south on I-70, riding through the tall pine forests that surround Flagstaff. As we continued south, the elevation dropped and the landscape changed to shorter pine trees in less dense forest as the temperature climbed into the low 70's.

I-70 skirts Sedona, but we could see some of the famous red rock formations off in the distance.

By the time we reached the Verde Valley about 55 miles south of Flagstaff, we had dropped to around 3,000' elevation and the temperature was in the high 80's. We no longer saw stands of tall pine forests, but rather scrubby chaparral and even cactus, reminding us that much of Arizona is high, dry, hot desert.

Thankfully the Verde Valley is the lowest, hottest point on our trip, and when we started climbing the temperature cooled into the mid 70's again. When we turned onto US 169 we were only 30 miles from Prescott and the dry grassland told us that the monsoons which provide much needed rain in the summer had not been active the previous 2 weeks while we were away.

As we rode along the familiar highway this morning, I thought about everything we had seen during our trip: mountain passes in the Rockies above 10,000', cold mountain reservoirs, rivers and streams that actually contain water (unlike most of the rivers and streams in Arizona that only have water after a rain or sometimes during snow melt), miles of riding without seeing another vehicle, a couple of fabulous dinners and times when we couldn't find a restaurant and resorted to an energy bar for our meal, a soak in the mineral hot springs in Saratoga Wyoming, a weekend with our sons in Silverthorne Colorado, hairpin turns, twisting mountain roads, long straight highways that stretch almost to the horizon. We're ready to head out again!

250 mile BMW motorcycle ride for lunch

Only people who love riding motorcycles will ride 250 miles round trip for lunch. We haven't ridden with our friends Steve and Kim for several years, and finally everything fell into place for a ride today to Payson, AZ. In the summer we ride north into the cooler mountains, and we were rewarded with a low temperature of 83 degrees today as we rode up in elevation to about 7100' on the Mogollon Rim, an escarpment that forms the southern edge of the Colorado Plateau. It's an area covered in pine trees and high, craggy rock outcroppings.

We've ridden this route so many times we've lost count:  east out of Prescott on AZ 169 for a quick 6 miles north on I-17, then east again on AZ 260 through Camp Verde, site of pueblos built into the sides of canyons by Sinagua around 1000 AD. The Spanish came through this area in the late 1500's, and it was the site of a military fort in 1871. Camp Verde is at about 3500' elevation, and it's always the hottest spot on our rides; today it was 106 degrees on our way home.

Thankfully after we pass through Camp Verde AZ 260 starts to wind its way up the Mogollon Rim, giving us long views over the valleys. Steve and Kim rode in front of us, zooming through the sweeping corners as the weather became cooler.

We headed south on AZ 87 through the Rim towns of Strawberry and Pine, doing our best to pass as many of the slow-moving RVs as possible. We crossed the East Verde River, a tributary of the Verde River, about 5 miles from Payson. The East Verde has flowing water and we saw several people jumping into the river to stay cool.

As we came through a roundabout toward the Payson Airport and our lunch destination, a lab-size dog ran out from a gas station on our right and tried to zip across the road in front of us. Mike braked hard to miss the dog as our heart rates zoomed up. The dog kept running down the street as we pulled over to catch our breaths. A man from the gas station walked over and said the dog was a stray and he was afraid something like this would happen, then praised Mike for his superb bike handling skills to keep us upright.

We continued a couple of miles up the road to the Crosswinds Grille at the airport where we watched some small planes land and take off, and saw a large red helicopter, a Sikorsky S64, that's used to fight forest fires. On our way to Payson there were several signs warning about heavy smoke from a forest fire in the area, but the air was clear today. Fire danger is at a high level in this part of Arizona due to hot temperatures and windy, dry conditions.

After lunch we retraced our route back home, vowing to get together more frequently for motorcycle trips in the Southwest.

Follow our route here

First ride on the new R1200 GSA

Today we took our first ride together on our new BMW R1200 GSA! Mike bought the new BMW last week, and has gone on a few rides on his own. Today was our first ride together.

Before I could ride pillion he needed to install the Brooks AutoSports black top case so that I don't fly off the back of the bike. The top case provides a comfy back rest after Mike figured out how to attach our backrest pad to the top case.

We rode one of our favorite twisty loops through the Bradshaw Mountains that heads southwest out of Prescott on Highway 89 through the small town of Wilhoit. Mike zoomed through the hairpin curves and the bike powered up the hills and flew on the downhills.

We saw several motorcycles on the road, and the slower cars in front of us all pulled over to let us zoom past. We turned northeast at Kirkland Junction, riding through the ranching community of Skull Valley back into Prescott.

We put 51,000 on our old 2012 R1200GS and with a cross-country trip planned this summer, we're looking forward to adding miles to this new bike. Stay tuned!

Too long off the bike

It's been far too long since we've been out on the bike. Blame it on work, weather, other types of travel, more work. This month we've gone out for two short rides, and now we're planning a longer trip this summer.

Two weeks ago we rode to Cottonwood for lunch, choosing to ride twisty, climbing 89A through Jerome and then twisting our way down into Cottonwood. Cottonwood is about 2000' lower elevation than Prescott, so it's warmer here. The Old Town main street is lined with wineries, restaurants, bars, art galleries and funky local shops, making it fun to walk along the street and peek in the store windows. We sat outside at Bocce which has fantastic pizza, sandwiches and salads and watched the people walk by as we ate our lunch.

Today we headed south on Iron Springs Road and Yavapai County 10 through Skull Valley.

We can tell Spring is coming from the bright green new leaves on the cottonwood trees. Today we didn't stop for lunch, instead continuing on 89 north toward Prescott, enjoying another twisty, climbing ride. The slower cars in front of us politely pulled to the side so we could pass, and we returned the favor for a group of 6 Harleys with Washington state plates following us. We came up behind them once we hit the stoplights in downtown Prescott, and waved as they continued north on 89.

We ended the ride with an ice cream cone, talking about a longer trip this summer to Colorado on our way to Oregon and a weekend trip in early April to Lake Havasu. We're going to make up for lost time!