First motorcycle ride of 2014 and the Phoenix Motorcycle Show

Finally everything came together for our first ride on the BMW in 2014. We'd had the motorcycle show in Phoenix on our calendar for weeks and looked forward to a sunny ride. We live at 5400' in Prescott, AZ and Phoenix, in the Valley of the Sun, is at 1117'. The temperature is typically 15-20 degrees warmer in the Valley, so even though we started out at 52 degrees in Prescott at 10am, within 45 minutes the temperature was in the 70's and I stopped shivering.

Motorcycle shows are an interesting combination of brand new bikes, classic collector bikes, leather gear (really - a leather bustier with silver and purple sequins?), helmets, and all types of bike accessories. It's also a wonderful opportunity to people watch and see the wide range of people interested in motorcycles:  young couples pushing babies in a carriage, middle-age bikers wearing club vests covered with patches of rides they've taken, and senior riders who walk slowly with a cane but feel young and alive on a motorcycle.



Mike rides the BMW often to the Valley for work, but I haven't been on a ride since December. Although 4-lane interstates aren't my favorite, feeling the sun and wind, and watching the changing scenery from the mountains into the desert valley made me excited for exploring the Southwest this year on our BMW. Who knows where February will take us?

We're published in BMW Owners News magazine!

Pull out the January 2014 issue of BMW Owners News, or if you're a BMW club member check it out online at https://bmwmoa.org/BMWOwnersNews.aspx and look for our article about our motorcycle trip in Ireland. We often think about the narrow, twisting roads with grass growing down the middle, the friendly Irish people, and the green countryside. Thanks to the amazing people at Celtic Rider for setting up the trip. We're already talking about our next motorcycle tour in Ireland.

Rock 'n Roll in Las Vegas by motorcycle

It's mid-November and we're still having fun riding the BMW. This weekend we headed north to warmer weather in Las Vegas. We live at about 1 mile elevation in Prescott, AZ, and Las Vegas is about 2000' and in the Mojave Desert, hence the warmer weather.

After riding north on Arizona Route 89, we headed west on the longest original stretch of Route 66 from Seligman to Kingman. Interstate 40 takes the majority of the east-west traffic through this part of northwestern Arizona, and we rarely saw other cars or even populated towns along Route 66.

What we did see were miles of desert, tumbleweeds blowing across the highway, and the famous Burma Shave signs that encouraged us to slow down, read each line of the jingle, and try to guess the last, rhyming line.

If Daisies are
Your Favorite Flower,
Keep Pushing Up
Those Miles Per Hour.
Burma Shave.

 

Cattle Crossing

Please drive slow

That old Bull

Is some cow's beau.

 

You can drive

A mile a minute

But there is no

Future in it.

 

From Kingman we headed north on Interstate 93 into the mountainous 2337 square mile Lake Mead Recreational Area formed by two dams on the Colorado River.

at the scenic overlook

 

 

 

We rode over the new bridge at the Hoover Dam into Nevada, with sweeping views of Lake Mead as we headed closer to Las Vegas.

 

 

 

 

 

After riding through the Mojave Desert and down through the mountains into Las Vegas with miles of little to no traffic, it was jarring to ride through stop-and-go traffic in congested Las Vegas. We parked the bike at Harrah's for the next two days, walking or taking the monorail instead of riding.

 

 

 

We spent two days wandering through lavish casinos, watching the amazing Cirque de Soleil Beatles Love show, and at the Rock 'n Roll marathon before we loaded up the BMW and rode south, retracing our route back home. We decided that we both prefer fresh air and the quiet open roads to loud and crowded cities, and that if we're going to spend time in Vegas, it's far more fun to get there by motorcycle.





A motorcycle trip through Arizona's Fall Foliage

Oak Creek Canyon between Sedona and Flagstaff in northern Arizona is one of the premier Fall destinations in the state. Outdoor Sports in Prescott Valley hosted a BBQ, open house and 2014 product launch event followed by a ride to Oak Creek Canyon organized by the Prescott STAR 511 motorcycle club. Riders from the Phoenix area and Flagstaff enjoyed a fantastic BBQ, checked out the new 2014 Yamaha and Star bikes, and then headed out to Oak Creek Canyon.



bikes ready to go at Outdoor Sports

 

14 bikes went on the 150 mile round-trip ride to Oak Creek Canyon, riding north on I-17 and then 179 into Sedona. As we headed north, the Mogollon Rim that stretches 200 miles across Arizona came into view.

 



Sedona is always busy with tourists eager to see the red rock monoliths that surround the town. A series of roundabouts slow down the traffic, which gave me a good opportunity to take photographs.

Once through Sedona, we turned west onto 89A and entered the 12 mile Oak Creek Canyon. Oak Creek is one of the few streams in northern Arizona that has water all year, and aspen, sumac and maple trees grow abundantly along the creek. Fall foliage in Arizona is mostly golden yellow, with a few bright red trees. The backdrop of the red and white sandstone cliffs that tower 7200' on the western rim and the bright colors of the trees that form a canopy over the twisting 2-lane road make this a fun trip on a motorcycle.

The group stopped at the Indian Gardens Cafe but since we were short on time, we turned around and headed back home. The late afternoon sun cast shadows on the red rock formations, and I watched hikers winding their way around the paths that snake up the rocks.

We moved to Arizona from Vermont three months ago, and while the Fall foliage in the Southwest doesn't come close to the masses of vividly colored trees covering the Vermont mountains, a ride through Oak Creek Canyon on a sunny October day is a good substitute.

Saguaro cactus, cotton, and blueberry pie

The last day of a motorcycle trip sometimes is just about getting home, but today's ride, thanks to Brad and George of the Prescott STAR 511 motorcycle club, took us through twisty roads that bumped up and down like a rollercoaster, past irrigated fields of cotton, and several stops for ice cream, lunch, a cold drink, and even blueberry pie.

We started off heading north from Tombstone, leaving behind the tourists and the gunfights for a ride through rocky canyons and bluffs in the Sonoran Desert.

Brad promised we'd see saguaro cactus, but I didn't expect the thousands of cactus covering the mountainous landscape in the Rincon Mountain District of the Saguaro National Park just east of Tucson. The 91,000 acre park was first created in 1933, and since the saguaro can live for 150 years, some of the ones we saw today were already 80 years old - and just growing 'arms' - back in the 1930's.

We followed the winding road up and down through the saguaros to Old Tucson in the western part of the Saguaro National Park where hundreds of western movies, TV shows, and commercials were filmed. Brad said we could easily spend a day walking through the old movie sets and watching musical revues and gunfights. We drank cold water and took pictures of the outer buildings and cactus, and I peeked over the top of the wooden fence to get a glimpse of the town.

As we continued north toward home, I was surprised to fields of cotton growing in the middle of the desert between Tucson and Phoenix. Cotton is one of the 5 C's that were the driving force of Arizona's economy:  cotton, cattle, climate, citrus and copper. In fact, in the 1920's cotton replaced almost all other agricultural crops in Arizona. Due to urban development taking over the fields and water concerns, less cotton is grown today but it's still a significant crop.

George led the way to one of his favorite lunch spots, the San Tan Brewing Company in Chandler, one of the Phoenix suburbs. We sat outside in the shade and enjoyed lunch while we listened to music from the Indian Market taking place in the town square across the street. George continued to his home in Phoenix, while Brad led us further north to our final stop of the trip at the Rock Springs Cafe in Black Canyon City. The Cafe was founded in 1918 as a general store and today is famous for its pies - they sold over 50,000 in 2007. We did our part by sharing a slice of blueberry pie before we put on warm layers of clothing as the elevation climbed and the temperature dropped from the high 80's to the low 60's.

 
I took the last photo of our 3-day trip, capturing our shadow on the grassy plains with mountains in the background. We rode 700 miles from Prescott to Tucson, on to Tombstone, and back home on a trip that introduced us to southern Arizona. I'm learning just how big our new home state is, and we already have more motorcycle trips planned to explore other areas.