Well, since you asked . . .
I spent Saturday morning working on the Goldwing with a friend. Later that afternoon I rode from Tucson up to Phoenix, where I crashed for the night at my daughter’s apartment. Sunday morning I laid on a coating of sunblock and took off east on McDowell Road to AZ Hwy 87, then north to Payson, where I had breakfast. From Payson I continued north on 87 through Pine and Strawberry, then west on 260 to Camp Verde, where I gassed up and applied a second layer of sunblock. From Camp Verde I rode up to Jerome, an old copper camp that is now a yuppie scum art colony, then down 87A through Potato Patch to Prescott, where I had lunch (and applied a third layer of sunblock). From Prescott I headed southeast on 69 to I-17 at Cordes Junction, then took I-17 back to Phoenix.
I followed a small group of Goldwingers from Payson to Strawberry, but they eventually got stuck behind two guys on Harleys who rode side by side and kept slowing down at inappropriate times (like whenever the road straightened out or went downhill), and for some reason would not pass them. I got around both groups just before starting down the long grade to Camp Verde.
Coming down through the hairpin turns from Jerome to Prescott I came upon the scene of a motorcycle accident; the highway patrol and paramedics were already there and were waving traffic through so I couldn’t stop. They had a girl strapped down on a gurney with a neck and back brace on, it looked like to me. Sad to see; hope it was not a serious accident, but I know it ruined someone’s weekend even if it wasn’t.
I got back to my daughter’s place around 6:00 pm with just over 300 miles on the odometer. I crashed there again Sunday night and rode home to Tucson Monday morning. I started every ride with a 40-oz camelback full of ice and water, and got pretty adept running the drinking tube up under my full-face helmet with one hand.
For the next few months it’ll probably be too hot for trips like this; not that it’ll be too hot in the mountains . . . it’ll be too hot for the 200-mile ride from Tucson through Phoenix you have to take to get to the mountains. Then again, I could trailer the bike to Prescott, where I have friends I can crash with, and ride north from there.
Next trip: Prescott to Flagstaff to the North Rim.