After tearing my motorcycle apart on Tuesday, taking a little ride on it Friday seemed appropriate. Ed, my partner in maintenance mayhem, came along to make sure we’d put everything back together correctly!
We rode south and west on back roads through the Santa Rita Mountains to Patagonia, stopped for lunch, continued west along the US/Mexico border to Nogales, then north on I-19 back to Tucson. Ed led down, I led back. It was a short ride — for a couple of Goldwingers, that is — only 180 miles in all. But what a day for a short ride: very little traffic, temps in the low 60s, bright cloudless skies.
I’m happy to say my reassembled scooter (the red one) ran perfectly; better than ever even. Ed’s ride (the black one) is brand new, but knowing Ed I’m sure he’s already disassembled and reassembled it, if only for the practice.
No one tried to kill us until near the very end of our ride, when two cagers in quick succession swerved into us from the other lane. You know how they say most accidents happen within five miles of home? We were literally three miles from my house — four miles from Ed’s house — when they came at us. Fortunately our lightning reflexes were up to the task and we emerged unscathed. We’ll be back to terrorize the highways and byways of Arizona some day soon.