A few more photos from my motorcycle trip. Click any photo to enlarge:
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Top row, left to right:
- Riding lessons for my grandson Quentin, 4/24/10
- Spring Mountain to Pahrump, en route to Death Valley, 4/25/10
Bottom row, left to right:
- Old borox mine, Death Valley, 4/25/10
- California poppies in the Mojave Desert (w/bee), 4/26/10
My nearly-ten-year-old Honda Goldwing ran perfectly the entire time. I think I’ll keep it a few more years!
As noted previously, I originally planned to ride the entire trip, going from Tucson to Las Vegas via back roads to Globe, circling the east side of Phoenix, then up the Mogollon Rim to Flagstaff.
That leg of the trip was OBE’d by snow in Flagstaff. I decided to make lemonade out of the weather by trailering the motorcycle to Las Vegas instead, which allowed me to stuff my car with stuff my daughter Polly has been storing in my garage . . . she’s in a larger apartment now and has room for all her stuff. Once in Las Vegas I rode the Wing on out & back day trips, spending nights at Polly’s apartment. Yesterday I put the bike back on the trailer and drove home.
Observations:
- I don’t care what time of year you ride to Death Valley, it’s hot!
- Worst NPR station in the nation for obnoxious, intrusive, nearly-constant membership drives: KNPR in Las Vegas.
- Surprisingly inexpensive gas: $2.91/gal in Las Vegas.
- Most expensive gas: $4.08/gal in Death Valley.
- Disappointing: River Run in Laughlin (River Run vendors/manufacturers used to represent/display all kinds of motorcycles, now cater exclusively to the V-twin cruiser demographic . . . including Honda).
- Most cops seen in entire life: any road within 75 miles of Laughlin.
- Best place to set your cruise control to the posted speed limit: anywhere within 75 miles of Laughlin!
- Best curvy roads in southern Nevada: mountain pass between Cal/Ari/Nev & Laughlin, Spring Mountain between Vegas & Pahrump, side road to Nelson & Lake Mead off US 95 between Boulder City & Searchlight.
- Nicely kept secret & a great place for a shady break: general store in Nipton, California.
- Sorriest dump of a town: Pahrump, Nevada, where dreams apparently go to die.
- Scariest city to ride or drive through: Phoenix, Arizona, mainly because heavy trucks have unrestricted use of all lanes of the freeway, and are constantly jockeying for position & that all-important two miles per hour advantage.
- Scariest part of the whole trip: discovering in my own driveway that one of the tie-down straps holding my motorcycle upright in the trailer had come off somewhere between Casa Grande and Tucson on the way home . . . good thing the other three held tight!
What a great weekend. Pretty soon it’ll be too hot to ride anywhere, so I’m glad I got this trip out of my system. Maybe in the fall I’ll try that Mogollon Rim-Flagstaff trip again.