Wednesday, April 13, 2016

Phoenix Bike Week - Day 6 & 7 - That's a Wrap!

Sunday morning was gloomy...the skies were dark and before long it began to rain.  Yuck!  And, I wasn't feeling particularly perky.  After a quick call to Barry at the Maximal Tours Booth, we decided to not attend the last day of Phoenix Bike Week.  Barry said it was wet, cold and dead. This is what it looked like.
 Yeah, not pretty and basically, nobody there except the vendors who didn't want to be there!
We ended up spending the day lounging around while it rained outside and later that evening, our friends Marc and Dee Beaulac, picked us up at our motel and we all went out for Mexican dinner.  Yummy!  We had a delightful evening and spent quite a bit of time after dinner just yakking away.  Nice :-)

Monday morning we leisurely packed the bikes, had some motel brekkie and headed out of Phoenix toward Flagstaff.  Our return route mimicked our route to Phoenix.  We fueled up before we left Phoenix and then again in Flagstaff.  Oh, it got cold, brrrrrrrrrr, as we climbed into the mountains before Flagstaff.  We made a brief stop to zip up our gear vents and when we stopped in Flagstaff, I dug out my heated jacket and plugged in.  Of course, I knew as soon as we got out of Flagstaff and down to lower elevations it would warm up.  I ended up keeping the jacket on the rest of the day and was quite comfortable.

We did get a few sprinkles but no significant rain, yippee!  I had brand spanking new pair of BMW waterproof gloves (to replace the pair I wore out) and I slipped them on.  Hahaha, new gloves - bulky and not yet broken in.  I laughed at myself because I couldn't really feel the clutch or the signal buttons.  Guess it will take a few rides to get them all soft and pliable!

Our ride was uneventful in a good kind of way.  Very little traffic and after Flagstaff, the weather was delightful.  We made another fuel stop at Marble Canyon, AZ which is just west of Navajo Bridge.  Who knew, the Dominguez y Escalante Expedition came through here.

 You can read a bit of the history here:  http://ilovehistory.utah.gov/time/stories/escalante.html

Marble Canyon has a small Chevron service station and convenience store.  It had absolutely, hands down, the cleanest public restroom I have ever used!  Spotless!  I complimented the clerk because I was truly impressed!
We spent about 15 minutes here, having a snack, fueling up and gazing around.  It is a beautiful area.

The next two pictures are pointed west.

 And here, pointed east.
 We remounted our steel steeds for the last leg home.  We arrived safe and sound around 7:00 pm.  It was nice to be home again!

I enjoyed my Phoenix Bike Week experience.  Especially hanging out with Max and Barry of Maximal Tours (and of course, my honey).  While at the event, it was non-stop gawking at people and machines.  Sometimes, a bit overwhelming!  I got to hang with the Hell's Angels and the sex product gals.  Not my normal company, but heck, every once in a while you gotta step outside the box, eh?

So, folks, that's a wrap for my Phoenix Bike Week with 1,045 miles logged on the bike.  I'm less than 2,000 miles from turning 100,000 on my little F650GS sewing machine.  I'll try to keep watch and hopefully catch a picture when the odo clicks!

Stay tuned for more blogs because next month we'll be headed north to Bonner's Ferry, Idaho for the Spring Shoot 'Em Up and you won't want to miss it.

Thanks for following along.  I sure enjoy your comments.

And, consider doing a tour with Maximal Tours.  I'll come along for the ride with you, take pics and give you a starring role in my blog!  http://maximal-tours.com/usa/?noredirect=en_GB.

Cheers,
Cletha




14 comments:

  1. Thanks for taking us along for the ride Cletha. Hey to Bozo...!

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    1. LOL, miss you Steve! I'll pass the message along to Bozo and hope we see you and Oldwhatshername sometime soon!

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  2. As always, I enjoyed following your adventures!

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    1. Thanks Mike. Yeah, the HA peeps were interesting...

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  3. I enjoyed the blog and your adventures! Thanks Cletha

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  4. Try to get a picture of the ODO as it rolls over 123,456 miles,
    with 789.0 on the trip meter if it can show at the same time -you'll have to start it a few miles back...
    Enjoyed the blog,
    Art

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  5. And A "Good Time was Had by All" Thanks for the write up...Donald

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    1. Thanks Donald, glad you followed along :-)

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  6. You want an awesome on road restroom.... try Buckets between San Antonio and Austin. A couple of hundred pumps and cleanest I have ever seen since boot camp

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  7. You want an awesome on road restroom.... try Buckets between San Antonio and Austin. A couple of hundred pumps and cleanest I have ever seen since boot camp

    ReplyDelete