Phoenix Bike Week - Day 2

We woke up to a beautiful but very chilly day.  However, since we only had about 150 miles to our next destination, we weren't in any hurry.  Breakfast was kind of dismal, your choice of Raisin Bran, Fruit Loops or packaged oatmeal were the cereal choices.  White bread toast, mini blueberry muffins, boiled eggs and yogurt.  Well, I had a big 'ol bowl of Fruit Loops :-) along with a mini muffin and a peach yogurt.  I felt stuffed the entire day.  I'm not used to eating so many carbs (lately) and it made me feel plumped!

Check out time was 11:00 am and that was our goal since our next destination was so close we saw no need to ride in the cold.  We were hoping it would warm up before we left.  I geared up and put on my heated jacket (it was still chilly) and hit the highway pretty much at 11:00 sharp and headed south on I-17.  No pretty, winding, two laners today.  Although, I-17 out of Flagstaff is really pretty spectacular on its own.  Traffic was light and we were making good time, not that we were in a hurry!  About 30 miles out of Flagstaff I told Eric to take the next rest stop exit, which we did.  I couldn't get that gear off quick enough!  It had gone from mid-50's to 80 something in that short amount of time!  Amazing what dropping 2500 feet will do!

We spent maybe 20 minutes at the rest stop, changing out gear, checking emails, blah, blah, blah.  Oh, I did take a few pictures :-)

 Don't you just love it when you see a sign like this?  Not....  We stayed on the paths and didn't encounter any wild snakes, bugs, or even peeps :-)

 It was  very nice, clean, tidy rest stop.  After a bit, we lost the cold weather gear and zipped open the vents on our jackets & pants and rode on!

The temperatures got higher and higher and higher.  Oh my!!! Super hot! It's like 100 plus!  I was so happy when we rolled into our hotel for the next several nights.  Here it is, the Best Westie in Sun City.

 We secured our room and cooled down.  Then, did the Mapquest thing to find out where the venue was.  After a quick cool down in the room, we geared back up for the ride to WestWorld where all the stuff was happening.  As we rolled into the venue, we passed the general parking and on to the Vendor Check in Area.   Hahahha,  I have a silver tongue sometimes and this was one of those times!  I told the check in dude that we were here with MAXimal Tours and we would only be here for a few hours...where could we park that was safe for the bikes?   Well,  they let us park right there!  Right next to the gate and in a very safe (for the bikes) place.

I then called Barry, my contact, and met up at the gate after securing our bikes.  Barry took us to the booth and introduced us to Max, the leader of the pack, the dude who actually leads the tours that we would be promoting.  Oh, good stuff!!!!

So, we eventually found the MAXimal Tours booth!  Here we are ready to learn, share and enlighten others on the fun MAXimal tours to Ireland, Scotland and the Alps! 

 The MAXimal Tours booth with Barry, Max, (back in the shadows) & Eric

 Sorry Barry,, not your best side :-) ]

                                                            ^^^^^ Here's Max! ^^^^^^

We are official!

After spending some time with Max and Barry learning more about MAXimal Tours and what they expected during the event, (and catching glimpses of the motocross stunters jumping next door), we headed back to the Best Western for some R&R and a pleasant winding down for the day.  The BikeFest doesn't kick off until noon on Thursday, so we can sleep in and enjoy the free buffet breakfast at the BW in the morning before heading back over to WestWorld and the MAXimal Tours booth.  It should prove to be an interesting time with lots of good people watching while helping out at the show.

All for this evening,

More tomorrow!

Cheers

Cletha