Then he informed her that they would be back home on Sunday the 8^th, instead of Saturday the 7^th. So, my trip was back on since I would be home before she would be!

She left June 29^th and that let me go to TechSTOC at Turbo Tom’s TurboCity on the 30^th and I did some work to the bike on the 4^th (since I was the only one home). And got ready for AZ on the 6^th.  

I packed up and loaded the bike with everything I needed and took off for work. I had to work until 2pm and it was 3:30pm before I was able to take off. Now, of course, I’m one of those types that like to make plans to be somewhere at a certain time. Starting out an hour and a half late pretty much blew my schedule. And I had a lot of miles to cover for the day.  

The temperature was 102 leaving San Bernardino and as I got closer to Banning, it continued to rise. It hit 113 going through Palm Springs and then was going from 109 to 113 to Chirico Summit which was 109. I managed to find a parking spot right by the gas station, in the shade, where I bought three big bottles of water. I drank about 1/3 of the water and poured the rest in with the cooling vest and let it sit for about 20 minutes.  While I just rested and let the vest soak.  

When I was ready to go, I put the cold, wet vest on and it felt so good in that 109 heat!  As I continued east, I kept thinking that I was going to come across some possible thunder showers and have a little rain to help cool things down a bit. But no such luck! The temperature continued going up and down, but mostly up. Before I hit Blythe it was 115 and then going through Blythe it dropped to 106. I was hoping it would stay there, but no such luck. The temperature then stayed at 115 for the next hour and a half. Thank goodness for my vest. I didn’t stop at Blythe or at Quartzsite, but continued on to Tonopah. There I gassed up and had a Subway sandwich and rested and soaked the vest again. I had traveled 272 miles and used 6.7 gallons of gas on that tank.  

I decided that since it was getting dark I needed my clear shield on and that I could ride without the vest. As I took off, the wind was blowing pretty hard and I knew that there were threats of rain, although I never hit any of it, just a lot of wind and lots of HEAT. It was about 104 and the Sun was down! I only gone 67 miles coming into Chandler when I had to stop again. I gassed up, It only took 1.4 gals of gas, but I bought a big bottle of water and soaked the vest again. After letting it set for a little while, I put it on again and took off. I sure got some strange looks anytime I took it off to soak it, but that was okay, at least I was cool with it on. I had gone a total of about 340 miles by that point and it was about 9pm. I rode for about 30 miles and decided I needed to take another break and a rest stop just happened to be there. By this time I wasn’t making very good time! )-:  I was there for about 15 minutes and jumped back on the 10 again.

All the way through Tucson they had construction and at first I was going the posted speed limit, but I could see others not, so I started pacing some of them. Once out of Tucson, the road starts going up hill and I was fighting with the tractor-trailer rigs. They were passing each other and then they would just sit in the fast lane to see if you were going to pass them on the right. It sure made it a nerve racking since if I started down the side, you just never knew when they were going to come back over. So I tried not to, but I had no choice sever times. I pulled into Willcox around 11:45 and was getting pretty tired. I had been up since before 6am and now it was close to midnight! I gassed up and it took 4.7 gallons for 177 miles. By then, the temps had dropped down to about 76 and now the vest was way too cool!  So I took it off and rode to Safford without it. It was pretty much 76 the rest of the way.   

I got into Safford around 1am and tried to sleep and sort of did I guess. But I woke up at 5:45 am and decided to get moving since I was supposed to meet up with Dana and several others. As I got to the Comfort Inn at 7am, I saw Dana’s bike but no others. So I parked where his was and went into the “dining” area where Dana and his wife Vicki were eating. We sat a talked for a little while and then Dana and Vicki loaded their ST and off we went to gas up. I went 53 miles and took 1.4 gallons.  

Although I had gassed up at Willcox, I figured it wouldn’t hurt to gas up again, so I wouldn’t have to worry about it until later. That turned to be a good decision. Once gassed up, we took off for highways 191/70/78 & 180. At first the roads were pretty straight, very tempting, believe me! But I managed to keep the speed down.  

As we approached where the 191 & 78 meet, I stopped at a (I guess you would call it a) gas station and asked a gas station attendant if the 191 was open up north and he didn’t know anything about it. So he wasn’t useful at all. And with that little bit of information, Dana and I decided that going the long way would be about the best way for us to go. So we took off on the 78 where we saw some interesting roads. While leaving AZ, it went from desert to forest. We had to stop at the AZ NM border and take pictures of us there. We then headed on to Hwy 180. Some beautiful country up through there…who would have thunk it?  

Hwy 180 through New Mexico is a nice road. It has some good sweepers, and a few tight turns, but it is more of the types of roads I enjoy. I was thinking that 191 would have been pretty busy with all the tight turns and all. At first I was worried about us getting up to Hannagan Meadow on time, but as we started getting farther north, the road opened up and we were able to make good time.  That was until we came into the little AZ town of Alpine. There was a cop right in the middle of the road stopping traffic. Great, I could see it now, sorry folks the road is on fire and you’ll have to go back through to NM to get north of here!  

Turns out the town was having a parade. And we were at the tail end of it. So Dana and I parked the bikes, took some pictures and then when the traffic cleared, well sort of, we followed them. Most were turning right and we wanted to turn left back on to hwy 191. We were about 30 minutes from where we were supposed to be in a half hour.  About four miles from the Lodge, it started raining on us and I was a bit worried, but it soon stiopped. We pulled into the Lodge right at 12 noon which worked out to be perfect timing!  

As we were parking I noticed some wings, some 1100’s and 1300’s. We all stood talking for a short time and then George told us lunch was ready. He had arranged for lunch and we all went in the lodge for lunch of Sandwiches, hamburgers, hotdogs with macaroni and potato salads. And again Dana thanks for lunch!(-:  

While in there eating, it decided to rain. I went out to cover my saddle and I’m glad I did. By the time we were done eating, the rain had stopped, so we all went back out to the bikes and discussed the different farkles folks have put on. And of course, it’s always nice to meet new people! George had the owners of the different years 1300’s line up, so we took some pictures of the 03, 04, 05, 06 & 07 all lined up.  

It was then time to leave. Dana took off with the other Bob and I was about 5 minutes behind them. As I was traveling down 191 a few miles from the lodge, I could see a couple of dogs out in the road, so I hit my horn and one of them ran off to the right while the other started going to the left. The one still on the left decided it wanted to go the other way, so it started to change its direction, so I hit the horn a few times again and it decided to wait until I passed it before it too ran across the other direction.  

On the north side of Alpine, I looked down at my odometer and it was just about to change over to 25,000. So I watched it until it did and then stopped and took a picture of it (my wife thinks I’m crazy for doing things like that, but that’s okay…just one of those things I got to do!). I then continued on my way and about an hour later came into the little town of Show Low. Over all, that stretch of road was pretty mild from what I had been riding most of the day.  

After going through the town for over a mile, I found a Chevron station where I gassed up and then bought some munchies and a Pepsi for me and a half gallon of water for my vest. I had traveled 268 miles on 6.0 gals of gas for that tank! By this time the fatigue started catching up to me, so I needed all the help I could get. This also meant I would be taking more stops then I had planned. But it wasn’t like I was in a hurry, so I just took my time, ate the cookies, drank the Pepsi and watered down my vest until most of that water was gone. One nice thing about that vest, when you put it on and it’s cold; it wakes you up pretty good.  

It was about 4pm when I left Show Low and from there I headed north to Holbrook and I40 west. That section of roadway, going through Snowflake, wasn’t too exciting to say the least. And the wind was picking up more the farther north I got. Once I got to Holbrook and on to the 40, I was into a pretty good head wind. This lasted almost all the way to Flagstaff.  At about the 100 mile mark (that is 100 miles since my last fill up/break) I started getting ready for another break. I saw a rest stop and thought it would be a good place to take a 20 minute break and re-soak the vest. Between the wind and the speed (doing 80 most of the time) the vest was drying it out a little faster now.  

After the break I jumped back on I40 and continued on my way. I made another quick stop to change out my smoked shield to my clear shield, and then back again until I came to Williams. Where I decided to gas up and get a bite to eat. I had gone about 175 miles and used 4.2 gals of gas. By gassing up here, I figured that I wouldn’t need to worry about gas again until I left Laughlin. By the time I stopped, I was again getting tired. Once I revitalized my vest and put it on, it again woke me up pretty good and I was good for another hour.  

From Williams to Laughlin was almost 150 miles. I knew I wouldn’t be able to make it there without at least one more stop. So about 25 miles out of Kingman, I stopped at a large truck stop and had another Pepsi. Once done with my break, I continued on into Kingman and then jumped off the 40 to head over to Laughlin. It was about 10pm and the temperature was about 106 in Laughlin when I pulled into town. My hotel was a little farther south of the the bridge, so I had to ride through town for a short distance to the River Palms Hotel and Casino.  

Once in my room, I got out of my sweaty smelly clothes and took a shower and got dressed. Felt great to feel clean again! Since I couldn’t sleep after all the Pepsis that I had for the day, I decided to go play some .05 slots. I found one machine that was a toss up whether it was any good or not, but I won $10, I took my five back out of it and played the rest. I was finally able to go to bed around Midnight which was fine since I figured I could sleep in all morning.  Wrong, I woke up at 6am and tried to go back to sleep, but finally gave up at 6:30 and got out of bed and showered so I could get back on the road.  

Laughlin was already getting pretty warm, so I soaked the vest while I was packing the bike. I took off heading for Needles. I was hoping to stop at the CA/NV border and take pictures of my bike at the Stateline signs, but they didn’t have any. Oh well, maybe next time.  In Needles I stopped and filled my tank and then had some breakfast and after eating, I soaked the vest again. I still hate putting it on, but sure does feel good when it’s so hot out.  

My plan was to go down I40 to Route 66 and head down to I10 through Amboy and 29 Palms. That section of road is long and straight and you just can’t help but want to go a little faster on it then you should. I was pretty much cruising around 80, but got it up to 110 (indicated) for a second but dropped right back down. There just isn’t any joy for me going that fast. Maybe it was because of my accident back in ‘87 where I hit the ground at 65, I don’t know, but there just isn’t any excitement for me, to go that kind of speed. I made a Pepsi/soak the vest stop in Yucca Valley (took about 30 to 45 minute rest). Then headed for I10.  

As I was leaving the I10 west bound in Beaumont, so I could go south on SR79, I had a caged Ricky Racer, right in front of me. At least he thought he was because he was revving his engine every two seconds or so. Anyway, we made the turn to 79 south and there are a number of cars in front of us. As we got out of Beaumont, I was able to start squeezing through here and there until I was able to get around the last cage and I took off to a moderate speed of about 75 in a 65 zone. Now this part of 79 is four lanes, but it has a couple of miles of twisties. As I finished up the last twisty, here comes Ricky Racer and his pal Ricky Racer #2. (Never saw #2 before then).

Anyway, we continued down to the Ramona Expressway were they turned west and I continue towards town. I figured that would be the last I see of them. Wrong! As I cut over to Warren road, guess who’s' in front of me? Yep, RR#1 & RR#2! I hate loud pipes and these bozos were revving the engines every chance they had! Grrr!

When we got to SR74, RR#1 goes to the west so now I just have RR#2 in front of me, revving his engine every chance he got. Anyway by the time we get up to the Domengoni Parkway, I had had enough of his loud pipes (can't imagine why, I had ridden over 1,400 miles by then and was running on about 10 hours of sleep over the last two days and I was close to home) So this bozo makes the right turn and gets on it like his tail was on fire. I looked, didn't see any black and whites, so I jumped on the ST. I was up to 110 (now what was I saying about going fast?) before you know it and passing him! After I passed him I slowed back down to about 65 (speed limit is 60) and maintained my speed. He slowed down too and actually stayed behind me. I guess I gave him such a spanking he was too embarrassed to show his face. (Tinted windows, couldn't see him anyway). As we got up to the light to turn south on Winchester, he didn't rev his engine once, in fact I never heard him again!

I know I was pretty tired, but I get so irritated at these little idiots that I want to put a potato up their exhaust! And this guy and the other one just sent me over the edge... But it was so funny to see this idiot with his tail between his legs!  

I was soon home which ended my 1,419 mile 46 hour ride. Now that was fun, even though I was very tired, had lots of heat to deal with and what have you, but that was a fun ride. I really enjoyed the jaunt from Safford to Hannagan Meadow through New Mexico, with Dana and Vicki. Getting to put some faces with names/handles from the ST forum and just being able to take the time to get away for a couple of days.