Escaping the Phoenix Heat

I got into the valley of the sun on Monday and the temperature was in the 90s.  I was melting but I was happy to see Nannette and my inlaws air conditioning.

I was planning on what to do for the day when my brother Mike called.  He's building a cabin up in the high country near Show Low and wanted me to come up and visit.  My brother Rob will also be up there so it sounded like a great plan to escape from the heat, so less than 12 hours after arriving, I headed right back up to the cold temperatures.

I spent the morning working on my father in law's computer, then I packed up and headed for cool weather.

There are 2 ways to get up to Showlow.  You can either go north to Payson, then turn east, or you go east to Globe, then turn north.

I chose to go east to Globe because it would put at high altitude quicker than crossing the whole of the valley going north.  It would also let me ride through the Salt River Canyon which I have never done.  I've driven the canyon many times when Nannette and I first got married, but I haven't been through the canyon for over 15 years.

Just as I had expected, it was hot riding for the first 40 miles.  But just as soon as I got to the first hills, the temperature dropped.  (Am I talking too much about heat?  probably)

I stopped in the shade of a big rock for a drink and to stretch my legs, then kept riding.  By the time I reached Globe, the temperature had dropped to 72 degrees and I started enjoying the ride rather than enduring it.

I stopped for another break just before descending the canyon, then I noticed the sign that actually said, entering the canyon so I grabbed a quick shot.

I'm not sure how scary the canyon can be on a motorcycle because I really just moseyed my way down and stopped at every little pullout to enjoy the views.  I was in no hurry and spent most of the trip down and back up in 2nd or 3rd gear, nearly idling.  It was another very relaxing ride.

I'm glad I came this way because the canyon really is pretty.

I arrived in Showlow and turned back west a bit to head for my brothers cabin.  I stopped to check my iPhone for directions because his house is on a brand new road that is only on google maps.  He actually got to  name the road and gave it the name of "Brindle Bull Road".

We have a family story about the brindle bull.  I'll probably tell it wrong, but here goes.

When my brother Dave was a baby, my parents lived on a farm in Southern Colorado.  One day, Dave got out of the house and started looking for our father.  He saw him on the far side of a corral and climbed through the fence and ran across to him.

That particular corral was where my dad was holding a young bull.  The bull had some odd color splotches, so he was referred to as a "Brindle Bull".  And it was a young, mean bull.

When the bull saw my brother, he began to snort and run toward him.  My dad heard the noise and turned to see what was happening and was horrified to see his little boy about to be chased down by the massive bull.

But before the bull could get to him, the family dog came running in from nowhere and started snapping and barking at the bull.  Some people say that the dog actually bit the bull in the nether regions.  Whatever the case, the dog occupied the bull long enough for my dad to get into the pen and grab Dave and get back out.

We lost Dave to diabetes and heart disease a few years ago, so naming the road Brindle Bull was nod to our brother.

So anyway, I had stopped to look for directions when my phone rang.  My brother Rob was calling to ask me if I could buy a PVC pipe fitting before coming out.  I was just outside Showlow so it was perfect timing.  I bought the part, then headed back out to them.

When I pulled off the highway, I saw the obviously new road with fresh gravel on it.  I turned up the road and hand't gone 40 feet when the front wheel sank into the grave, pushed a big pile in front of it, then whipped hard left which threw the whole weight of the bike to the right and WHAM down it went.  I was barely going 3 or 4 miles an hour, so all I did was step off the bike as it dropped.

I'm sorry John (my riding buddy) but it still just doesn't come to mind to take a picture of my downed bike.  My first thought is to get the bike up so gas and oil doesn't run out and ruin things.  Conciously I know that won't happen, but emotionally I can't stand the bike being down.

Since the bike fell on the right side, I put the kickstand down (it's on the left).  Then I make sure the wheel is turned all the way to the right, position myself on the right side of the bike facing away, bend my knees and actually sit on the seat.  Take the handlebar in my left hand and grab the passenger hand grab with my right hand, then straight my knees pushing back against the bike and it stands right up.  It's no simple, but it's not terribly hard either.  The bike was back up in under 30 seconds.

I got myself squared away and calmed back down, then evaluated the road again.  I wondered if I could just walk it up the road with my feet on the ground and allot of clutch.  I got the bike about 50 more feet up the road but it was a major struggle.  The front wheel was pushing huge piles of rock ahead of it, and the rear wheel kept spinning.  Finally I gave up.  I put the bike in reverse and backed down the road and out onto the pavement.  Then I turned around and pulled into a parking lot beside the road.

I was just contemplating what to do when my phone rang again.  It was Rob asking if I'd gotten lost.  I explained what happened and he said they'd be right down.  The drove a truck down and we talked about what to do.  They first thought to bring a big trailer down and tow the bike up but I asked if there was anyone nearby where I could just park the bike.  So they led me a few hundred yards up the road to a neighbor.

I won't go into everything that happened while I visited my brothers because it would tripple the length of this blog, but we hauled some water, worked on the house, had dinner, told allot of jokes, sat around a fire, rigged up some power for my breathing machine, and finally went to bed.

The next morning we had Chorizo and Eggs for breakfast, then worked more on wiring power to the cabin.

By 10:00 I said my goodbye's and walked back over to retrieve my motorcycle.

On the way home I took the 2nd route home through Payson.  That involves driving down from the top of the Mogollon Rim.  The rim is a huge escarpment that runs across about half of Arizona east and west.

I stopped to take pictures from a lookout before riding down.

I stopped for lunch in Payson.  I ate at the Crosswinds Restaurant at the Payson Airport which sits atop a big bluff just north of town.  I used to have an airplane that I'd fly up to the airport for breakfast with friends or to visit our cabin.  I brought back allot of good memories to eat there.

On my way back to Mesa I decided to ride out to Saguaro Lake, another place I used to frequent.  I had a ski boat for nearly 20 years, and I'd go skiing 30 or more times a summer.  That's allot of ski trips.

Back in the valley, I had to help my wife with a broken down car.  She was borrowing a car from her parents when the radiator blew all the water out.  We don't know exactly what happened, but it turned out that the radiator was actually cracked AND blew the radiator cap off.

My friend Eric helped me tow the car to his house and we pulled the radiator out.  We got a new one from Napa, but it was too late finish it.  We'll try to get it done tomorrow, but I need to spend some time with my mother or I'll be grounded.


My father in law "Red". We can't change is name to "Gray" now could we?


Red and Alice's new trailer


Red's cubbyhole of technology


Alice's whole room of sewing. Seems to work the same in their marriage as in mine


Crossing the valley


Entering the canyon


First looks at the canyon


Stopped at an overlook


More canyon views


Another overlook


Looking down the canyon


Looking up the canyon


Parked on the overlook


The bridge at the bottom


The river at the bottom. Brown water


The road I just descended


Looking down just before climbing out of the canyon


Some of the bluffs at the top


Wide open views on the way to Showlow


View from the top of the Mogollon Rim


Zoomed in view from the Rim


Parked in a rest stop for a break


Lunch at the Payson Airport - Crosswinds Restaurant


Dropping off the mesa towards Phoenix


Hillsides still empty of trees after a fire many years ago


Heading towards Saguaro Lake


Saguaro Lake boat ramp 1 - I spent many mornings here with my boat


View of Saguaro Lake


My new boat at the old lake

Ride to Arizona - Day 4

I woke up at 2:00am, then again at 4:00am, then at 6:00am and was about to get up when I remembered that I was in Arizona, so it was actually 5:00am and way to early.  I don't think I went back to sleep, but I did lay there for another hour before I got up.

The hotel breakfast had waffles, cereal, and yogurt.  They had some rubber egg disks, but I opted not to subject my stomach to that.

We were ready to ride by 7:30.  I was very excited to ride the Coronado Trail.  That's what highway 191 is called as it runs along the  Arizona and New Mexico boarder.

John asked me how cold it was outside and I said it was in the mid to high 40s.  He walked over to his bike and pulled out his heated gear and chaps.  After thinking for a few minutes, I pulled out my heavy jacked and gloves, but it didn't seem cold enough for the heated gear.

I turned my heated grips to medium.and felt fine.

We stopped in Springerville for gas and water since we'd be riding nearly 100 miles without anywhere to get refreshments.

The sky was overcast, preventing the sun from burning off the dew. My face shield kept collecting dew and getting fuzzy. I had on leather gloves that only smeared the water around when I tried to rub it off, so I lifted up the shield, then my glasses started to mist. Finally, after 40 minutes, the sun broke out raising the temperature by 5 degrees almost instantly, and drying out my glasses.

We passed a sign saying we were on the Coronado Trail.  I thought about stopping for a picture, but I figured there would be more signs further on with maybe better views.  I was wrong, we didn't see another sign like it for the rest of the ride.  I should have learned by now, take the opportunities when they come and stop thinking there will be more and better ones later on.

The highway wound through the forest for about 30 miles with only minor climbs and descents.  It was very therapeutic to maneuver the bike around.  Every so often we'd pass a home and could smell wood smoke in the air with that comforting pine scent.

I thought to myself "No one needs a $100 and hour therapist, they just need a motorcycle and a road like this"  It really felt relaxing.

As we rode, I spotted a scenic turnoff to the right, and slowed down.  We pulled into parking spots and got off the bikes to take a look.  The road was about to drop off the Mogollon rim around the next corner, and this overlook could see for over a hundred miles out from the rim.  We could even see Mount Graham that is on he far side of Safford, that's a long ways off.

We wandered up a small path through the brush to an even better view, and a sheer drop off.  With a gentle breeze, cool air, and the smell of wet pine in the air, all I needed was a hammock and a pillow and I'd have slept there for hours, it was very peaceful.

While I stood there looking at the road we were about to descend, I was suddenly reminded of the last (and only) time I'd been on this road.  My son Kyle was about 13, and his scout troop was doing a 50 mile bike ride.  They had ridden several 20 mile rides to prepare, but all of those rides had been down in the valley around Mesa.  The only hills were the freeway overpasses.

Someone had suggested this road because it had so much downhill to it and would make the 50 miles easy to ride.  I came along as a driver.  I did switch off with some of the other adults on bikes a few times, but only for about 10 miles of it.

It was early spring, so there was still snow in the shadowed parts of the road, but no snow on the road itself.

As we rode down that first section of twisting descent, I remember many of the boys being a bit scared of going too fast without any guard rails.  The road was very technical to ride, with allot of varying levels of steepness, curve, climb, and changes in the middle of turns.  It was certainly no road for a novice motorcycle rider.  I'm not a super skilled rider, but I know my limitations and how to ride within them.

For the next 3 hours, it was a constant barrage of twists and turns.  We stopped a couple of times for pictures and to drink some water.

Although this section wasn't quite as easy going and therapeutic as the first 30 miles, it was a blast.

Eventually though, all things come to an end, and so did our nirvana of twisties.

We did one last huge descent with switchcbacks and suddenly found ourselves at the top end of the Morenci copper mines.  There was some sort of road construction going on, and a 30 yard section of roadway was just missing.  It was wet and muddy and I found myself squirming all over though it.  Luckily, John was in the lead and had radioed back, warning me about it so I had slowed way down before I reached it.

Past the construction I could see the mine and started rubber necking trying to spy things from the road.  We spotted a scenic oveerlook and stopped to oggle.  It was humbling to see just how much earth had been moved over the years.

Down at the bottom was a full size semi truck, but from our vantage, it didn't even look as big as a matchbox car.  The place was just ginormous.

Eventually we quit gaping and continued on.  We soon found ourselves in the thriving metropolis of Morenci, then we blinked and were on the other side.  The land leveled out and the road straightened out.  We had about 40 miles of straight and boring road with allot of traffic on it.  We'd only seen about 6 vehicles the entire time on the Coronado trail, and now we had 10 vehicles around us at all times.  It really took the buzz off quick.

When we reached Safford, we stopped at Casa Manana for lunch.  I've eaten so much protien on this trip (just like every trip) that I opted for a Fajita salad.  It was really good.

After lunch we stopped by the Gila Valley Temple for a picture, then gassed up and headed for the valley.  I had told John to just twist his throttle and head for home.  Within minutes he had left me far behind.  I meandered along and tried to enjoy the last of the scenery.

The temperature steadily climbed into the 70s by the time I hit Globe, then the 80s by Superior, and finally 90s when I turned off for Florence.

I admit it, I'm a heat wimp.  I was burning up and chugged all the water I had when I was stopped for a road construction.  They were chip sealing the Hunt Highway and stopped us for 20 minutes.  It wasn't a pleasant experience for me.

Once they let us go on, we were driving on very freshly oiled road.  So even though it looks dry because of the rock, it's very wet and any rapid acceleration or sudden stop would have thrown the bike out of control and dropped me.  I also had to worry about the car ahead of me throwing rocks at me, but unlike a car that might get a crack in the windshield, I'd play goliath if the rock whacked me in the head.

But none of that happened,  I moved along at nearly a snails pace and rode across the 2 miles of death trap to the relative safety of a crowded highway.

I arrived at my inlaws' home in Randolph just after 5:00 and joyously sat down in their air conditioned living room.

After a good dinner I began to write this report.  Once again, it feels really late, but it's only 9:30 their time.  But I don't think I'll have any trouble falling asleep.

I probably won't post any blogs for a few days while I'm visiting family and friends in the valley.


John, all geared up and ready to ride


The open road and blue skies


Entering the forest


A bit of fall colors still


The overlook just before the road dropped off


More overlook


Steep and winding road


More of the steep road


Climbing up into that deep blue sky


Another scenic overlook


John posed by the overlook


Me by the overlook. It's hard to tell, but there's a sheer cliff right behind me


More posing


Maybe you can tell there's a dropoff in this one


The copper mine in Morenci


More of the mine


Gila Valley Temple

Ride to Arizona - Day 3

I got up well before sunrise so I could go to the Blanding Cemetery to see my father's and grand parent's grave sites.  Eric was going to leave early as well, so we sat and ate cereal together and chatted about families and riding.

Eric and I both left just as the sun was rising.  He went South toward home and I went North a few blocks.

I spent a while just looking and thinking of my dad and grand parents.  All of them were significant influences in my life (of course) but I still try to think of how they would react to this or that thing, or how would they handle a situation.

When I was 16, I spent 2 months of the summer with my grand parents here in Blanding.  I drove tractor to plough fields, plant, cut, roll, and bail hay.  I moved sprinkler pipe 2 times a day.  I fed horses and helped train a young colt to lead.

And I learned how to nap.

Grandpa and I would get up about 5 every morning to go work the fields.  Then about 11:00 we'd go back to the house for lunch and to listen to Paul Harvey.  But after lunch, we didn't always  (hardley ever) go back to do more work.  We'd go over to an indian hogan he had built, and we take a nap.

A hogan is dug down into a circular hole in the ground about 3 foot deep.  Then the hole is lined with cedar poles all around the circle.  More cedar poles are lain across the wall in a special pattern that builds up to a dome with a hole in the middle.  Finally the whole thing is covered with a thick layer of dirt to make it water proof.

Because of being buried in the ground and covered with dirt, it stays very cool, almost cold.  Most days it was in the mid 60s when we'd go to take a nap.  And we often napped for 2 or more hours before doing more work.  It was a wonderful summer and gave me a bond to my grandparents that has never left me.

Standing in the cemetery and thinking of everything I've been given left me very emotional and determined to continue to love and enjoy my family, especially my mother, siblings, children, and grand children.  Nan and I are so fortunate to have our kids and grandkids all in town with us so we can see and enjoy them almost daily.  What a blessing.

Once I got back to my Aunt's house, John was up and ready to go.  We wound up standing out front of the house for 30 minutes talking with Donna and Cardon before we finally hopped on the bikes and left.

From Blanding we headed south down highway 191 through White Mesa toward Bluff.  At Bluff we left highway 191 to go towards Mexican Hat, but before we got there, we turned off the highway to visit the goose necks.  That's a section of the San Juan river that winds back and forth through tight loops.  They built a road to the top of a cliff on one of the bends so you can see several twists of the river below.  We took allot of pictures and stared out for a long time before we headed on south.

One other thing I wanted to do was to visit monument valley.  I don't think it's far off for me to say I've traveled the road between Mexican Hat and Kayenta over 100 times.  But until a couple of years ago, I had no idea that Monument Valley was actually a few miles to the East of the highway.  I thought it was just those 8 or 9 big bluffs that you could see from the highway.

So today, for the first time in my life, I turned East and paid $10 to go see monument valley.  We weren't allowed to take the bikes down the dirt road (and wouldn't have even if allowed).  The lady at the gate told us they were planning to pave the road in the next year, so I might have to do it again next year.

I even got to stand and enjoy John Wayne's favorite view.  At least that's what the sign said.

From Monument Valley we rode to Kayenta to gas up and find some lunch.  We looked for somewhere to eat, but everything was closed.  Not just closed because it was Sunday, but doors nailed shut and weeds growing in the parking lot kind of closed.  We finally found a Subway to get a healthy sandwich.

After lunch we turned South on a navajo nation road towards the town of Chinle.  We were travelling a little quick because the roads were so flat, straight, and empty.  The 56 miles just seemed to fly by and suddenly we were in Chinle.  We turned east to drive along the south rim of Canyon De Chelly.  Its a National Monument site.  We stopped at several of the scenic overlooks to take pictures.  Most of the overlooks had navajo vendors selling jewelry and artwork.

It suddenly hit me that now I have to buy 5 pieces of jewelry rather than just 4.  It used to be my wife and 4 daughters, but now I'll have a daughter in law to buy for as well.  I'm gonna go broke.  But not this time.  As nice as some of the jewelry looked, I'm sure that within days my girls would have green marks on the arms, necks, or wrists.  So I skipped buying anything.

When we got to our fourth scenic view, we noticed that there were black clouds rolling into the area,  The wind was picking up and temperature dropping fast, so we decided to get while the getting was good.

We were only 10 miles out of Chinle when the first bit of rain hit us but it didn't last long.  We kept going until we reached Ganado to gas up.  The wind was picking up fast and starting to blow allot of dust around.  One group of bikers pulled in having just come from the south  and told us they rode through allot of rain.  We decided to take our chances and kept riding south until the rain really started to fall.  We quickly pulled into a gas station to put our rain gear on.

Fully rain proof we rode on through the rain.  It did come down pretty hard for about 15 minutes, then we rode out the far side of the storm.  We kept going until we reached I-40, then stopped at a gas station.  While John took a short break, I searched for a hotel further down the road.  I found a Days Inn in the town of St Johns,

As we rode toward the hotel, the sun began to set and the temperature started to drop.  I checked us in and asked about somewhere to eat.  The guy started listing the gas stations and grocery stores in town, then said "Oh yeah, there's a subway".  So we had Subway for the 2nd time today because that's all there was to eat.

Back at the hotel I watched the Denver Broncos put a whupping on 49ers.  I also watched Payton Manning throw his record breaking 409th touchdown pass.  With that pass, he broke Bret Favre's all time record.

It's only 8:30 Arizona time, but I'm done with this report and ready to sleep.


Me at the Blanding Cemetery. My father's headstone visible above the bike


Sunrise over my bike


John taking a picture at the goose necks.


Bikes parked at the Goosenecks with Monument Valley in the background


More of the goosenecks


Monument Valley


Me in front of the mittens


Me by the Monument Valley sign


Back in Arizona


Looking down into Canyon De Chelly


John walking out of bounds at Canyon De Chelly


Canyon de Chelly


Me with Canyon De Chelly