Colorado Cruiser: Ride to Arizona

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