MACH.19 - Saguaro Country, Final Day 22: Pants, Take Me Home

Saguaro Country, Final Day 22
Pants, Take Me Home
Sunday, May 19, 2019

We awake a little later than planned to a warm, cloudless day.  "Remember to reset the house," Kitty says.  We have an Internet-aware home heating and cooling system, which we set to "away" when we travel for extended periods. This sets the temperature parameters to be maintained between 62F and 82F. I call up the app  and reset the thermostat.  The house will be cool when we get home.

As we are packing up for the final day, Kitty observes the jeans she's been wearing for, well, to protect the innocent, an undisclosed number of days.

She looks skeptically at the jeans and finally decides to wear them one more day. "Ok, pants, take me home!" she says.

And so they do. We have an uneventful ride of a little over 200 miles in heavier-than-expected Sunday morning traffic up I-81. We make the final and familiar turn to I-66 West at Mile Marker 300.

And then we are home, 12:30 PM. I'll post up some trip thoughts later.

It was an awesome trip taking us to new and wonderful sights and places, and in spite of the battery issue and having the bike knocked over and damaged in New Mexico, ranks as one of our best trips together, ever.

I'll post a trip redux later.

220 miles for the day, 6,298 miles for the entire trip.

The SpotWalla Bubbler GPS app is no longer broadcasting but the link remains active and you can zoom in and out as desired. Note that I have a "safe zone" set up for a certain number of miles around my home so it will not broadcast exact locations when within that zone. 

https://spotwalla.com/tripViewer.php?id=1d90f5cc2b861ee8ea&p=cactus&hoursPast=0&showAll=yes

SpotWalla track for the day (#196-202) - App will not broadcast in "safe zone" a certain number of miles from my home

SpotWalla track for the trip

MACH.19 - Saguaro Country Day 21: Flirtation

Saguaro Country, Day 21
Flirtation
Saturday, May 18, 2019

Last night I set the GPS to "Route to Home". It produced a route of 656 miles.

I'm up early to see if the bike repeats yesterday's performance, but all is well.  Crusader is eager and strong for the challenge.

This morning the plan is to ride that route until we're tired, we're home, or there's an acceptable amount of mileage left for tomorrow.  Our original plan was to be home today, but we lost the equivalent of two days' riding so we're on Plan B.

We ease through Nashville Saturday morning traffic, climb and descend the Cumberland Plateau, ease our way through Knoxville, and we're done with cities.  After being in the desert for a week and a half, the East Coast humidity seems stifling. It's amazing how quickly I get used to the dry air, although it does cause minor nosebleeds. The humidity takes a toll on both of us.

At about 400 miles, we stop for a break and reassess the day.  Kitty flirts with riding home.  "We only have 269 miles!" she exclaims. "You'd really like to ride home, wouldn't you?"

"Well, 269 miles in the morning seems easier than after you've already been in the saddle for 8 hours and are thinking of four more hours! And in the interest of full disclosure, let's do some math.  Half of 656 is 328. We've ridden 73 miles over halfway. I'm not recommending it, but if you want to go for a new personal record, I'm up for it."

"Oh, well, when you put it that way... yeah, let's get a place for the night."

So we shut it down in Roanoke, VA, 200 miles from home, having ridden just over 470 miles for the day.  Trip mileage stands at just under 6,100 miles.

We expect to be home tomorrow by noon.

Spotwalla track for the day (marker #174-196) - starting to overlap with outbound leg

Spotwalla track for trip to date - starting to overlap with outbound leg

MACH.19 - Saguaro Country, Day 20: Altered States

Saguaro Country, Day 20
Altered States
Friday 17

This morning we load out early, ready for another 550 mile day. When I turn the key a press the starter button, the battery can barely turn over the engine and it won't start. What a surprise!

I get a jump from the hotel manager and try to assess the situation. I know that we are less than a mile from Russellville Honda, one the largest and most reputable Honda dealers in the US. If there were a question about a bike's condition and you were a mile from there, who wouldn't take the option to have your issues looked at there?

So we ride over just as they open at 9:00 AM, and Alex sets up a service ticket right away. We unhook the trailer and wait. After an hour or so Famous Dave the Mechanic comes out and says that the good news is the battery and alternator are both 100% perfect. The bad news is the voltage regulator is flaky, with micro-dropouts periodically visible on his meter. The more bad news is they don't have one in stock and can't get one until Tuesday. He said almost certainly the failed battery caused the voltage regulator to malfunction.

After some discussion about options, we buy a new battery, battery tender, and jumper cables so at least I'd have an extra battery and could switch out batteries and keep one charged if the voltage regulator acts up again. Dave said the problem may never repeat itself, and it's safe to drive the bike.  This exactly what my friend Skippy suggested wen he took the time to contact me when he saw a Facebook post that we're at Honda of Russellville.

Honda of Russellville is justifiable famous for their inventory and service. Today they took in an unscheduled bike right away - and didn't charge me for their work!

Thus fortified, we decide we can ride 400 miles today and strike out just before 1:00 PM for Nashville TN. We have an uneventful 400+ mile ride through the forests and flat lands of Arkansas, navigate rush hour traffic around Memphis, and finish a 90-mile run to Nashville with the setting sun ablaze in the mirrors, and a pale moon rising over Nashville at 8:00 PM.

Awesome.

Honda of Russellville - a sample of Gold Wing inventory

Honda of Russellville

SpotWalla track for the day (one flag from outbound leg visible)

SpotWalla track for trip - outbound and inbound almost merging

MACH.19 - Saguaro Country, Day 19: Home, James II

Saguaro Country, Day 19
Home, James II
Thursday May 16, 2019

Kitty has volunteered for some long hard riding, more than I'd ever schedule for any of our two-up trips. She's committed to ride 500+ mile days the rest of the trip home.  Understand I wouldn't ask her to do this, which is why I was willing to give up seeing Monument Valley.

"It was worth it," she said yesterday.

Arkansas conveniently offers 3 options: 450, 500, and 540 miles, the longest being Russellville, AR.  I route for now to the middle destination and we strike out eastward from Amarillo TX.

I admit I haven't been in every flat place in the US, but among the places I've been, the western plains in the Texas Panhandle are the flattest I've ever encountered.  It's called "Llano Estacado" or Staked Plain and runs in a wide swath from Amarillo south to Odessa. It is so flat we can see the curvature of the earth, similar to the ocean at the beach.  There are no trees or hills to break the landscape. Vast expanses of flat farmland, all apparently tillable for crops or grazing for cattle.

And then it ends abruptly, with canyons and escarpments carved by rivers at the eastern edge of the plain, and suddenly we have rolling plains with more vegetation.  Still flat, but not the table-top flatness of the western section.  Palo Duro Canyon along this demarcation may be the most famous of the canyons.

The rolling plains gives way to Oklahoma red earth which in turn becomes more wooded and gives way to the wooded slopes of the Ouachita Mountains in Arkansas.

At one of our breaks where I also fuel just because I can, Kitty decides we're good for the 540-mile destination so I route to Russellville, AR, and addition of about 40 miles to the original destination.

It's more humid today than yesterday, and by late afternoon I realize I'm behind on water intake, feeling a little rocky. In the TMI department, urine color is a good gauge of hydration.  If it's not nearly clear, you're behind on water.  Mark it down.

Over the years, Kitty has developed a really excellent hydration strategy.  Our trailer has a cooler, and inside this we put a smaller ice chest.  In the hotel at night, Kitty packs water bottles with ice.  By morning the ice is mostly melted and the water is ice-cold.  She repacks the chest with ice, puts it back in the trailer cooler, and we have ice-cold water all day, wherever we go, no matter what the temperature. Even if we deplete the water supplies, we then have the melted ice to drink.

So I sit inside and slowly sip a bottle of ice-cold water from the trailer.  I immediately feel rejuventated.  Back on the road for the last 90-mile segment, I tell Kitty "I feel like a wilted flower after it gets a drink - all its foliage perks up, its arms lift, and it feels alive again!" It's like a new lease on life.

We finish out in Russellville, AR at a couple miles under 550 miles.

I wear LD Comfort underwear and socks; I carry only two sets with me, which means most nights I'm hand-washing something with baby shampoo. I use this because it's gentle and doesn't cause irritation should some shampoo be left in the garment due to incomplete hand rinsing.  These things take a long time to dry, so to make sure I have dry clothes by morning, I often grab the ironing board and couple hangars and hang the stuff from the ironing board, placing it next to the air conditioning fan.  It works.  Don't judge me.

Home is 1056 miles away.  Kitty wants to do it in two days. I would never ask her to ride like this, and we do have Sunday as a fall-back if we don't make it in two days.  But tomorrow, again, we'll start out expecting ride about 530 miles.

Right now, it's hard to imagine that two days ago were enthralled with the scenery in Monument Valley.  We traveled 5,185 miles so far on this trip.

Ironing board drying technique

SpotWalla track for day

SpotWalla track for trip

MACH.19 - Saguaro Country, Day 18: Home, James

Saguaro Country, Day 18
Home, James
Wednesday May 15, 2019

You see I've been through the desert on a horse with no name
It felt good to be out of the rain
In the desert you can remember your name
For there ain't no one for to give you no pain
- Everybody knows this is America, right?

(Trivia notes for music geeks: Written in Key of E minor, I believe this is the only song I know that contains only two chords [with variations on one]. Don't try this at home, kids.)

Well, our horse has a name: Crusader (self-named on the way home from the dealer in the first 10 miles of travel together).  And we did find some pain, some of it given by people.

After six days in the desert...

We've crossed most of the US deserts but have never spent this much time immersed in them.  The variety of ecological systems that can be classified is "desert" is mind-numbing. We've traversed south to north, from the Sonoran saguaros on the US-Mexico border zones to deserts of creosote plants, sagebrush, and Utah junipers to Colorado desert within sight lines of the Rocky Mountains. I need some time to take a deep breath and process all this awesomeness, to accept the crazy diversity that at times makes views on opposite sides of the roadway appear as though from a different planet but in fact separated by a hundred yards.  I'm a little overwhelmed right now with what we've seen.

Riding gloves at retirement

We wear jackets and gloves at all times while riding.  In the summer it's mesh jackets and gloves; my choice is Firstgear Ultra-Mesh gloves.  The pair I've been wearing has been on my hands now for a number of years. The leather palms are worn through in places, and the left thumb has a spot worn through the leather from thumbing the turn signal and the GPS control. They've been washed in Woolite any number of times, and on this trip have endured many hours of sweaty hands.  When I put them on in the morning, they are dry and stiff, and feel more like crumpled wrapping paper than fine leather gloves. Last night when I opened one of the Velcro flaps to remove the glove, the whole Velcro assembly tore off.

Stock company photo, Firstgear Ultra Mesh gloves

The time has come to retire these faithful companions and switch to one of the spare new pairs I always carry on the bike.  "But what will I do with these?" I ask Kitty about the old gloves. "It seems so cold and heartless to abandon them in a strange hotel trash can in New Mexico! They've been with me in so many places!"


Kitty bursts out laughing. "You should carry them gently home and dispose of them properly!" she says.

Like a US flag disposal, I think to myself.  So I retire the old pair, put them in a safe place in the trunk for their final ride home, and don the spiffy new redesigned pair.

I've chosen Amarillo TX as a likely stopping point of under 500 miles because we cross into Central Time and "lose" an hour, also having lost an hour yesterday due to the transition from quirky Arizona time zone to New Mexico time zone.  Those hours add up and I thought we'd make a little earlier stop today.

We leave a half hour later than planned because the insurance company calls just as we ready to load out, to confirm plans to see an adjuster when we get home and to get a few more details.  "This will soon become part of the past," the agent says. Those words strike home and are food for the soul when come hard times or disagreeable circumstances.

We ride 475 miles today and it's like nothing. Just lovely and easy. No drama. I leave the camera packed away in the trunk. Cool this morning at 57F, warm this afternoon at 90F, but pleasant with the mesh jackets while moving. My taped-up mirror works OK under the circumstances. From northwestern New Mexico's vast high desert sagebrush expanses and gas fields, we transition downward from the 7000-foot elevation to the vast flat grassland plains of the Texas Panhandle at 3600 feet above sea level. It's one of the things I enjoy most about traveling fast and far: Seeing how the land changes from one geographical zone to another.

This morning at our first fuel stop near Albuquerque, our fuel mileage was 40 mpg. No crosswind.  At the second stop, riding through the strong southerly winds that constantly sweep the Texas Panhandle, riding the same type of flatland with the same load and speeds, our fuel mileage was 30 mpg.  That's the effect of the aerodynamically destructive force of a crosswind.

At one point we ride a mile past a feedlot with tens of thousands of cattle. Wow, that is intense!  I would not want to live downwind of that feedlot! We ride 35 miles through an electric turbine wind farm.  Although there's been some negative publicity on these graceful monsters, we see dozens and dozens under construction.

Well, there might have been a little drama.  I'd routed to a motel in Amarillo just to have a destination in the GPS, and in the afternoon we decided Amarillo would be a fine stopping point so I make the reservation with the hotel app. But after a little while, back on the Interstate, I realize something is bothering me about this reservation. I finally realize what it is: The address I'd seen on the GPS wasn't the same as one I'd seen in the app. So we know where to go, but don't have reservations there.  And we have reservations, but we don't know where.

I'm not in the mood to get off the Interstate and figure it out. "The app listed it as 'Amarillo West'", I tell Kitty in the headset. "When we get close to Amarillo, help me start looking for the hotel marquee on the exit signs.:  About six miles from our routed destination, we see the brand itself, but there's no exit. So I get off at the next exit, do the Texas U-Turn thing under the Interstate (very clever, these Texans, with their interchange traffic management), drive back on the frontage road, repeat the Texas U-Turn thing, and find the property.

"I think we might have reservations here," I tell the clerk. The customer standing behind me laughs out loud, and I explain what happened.  It turns out we've guessed right, and it's adjacent to an Outback Steakhouse restaurant, so it all turns out well.

Kitty is an amazing co-rider. Today we rode tank to tank to final destination with no breaks in between. She is very committed to being fit and has lost weight since our riding days 10 years ago. Maybe it's that or maybe it's the 1800 Wing's seat improvement over the 1500 seat, but she would never have been able to ride those miles and those distances without breaks.  Her only comment is "Maybe three hours between breaks late in the day is a little long."

She makes it look easy.

SpotWalla track for Day

SpotWalla track for trip

MACH.19 - Saguaro Country, Day 17: Monumental

Saguaro Country, Day 17
Monumental
Tuesday May 14, 2019

Yesterday Kitty was firm that if at all possible, we should add Monument Valley into the itinerary, even at the the expense of some hard riding days ahead.  And so with some modifications, I was able to generate a route that incorporated a good representation of the original plan.  The two major components to be sacrificed were our third visit to the Grand Canyon, and wandering around in northern New Mexico before starting home in earnest.

There are lots of Internet discussion about the use of mapping software for trips.  Some scoff, saying the best thing is to get on the bike and ride.  I, on the other hand, am a meticulous trip planner, often down to scoping out a hotel or motel with a restaurant within walking distance. I use Garmin BaseCamp to plan my trips as well as to upload and download tracks, routes, and waypoints.  This is a quick way to drag a route to new shaping waypoints and evaluate the results. For this spontaneous reroute, without mapping software, I wouldn't be able to evaluate cause and effect of including or including specific components, or how many miles we need to ride in how many days.

My head is spinning from all the types of desert topography we've seen, from the Sonoran desert along the Mexican border, the amazing saguaros and brilliant palo verde bushes, then creosote and sagebrush deserts.

North of Flagstaff AZ we encounter a bewildering variety of desert zones.  At one point we are riding through purple sage, the air slightly tinged with the sweet sage odor. Today we are the New Riders of the Purple Sage.  Then the sagebrush disappears to be replaced by vast expanses of Utah juniper trees, only to be replaced by red rocky formations with little vegetation. We ride through fractured rocks strewn helter skelter on the surface, and wonder how they got there.

Farther north, toward the Utah border, we start to see the classic mesa and butte formations that are famous in Utah but occur in Arizona and Colorado as well.

We fuel at Kayenta and turn north toward Monument Valley, my personal trip highlight and a bucket list item. These huge buttes tower a thousand feet above the level of the plain.  It's partly cloudy, so I'm able to catch several different lighting and shadow environments as the clouds move over the plain. I can't (or won't) ride the 17-mile dirt road where the monuments are best visible, but there are amazing views from US 163 where we are riding. I take several dozen camera shots and have included a few representative ones, including the quintessential "Forrest Gump spot" when he was just running and running and running...  It is so worth the reroute to have enabled us to visit this amazing place.

This pretty much fills my Spectacle Quota and I'm ready to declare this trip one of the best we have ever taken together.  I'm thankful for Kitty's gentle encouragement and willingness to ride hard and long for numerous days so that I could re-incorporate this spectacular desert treat into the route after our enforced delay waiting for a battery.

We finish the ride through Colorado and then back into New Mexico, passing near Cortez and the Four Corners (stopping at neither), a lovely 50-mile ride to close the day with buttes and mesas on every side.  My camera card develops a fault and the pictures shot along this location are lost.

At the hotel in Farmington, NM, we are about to order delivery food from a local steakhouse when the phone rings.  It's the front desk. "Someone backed over your motorcycle." Now that is a heart-stopping message!  I'd temporarily parked the bike in a normal parking spot while we loaded in, showered, and decided what to do for dinner, intending later to go out and re-park for the night when I load my new routes for tomorrow and collect mileage information.

We look out the window, and Crusader is lying on the left side. Someone was backing up and apparently didn't see the trailer, which he backed into, pushed the whole rig forward off the kickstand, and of course the bike fell to the left. It would have likely caused no damage except scratches to the crash guards, but as the bike moved forward, the front wheel went over the parking space "curb" and the left mirror crashed into the curb, about four inches high.

At least the guy was stand-up and had the hotel desk call us and stayed to exchange insurance information. By this time there several other strong men there asking how to help to pick up the bike; I did the classic lift by backing into the seat while holding the handle bar and seat grab rail, but it was complicated by the fact that the front wheel had to come back over the curb.  Picking it up is something I can totally and easily do myself, but I was glad for three other guys, all being very careful to ask me where to push and pull, as we wrestled the now-upright bike back over the curb and started assessing the damages.

I'm not posting pictures in light of the insurance claim. The trailer taillight and rear end has nasty scratches but no apparent structural damage.  The bike wasn't so lucky.  There appears to be no mechanical damage, but it looks to me like the front crash guard is bent, and the state inspection sticker holder is damaged. The left mirror plastic is fractured and the glass is cracked into many pieces, but still contained within the mirror.  I don't think the fairing crashed onto the curb, as there are no scratches or apparent damage.  I use a heavy dose of electrical tape to hold the glass and the plastic in place.

So after a long discussion with a really friendly claim agent who herself is a rider, we decided since the mirror is still usable, albeit cracked and not aimed too well, I can ride the bike home before repairs are made. But she had to check with her supervisor, so we narrowly missed a situation where the bike would have to be repaired before bringing it home.

So tomorrow, damaged rig and all, we plan to start the trek homeward in earnest.  Let's go home, Baby.

Just another long road in the desert

Desert north of Flagstaff AZ

Rock formations

Approaching Monument Valley

Monumental

Monumental

I was here with Crusader and Kitty

Monuments

Monuments

Kitty on Gold Wing

The money shot of Monument Valley you've all seen, facing westward, but never through my eyes

As close as I could get to Mexican Hat Rock without riding a long dusty dirt road

SpotWalla track for the day

SpotWalla track for the trip - turning eastward

MACH.19 - Saguaro Country, Day 16: Transitions

Saguaro Country, Day 16
Transitions
Monday, May 13, 2019

My Gold Wing has a new heart! Yesterday was filled with fruitless attempts to get a battery amid concerns that the electrical charging system may have caused the battery failure.  This morning, I called the local NAPA store in Gila Bend and Chico said he'd call me back. An hour later he did, and was exceedingly happy, genuinely so, to report that he had an AGM battery in stock.  I explained where we were and asked if he could deliver it. "Of course, I'd be happy to bring it to you," he said.

"You seemed surprised to find you had a battery in stock," I say.

"Yes, I was a little surprised, but mostly happy," is his response.  He explains that a lot of motorcycles of all makes travel through "his" little town, and he tries to keep stock for just about every touring model.

I don't quite have the old battery off the bike when he arrives because I didn't recall that you need to take off the seat, or at least loosen it, to get to the battery clamp bolt, so that takes some extra time.  I install the new battery, double-check the connections, and turn the key.

It's like sunshine explodes in my chest! The familiar whir as the suspension preload activates, all the familiar lights on the dash, the navigation screen booting up, it all seems so perfect.  I press the starter button and Crusader leaps eagerly to life. I button up the seat and side panel and we are ready to load out.

"I think you better take a little break," says Kitty. I'm not sure why, but it was pretty hot out there.  Or it might be she sees my hands shaking with excitement. 

Yesterday it seemed so wrong to have my motorcycle, normally instantly responsive to my every wish, sit there as though stone cold dead.  So wrong!  I knew we'd find a resolution, but it was really painful trying to be patient and not be frustrated.

We drop off the old battery about a mile down the street at the NAPA store.  Chico nearly bursts out of the back room when he sees the bike in front of the store.  "You're on your way!" he shouts jubilantly.

We thank him profusely, and spontaneously, Kitty says "Can I give you a hug?"

"Oh, yes, thank you!  God bless you! I hope you have a wonderful trip!"

Here's a man we can all take lessons from.  He was so genuinely happy that he could help someone that it was truly inspiring and touching.  Would we could all have some of that spark in our lives as we touch those around us!

As one last touch, there's a Goodyear auto service shop next door, so I have the manager test the alternator voltage as an independent validation.  Resting battery voltage is 12.3, perfect.  I start the bike up and the alternator voltage shows 14.4.  He's concerned - "Cars only put out 14.2 max." I assure him that for this Gold Wing, 14.4 volts is the magic number and confirms the alternator is working and not likely the cause of a failure. I have a voltage meter on the bike and it's been showing overcharge but I thought it was flaky. It hasn't been the most reliable and will be replaced when we get home.  I now think the battery was in failure mode for several days and the voltage meter was accurately portraying the system's attempt to resuscitate the battery.  We're really thankful it failed where it did, with a nice place to say, a restaurant, and after waiting a day, local help.

We roll out at 11:00 AM and talk about the trip. There are consequences to losing a day and a half. We compromise and decide to ride this day as planned, and when we reach Flagstaff tonight, we can then decide whether to simply get onto I-40 homeward or keep a modified route into the Utah desert with its magnificent spectacles.

We catch US 89 as we wander generally northward west of Phoenix, through exceedingly flat and barren desert country. There's a lot of irrigation farming here and the fields of alfalfa appear lush and deep green against the sand-colored landscape populated with creosote bushes.

North of Phoenix we being to see a definite change as we being a long climb to the Arizona High Country. There are more mountains and hilly country, more greenery, and the road is curvy.  Just a preview of things to come!

In the Prescott National Forest, the desert where we've spent the last number of days has been replaced by curvy roads carving through mountains with pine trees. There are a lot of switchbacks and technical turns that keep me busy with a passenger and a trailer. The trailer doesn't really affect handling, but you have to remember that when you're carving that right-hand curve and finding the perfect lean angle, you best not put your bike six inches from the edge of the road. Your trailer will be in the ditch or over the side.

Once in the high country, US 89 is a righteous motorcycle road by any standards, well-graded and well-paved with sweeping curves and enough tight turns to keep you on your toes.  This is a spectacular ride and I'm glad we made the choice to do this, regardless of what we may do afterward.

After a fuel stop in Prescott, AZ, we eventually leave US 89 and make our way on a variety of routes toward Sedona. I've routed Alt-89 as a mandatory ride because I've never ridden that road and every motorcycle touring book mentions it.

Sedona is spectacular  with red rock cliffs that I imagine are 2000 feet tall. It is bewildering to me that just a few hours ago we were flat desert land, and now here we are in what appears to be different planet!  Awesome.

But what a traffic mess! Traffic is being single-tracked for construction, and we probably spend 40 extra minutes moving painfully through the heat.  My GPS announces maybe a dozen time "In three-tenths of a mile, at the next roundabout, take the second exit." I'm so tired of taking the second exit.

Eventually we break free and begin the run along the floor of Oak Creek Canyon.  From Sedona, we are climbing out of the canyon, and the massive red cliffs dominate every view when not masked by the trees.  This too is a spectacular run. I'm not able to take pictures because I have to pay attention to the road. We finally climb out of the canyon in a series of tight second- and first-gear turns.  I haven't been in my usual screaming-around-the-curves mode today ("I was kinda glad you weren't!" says Kitty later) but there's plenty of screamers to be ridden for those who are in that mode.

GPS elevation graph, Gila Bend AZ to Williams AZ

If you observe the GPS elevation track of today's ride, it starts in Gila Bend AZ and ends in Williams AZ (typically thought of as the gateway to the Grand Canyon). First comes the long slow climb in the transition zone, then the run through Prescott National Forest and out of the mountains on a long steep Interstate downgrade to Sedona. The second climb represents the journey from the Oak Creek canyon floor to the top, and then a short run on the Interstate.

As we approach I-40 for the last 30 miles of the ride, we stop to don another layer of warmth (the temperature has gone from 86F near Phoenix to 59F here). I put my camera into the trunk, and almost immediately spot snow-covered mountains.  It's just crazy to me how in one day's ride we can go from flatland desert to snow-covered mountains. The elevation graph helps explain a lot.

At the motel, I say "This has been a rewarding day, Baby!" And she agrees. We're glad we did it, keeping at least this part of the trip intact.  It's a mandatory laundry night and we need to figure out the rest of our trip. Yesterday, Kitty got tears in her eyes when I said we would miss Monument Valley, which I've seen only from airplanes on coast-to-coast flights. "That's one the primary reasons you chose this route, isn't it?"

It is, but losing time has consequences. Kitty is an amazing co-rider; today in our 290 mile ride, we had one single stop for fuel, and the remainder of the time was spent in the saddle. No complaints, no requests for a break, and this evening she's feeling fine! The lady on a motorcycle travels well!  Now she wants me to see if we can't configure the route to include Monument Valley even if it means riding 500+ days to get home. I would never ask her to do that.

Stay tuned. Even we are not sure what adventures next await.

I would love to take an extended motorcycle tour with this woman

Sad and lonely, side cover off waiting for a new heart

Twisties in Prescott National Forest

Prescott, AZ

Approaching Sedona AZ from the south

Sitting in traffic in Sedona AZ

Rock formations in Sedona AZ

Rock formations

One-lane construction traffic out of Sedona AZ

Amazing

Red rocks

SpotWalla track today

SpotWalla track for entire trip

MACH.19 - Saguaro Country, Day 15: Alternate Mother's Day

Saguaro Country, Day 15
Alternative Mother's Day
Sunday, May 12, 2019

It rained overnight in Gila Bend but the morning is crisp, clean and cloudless.  We pack up and as we start to load out I use the key fob to open the trunk. Nothing happens.  Dead fob battery?

But when I turn the ignition key,  I'm met with stone cold silence. No familiar GPS screen booting up, no dash lights, not anything.

We head to the restaurant for breakfast while I post something to a Facebook Gold Wing group I belong to. When we get back to the hotel room I pull the side panel to expose the battery. Fuses seem ok. Then I carefully strike a jumper across the terminals and again I'm met with stone cold silence.  This battery is toast.  Last night it was fine, this morning it isn't.

There's not a lot happening in Gila Bend on Mother's Day. The nearest store that's open on Sunday is 40 miles away. I find a Walmart in Goodyear that has a battery in stock, but there's no taxi service in Gila Bend and i can't find anyone who can take me to Goodyear. I call Rescue Plus and even AAA (where we have Premier membership); I can easily get a tow from either of these but no battery service for motorcycles.

I consider having the bike transported to Goodyear AZ to the Walmart, but deem that too risky: They may not have correct battery after all, but more importantly, what if the charging system caused the battery failure and it will toast the new one as soon as Ip start it up? Then I'd be stuck at a Walmart instead of a nice motel with a restaurant.

I get many suggestions from Facebook, and call the GWRRA members listed in my Gold Book for the area, but get no response. It's Mother's Day (around noon by now) so that may explain why nobody picks up.

In the end, we decide to stand down, book another night for this hotel, and try more local options tomorrow.  There's a NAPA store here in Gila Bend so we'll try that first.  Even if it's not a Gold Wing battery, as long as it fits it will suffice for a temporary solution. I get a message from a Facebook reader who says he can bring me a battery today, but among the hundreds of messages I don't see it until too late for today. 

So we spend the rest of the day cancelling hotel reservations and scheming for alternative routes. This is complicated by uncertainty about when we'll be able to travel again; Honda motorcycle shops are almost universally closed on Monday, so if the bike needs service, it may be Tuesday before we can have the rig transported to a dealer in Phoenix.

This is certainly not the day we'd planned but we are at a good place with a bed and a restaurant, and we look forward to seeing how this can be resolved.

MACH.19 - Saguaro Country, Day 14: Saguaro Day

Saguaro Country, Day 14
Saguaro Day
Saturday, May 11, 2019

At 5:00 AM I'm wide awake.  Because my body thinks it's 7:00 AM.  There's no help for it: I am done sleeping.  So I get up in stealth mode, pack up what I can, walk outside and uncover the bike and trailer.

It's a crisp 46F, a gorgeous bright morning here in Bisbee.  It makes me want to be on the road right now.  But better judgment prevails and I head back across the street to the hotel where by now the staff is starting to prepare breakfast.  I get a cup of coffee and sit outside on the patio, chatting with a few other guests.  They always seem to have a great deal of amazement that we'd ride a motorcycle over 3000 miles from Virginia to Arizona.

I take the time to reevaluate today's route and make some changes.  Saguaro National Park is split into two, one east and one west of Tucson AZ. I decide to go to the east because there's a short driving loop through the desert.

After breakfast and after breaking free of all the people who want to chat this morning, we bid our quaint and quirky hotel a fond farewell and ride northward to the park. Saguaros really are amazing. Kitty takes a picture of the 34-foot high, 100-year-old saguaro in front of the visitor's center with me posing for perspective.  Side note: "Saguaro" is pronounced "sahuaro" and in fact, in the visitor's center, it's spelled with that way.

Presenting our Senior National Park Pass (unlimited access to all National parks and any venue operated by the Bureau of Land Management), the park ranger warns us the road is steep and winding, and is concerned whether I have any qualms of pulling my trailer in that environment.  I assure her I have no qualms, and we are off to the 8-mile scenic loop.  It is indeed steep and winding, mostly a first-gear affair.

The desert is bursting with yellow colored flowering bushes, millions and millions of them.  The palo verde are just in peak bloom, and the desert is spectacular with the magnificent saguaros amidst the blaze of yellow. Interspersed are ocotillo cacti, whose blooms are bright red at the top of long spindly stalks. There's a rich showing of cholla (pronounced "cho-ya") cacti, also in bloom, but their new growth is a fuzzy-looking light green and reminds us of lambs ready to be shorn. But make no mistake: This is no cuddly cactus!  Like every other desert plant, it has extremely sharp strong spines. We take a close look at some of those spines and they are true weapons!

Many of the saguaros have holes in the trunk.  I confirm with the ranger that these are mostly created by birds, especially woodpeckers, and especially flickers.  He said they will work for days creating a hole in the cactus, then let it dry and nest there for one year.  Then the nest is abandoned for some other bird or animal, and the next year they do it all over again for a new nest.

Finishing the 15-mph scenic loop, which really is a beautiful diversion, we head west to catch Arizona 86 through the Tohono O'odham Indian Reservation, an remote route that rivals yesterday's ride through New Mexico.

The desert is always changing, but the overwhelminig impression is one of a desert ablaze in yellow from the palo verde tree blooms. Millions of saguaros stand tall among the shorter growth and work their way up the steep mountainsides. It's just an amazing ride on a brilliantly clear and pleasant afternoon.  Sometimes the saguaros disappear and we seem to be in a creosote desert (my term, not an official designation).  The creosote bush is the most drought-tolerant plant in North America, and it's been estimated that there are more creosote plants in the southwest deserts than all the other plants combined.  They have a unique method of securing water for themselves: Their leaves drop poison into the ground that prevents any other plants from growing there.  Indeed, in the "creosote desert", there are few other plants, just olive-green creosote bushes in all directions for miles.

And suddenly the classic Sonoran desert saguaros reappear and we ride for miles among a virtual saguaro forest.  I love the desert but know so little about what makes these dramatic changes that to the untrained eye, appear random and radical.

This whole afternoon we've been riding in the Tohono O'odham Indian Nation.  We stop for fuel at Sells (which, along with Ajo, seem to be the only sources for fuel except for one or two wayside gas pumps), and shortly afterwards pass by the Tohono O'odham Indian Nation headquarters.

There's ample evidence of US Border patrol activity, with a lot more patrol vehicles than we saw yesterday in New Mexico.  There are several Border Patrol checkpoints, and we are waved through without question, except one officer asks if we are both US citizens.

At Ajo we catch Arizona 85 north to Gila Bend and finish the day trying to guess how far it is to certain landmarks.  Kitty is spot on with her estimate of 12 miles for a particular mountain, where we could see the road, still discernible as a road even at that distance.

This has been a wonderful day.  I'm glad we reconfigured our day at the last minute and the ride through the desert in bloom was rewarding beyond measure.

I'm feeling a little wistful when I realize we're less than a 400-mile ride to the Pacific Coast.  It just seems we should complete the cross-country trip to make it our third. We actually talk about and flirt with the idea of last-minute trip changes to accommodate that; we could do it, but it would involve some really hot-weather desert riding in Southern California and numerous 500-600 miles days riding home; in the end, since we've explored those western deserts and mountains before, we decide to keep the trip as planned and explore some areas we haven't seen before.  We plan to work our way roughly northward through Sedona AZ, the Grand Canyon South Rim (third visit) and Monument Valley before slowly starting the turn toward home after the next several days.

Still, after days of riding in the vast deserts I love so much, my heart is full.

Ocotillo cactus landscaping, Tombstone, AZ

Prickly pear and saguaro landscaping, Tombstone, AZ

At Saguaro National Park - Rincon Mountain District

34-foot, 100-year-old saguaro, Saguaro National Park

Saguaros among blooming palo verde bushes

Desert scenery, Saguaro National Park

Cactus whose species I don't know

Sonoran Desert

Cholla cactus - reminded us of sheep waiting to be shorn

Saguaros on hillside

Unusual topography

SpotWalla track for today

SpotWalla track for trip