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First we were hit with TS Beryl and we lost our cat, Dragon, in it. Now, here comes Debby and the B**** dropped 12" of rain on the area so far. My little neck of the woods is doing good so far but most of the town is a mess with downed trees and major flooding. Parts of I-10 are closed. Last night there were at least 3 hydroplaning accidents on I-10 alone, all within a 3 mile space. So far we still have power.....what, you thought I was pedaling a stationary bike to power up the computer?????
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(I'm putting this here, and letting some moderator who is smarter than me decide where it really goes.) Last week, I took a trip from Houston to the Grand Canyon and back on my RSTD. My buddy and I left Sunday and returned Saturday. Total trip distance was 3320 miles. I've delayed posting not because I had to recover, but because I wanted to post good pictures. :-) I'm also hoping to attach a Google Earth .KMZ file so you can follow along. I take my GPS everywhere with me, so I have a good track of my actual path. Day 1 we left Houston. We drove to Marfa, Texas via the long way. By that, I mean we headed to San Antonio before going to Del Rio. We stopped in Langtry to visit Judge Roy Bean's haunts, then pressed on to Alpine. We turned off path and did a circle of the Davis Mountains before we ended in Marfa. We saw the famous Marfa Lights. It was a good day, and only 700 miles. I might add that I was a bit afraid that I wouldn't have the range necessary to get between gas stops on this trip. I bought two MSR cans and filled them along with some Sea Foam. I never did need them, but having them along gave me the confidence to really test my bike's range. Day 2 we drove from Marfa to Safford, AZ. We stopped to take in the Prada Marfa, and hit I-10 at Van Horn. We actually split up in Deming, NM. He had family to visit, and Silver City called my name. I ran straight up to the city, choking on a dust cloud from a tailing operation. Ugh. That meant I needed to clean out my throat with a beer in Silver City. ;-) The next stretch is a keeper. I headed north and turned west onto Hwy 78 through Mule Creek. The highway through Apache National Forest is awesome, going from plains to forests to expansive horizons and switchbacks. I crossed the border into Arizona in a forest with a cattle grate. Awesome. Unfortunately, descending down the mountains into Safford meant I entered a furnace. But a nice Mexican dinner and cool shower had me primed for the next day. Day 2 mileage was a respectable 468 good miles. Day 3 was even better! We got an early start and had breakfast at the Morenci Motel on the edge of the Morenci copper mine. This open pit mine is enormous! It is literally eating mountains. Oh yeah, the breakfast was pretty good too. Leaving the mine and heading north, we soon forgot the working world. We were on US 191 through the Apache National Forest, the Coronado Trail, and it was superb. We kept climbing and climbing through switchbacks on good roads. Then we descended, only to climb again! It was glorious! Then we descended into Alpine, AZ for gas. After that, we ran into our first rain. We were planning to take another mountain road west, but opted instead to zip over to Show Low. That stretch of US 60 has fierce crosswinds, which were fun at first but then made me wonder about my huge windscreen. As we entered Show Low, we got wet. But a longish lunch in Show Low let the rain pass by, leaving humidity in its wake. We took US 60 from Show Low through beautiful terrain, ending our day in Globe, AZ. That too was a nice stretch, but pales compared to US 191. However, the scenic overlook in For Apache Indian Reservation is truly stunning. Day 3 clocked in at just over 300 miles, largely of fun twisty roads. I need to add that our next trip will not end in Globe, which just didn't offer the amenities we wanted. Day 4 we rode up Hwy 87 to Clints Well through the Tonto National Forest past the Roosevelt Dam. We stopped off to take photos of the saguaro cactus blooms and discovered from a friendly ranger that high above us were cave dwellings! Very cool! We stopped in Payson for gas, and decided it was a much better overnight destination than Globe. The trip from Payson to Clints Well to Flagstaff was also a keeper. It wasn't challenging, but it sure was beautiful! After a BBQ lunch in Flagstaff, we rode through a torrential downpour to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. The rain drops were huge, freezing cold, and laced with ice (it felt, and, I heard later, literally). It was heavy slogging through what could have been beautiful terrain. I don't know; I couldn't hardly see through the stuff. But, as we approached the Grand Canyon the weather cleared and we could enjoy the grandeur. To say the Grand Canyon is stunning is an understatement. We were treated to a gorgeous sunset, and returned to our rooms in Tusayan (hint: the 7 Mile Lodge is clean and inexpensive). A good dinner made us forget all about the rain. Day 4 was a short 328 miles, made seemingly longer because of the rain. On Day 5, we made a hard choice. We changed our plans and started heading back. We were told that Arizona was getting their monsoon early, and we could expect rain every day. Rather than take mountain roads when we couldn't enjoy the vistas, we chose to save those for another day. Accordingly, we drove through the gorgeous segment between Flagstaff and Prescott knowing it was to be our last truly beautiful stretch. I have been through Sedona, and the overt "mysticism" is annoying to me. The red rocks really are beautiful, but founding a tourist enclave based on that is not my cuppa joe. We had lunch in Jerome (fantastic burger with cream cheese and serrano peppers mixed in!), and I much preferred its grittiness and more biker-like attitude. After Jerome, we had to make a dash to Prescott, where the heavens opened again. We rode through very nasty weather down the freeway to Carefree, where the rain paused. We skirted sprinkles down Hwy 79 all the way down to Catalina. A nice steak and cold beverage later, we were ensconced in our room at the Best Western. Day 5 was a truncated 375 miles. Day 6 began in rain that made the commute through Tucson a bear. We rode on the service road of I-10 for miles, thanks to construction blocking all the on-ramps. Stopping at every light and getting rained on was crap. But the weather cleared enough that we decided to take a chance and visit Tombstone. I'm glad we did, because the turn off I-10 was a turn for the better. My photos of Tombstone show white fluffy clouds that make my tale of non-stop rain seem like a nut job's ranting. However, we weren't back on I-10 for a half hour before it began raining again. By now we had loads of experience riding in the rain. Even so, when we got to the Texas border we had to either stop or put on snorkels. An hour's wait and an early dinner, and we fought El Paso's afternoon rush hour traffic. Things got floody again on the far side of town, making the ride up to Van Horn very ugly indeed. I actually lost my buddy after the Border Patrol checkpoint when he exited into Sierra Blanca hoping I'd stopped there. I didn't realize he wasn't behind me for a few miles, but then there was nowhere to turn around. The next 20 miles to the first overpass to stop under were bad. Finally, he pulled in and explained that he simply couldn't see me. Together we rode to Van Horn, where a brand new Hampton Inn seemed like a slice of Heaven. We'd begun the day thinking we might do an ironbutt home. But the rain turned our 1000 mile aspirations into a 512 mile slog. The last day was a mix of nice weather and rain, perhaps half and half. The worst moment of the trip happened on the 1604 bypass around San Antonio. The road is covered with tar jagged snakes. My buddy pulled out to pass a car in the rain, and I accelerated to do the same. As I did, it seems like my rear tire got into a tar-snake that had settled, and stayed there. My rear wheel weaved wildly at 55 mph. I let off the throttle and kept the front wheel straight. I don't know if that is what I was supposed to do, but it worked. I regained control, fought the burst of adrenaline, and kept on. We parted ways just before 1604 met I-10. He was heading to Victoria to visit his parents, and I was headed home. I don't know if he was as lucky, but I got to drive through the heaviest rain yet. Cars were pulled over to the side of the road, but I was dry inside my Frogg Togg's and just kept going. I felt like I wouldn't be dry until I was in my garage. The weather did clear as I got off I-10 for the last time. I had a nice little run home from then on. Day 7 ended at 628 miles, with a trip total of 3320 miles. It was a good one. I regret missing some great places, like Mount Lemon, but that just means I need another trip. :-) Thanks to the members here who gave me some great suggestions on where to visit. As a final note, when I bought my RSTD, it was 2 years old with only 2000 miles. Since I got it late last July, I've put on 18,000 miles and she now has 20K on the odometer. She was meant to be ridden, and that's my plan.
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it looks like i will have to ride home to Fl. Christmas , I-10 and I-12 used to be real bad through La. , the last time i drove though there was 1999 , how bad are the roads now ? Thom
