This is a pissant ride report about a quick buzz to SoCal to visit my spousal equivalent, who is still stuck in the LA Basin. I live near Santa Fe, NM. I didn't pay much attention to mileage, but about 2800 miles over four riding days. The basic idea was to take two days instead of blasting out the freeway in one day (I'm pretty tired of that). But I still ended up riding too long each day.
My general plan was to ride across the Navajo Rez, do a quick pass through the Grand Canyon, take a long-cut through Peach Springs AZ, and then pick up I-15 via Laughlin and the mega-city of Nipton (
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nipton%2C_California). Then come back somehow south of I-40. However, I did it backwards because the first night (camping somewhere near Flagstaff) was calling for sub-freezing temps.
For the trip out, my bike was loaded with crap I was taking to Deanna. My camera was buried, so I just took a few snapshots on my phone. I did a freeway blast out to Winslow, then turned south on AZ-87 to camp somewhere in the Natl Forest. It was good to get off the damn freeway. At the end of the day, a wrong turn took me back toward Flagstaff. It got cold even before dark. I spent the night at a FS campground that was considerably warmer, but I still got cold.
Early in the morning, I put on all my clothes and stamped some feeling into my feet, then worried about gas. That wrong turn burned 40 miles of gas I needed. But within a quarter mile, I found both gas and coffee. A nice sweeper ride through the forest down to Camp Verde (in the hot valley), and things were definitely looking up. I cut over to Jerome, which is just fantastic.
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=%22Jerome%2C+ ... -Hotel.jpg It's a mining town with the typical tourist kletch, but this one appears to be more economically viable -- lots of restaurants and great old motels. (We're planning an overnight the next time we're slogging through together.) It's on an especially steep bedrock outcrop, and the "highway" (AZ-89A) through town is way too narrow and steep for RVs. But the best part was the next 10 miles south of town, I think the best curvy road I've ever ridden. Lots of 15-20 MPH curves, scratched into the rock cliffs (no shoulders even to stash the bike for a quick photo). Check out
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uyDRgziTVFI.
I went through Prescott, where AZ-89 to the south also had splendid curves on nice tarmac. These were more of the 35MPH variety where it's entirely possible to have too much fun -- sorry, but good as the XII is, it's no sportbike. Then the desert. I crossed the Colorado River near Parker, temps in the high 90s. Then through Joshua Tree Natl Park and blasted on the freeway to LA.
It was nice to see Deanna and thus begin a week of wine tasting and pigging-out on seafood. We took her car up the coast to spend a few days with family in San Luis Obispo.
