Day Ride - Superior/Globe

11 hours, 260 miles (140 of those miles on dirt) and 168 pictures later and we're home....

At 6:00AM, Mike B. met us at our place and we headed out for another epic adventure to Superior. The weather has finally gone down into the 90's and the bikes are ready to go outside. After an excellent McDonald's breakfast, we motored our way through Coolidge and onto the Florence/Kelvin Highway towards Superior.

Today was all about winging it. Once the bikes were topped off in Superior, we jumped on US60 towards dirt road glory. A short ways down, we found what we believe was the old road - pre US60. It was a beat up, single lane road that wound its way around a mountain.

And then it stopped. Abruptly. The 60 consumed our road. The boys walked to the top of the hill to see if it continued after, but no luck. At this point, our road was within feet of the 60 and we could see traffic.  A helmetless Harley rider glanced up and gave us a quizzical look...a la, wtf are you doing up there in helmets?

We wound our way back to the 60 and found another turn off that promised a longer ride. A much longer ride. Mike has as tendency to just follow his GPS and hope that those little roads still exist.  Not too far into our next venture, we were again met with a dead end - ranch hell.

 Jerks. Back around, another turn, and another locked gate. Strike three.

Back around again, another turn and oh, this time we get to keep going!

We stopped to see an old mine. We'll the boys wanted to see the mine.

A potty break before taking off again consisted of Mike screaming like a girl when midstream he realized he was peeing on a rattlesnake. Poor snake.

Motoring on the road kept degrading. Full on road to two track, to jeep trail, to ATV trail to ....does the road still exist?

We wound our way to a wash.

Oh look, a rock filled wash. Joy. Mike just loves to wrestle the Space Shuttle through this crap. The road - if you can call it that - wound in and out of this mess until we ended up in someone's ranch. The woman seemed more surprised than annoyed that we were there and graciously gave us directions towards Globe.

At this point its noonish, hot and I'm getting tired. I know Mike is sore and done, and Mike B. has to work a midnight shift tonight. But no, lets detour up to Pinal Peak. Hell we rode this far, what's a five mile detour?

The temperature dropped and I got to smell the pine trees. 7900 feet is nice..

20 miles later, we made it back to the slab, hit Globe and got much needed lunch at Jerry's Restaurant.

A long and grueling ride back to Casa Grande put us home at 5:00 PM. My butt has seen better days, my head is pounding, but the ride was fantastic.

Fall is approaching, so I envision much more riding in our future..

Click here for the entire photographic journey on my SmugMug account.

Camping in Payson

We have fallen in love with camping on the bike. Unfortunately, camping on the bike precludes us from bringing the dogs along. So, since our return from Utah, we have decided to put money into the truck to set it up for camping with the dogs. We are not trailer people; camping trailers restrict the places where you can go. We camp for rest and food, not to sit around on a couch all day long. So everything is modular.

We really want a roof top tent. The end goal is to buy one when we have money to spare. For now, we have the bed rolls and tent packed in a tote that goes in the bed of the truck.

I have a kitchen box. It is a tool box bought from Lowe's with a sealing lid to keep dust out.

I love my kitchen box. It might not seem like much, but I have everything i need in it. Cutting board, grill, coffee press, two camping cook sets (GSI MicroDualist and GSI Pinnacle Camper), two knives, sporks, foil, paper towels, folding cooking utensils, sponge, soap, kitchen towel, scraper, seasonings, extendable grill utensils, Clorox wipes, can opener, sugar and coffee. No one seems to get as excited about it as I do.

We splurged on a camping refrigerator. It certainly made this weekend so convenient. I didn't have to worry about melting ice ruining my food. And it holds quite a bit. It was a worthy investment.

This weekend we were able to test out our new kitchen box, fridge and tote boxes. The Casa Grande 4 Wheelers were heading out to Payson to run some trails. The hubby and a few guys from work wanted to go. The other two families were going to cram into a camp trailer for the weekend. We didn't particularly need to utilize the kitchen, but wanted to test it all out this weekend.

So six adults, four children, and four dogs (Bear stayed with a friend) traveled up Route 87 from the heat of Phoenix to the cool weather of Payson. Camp was hastily set up before dark, dinner was cooked, smores were enjoyed by the fire and we all turned in for the night. 

The next morning, the boys all loaded into rock crawlers for a day of being boys, and the ladies stayed at camp, entertaining dogs and kids alike. 

One mom turned in for a nap and another took off on a short hike with myself, the kids and dogs. I don't care for sitting around all day, and the woods needed exploring. Many a tree was devoid of a marking and Rommel was intent on fixing that. 

Elly was encouraging the boys on while Meeka was leading the pack.  It was a good hike. It was a great day weather wise. It is still in the high 90's in Casa Grande, so to be hiking in jeans in the mid-low 80's was incredible.

Brats and hotdogs were grilled, then commenced the lounging. The greatest part about introducing a gaggle of children to nature is that they easily entertain themselves. The greatest part about hiking with your dogs is that they lounge for the remainder of the day. 

Rommel

Elly

Meeka (friend's dog)

All at rest. 

The boys finally returned from adventuring (and had a blast). Carne asada was cooked over the grill, ice cream was had and a final fire was made.

Elly, the 65lb lap dog, cuddled with her pop before napping on the ground.

All in all, it was an extremely relaxing weekend. Every person enjoyed nature in their own way and came away happy. Our little orange tent provided ample shelter and comfort, much to the surprise of the ladies of the camper trailers. We're thrilled with our camping set up and can not wait to add our roof top tent.

Ride Report Links

Just a post listing links to my previous ride reports by date:

2011
"Crazy Europeans" tour Utah on a KTM

Three Bikes from Casa Grande to Superior

2010
Honeymoon on a KTM: Phoenix to Moab

It will be updated from time to time.

Utah 2011

Mike and I just got back from an 8 day adventure in Utah on our bike. It was amazing.

If you've never been, I highly recommend it. Especially if you're going to tour on a bike, or hike.

I blogged about it here. You all should totally live vicariously through our adventures!!

Cheers!

New Orleans

We have been some traveling fools as of late. A few weeks ago we headed east to New Jersey for a friends wedding and to visit with my family. This weekend we are in New Orleans.  Mike's 20 year high school reunion. We decided to make a long weekend out of it considering I have never been here and he hasn't been here in 15 years. Of course, it rained after we landed.

We still ventured out for some fresh sea food and beignets at Cafe Dumonde.

View of Decatur Street after the rains. 

View from our Sheraton Hotel the following morning.

The previous night, we had ventured down Burbon Street. Not really my ideal Street. I'm over stupid drunken masses. But we did get a huge burger at a cafe the following day. Burbon Street looks totally different during the day.

I couldn't resist. Police department expects to be taken seriously on these things?

We love the architecture here. 

We did quite a bit of walking the first few days. Venturing around looking into shops, finding good food....

Last night we went to his reunion. Unfortunately none of the people he usually hung around with bothered to show up, but it was still a good time. I got properly drunk and danced a bit. Good times.

This morning we met up with two of his classmates and had breakfast. I had my very first street car ride.

After today's rains, we went on a ferry to Algiers, which is grossly misrepresented in the tour guides. It was one eatery and one bar. But we had dinner anyway. Headed back over to New Orleans and met up with two of Mike's highschool buddies for beignets.  It was a great night.

Caught a great sunset, had a great chat. Now to rest for tomorrow's flight.

It's been a nice weekend. We are not city people by far, but now I can check NO off my list of places to visit. Once we land in Phoenix, we'll be heading to Utah, so many more adventures are to come!

Accidental Car Show

Yesterday after work, Mike and I headed to Scottsdale to pick up a door skin for the Chevelle. In the very same parking lot, we stumbled upon one of the longest running weekly car shows. Apparently every Saturday night people bring out their cars and motorcycles. Cars ranging from the 20's to modern day suped up cars and trucks. Needless to say, it was a happy accident.

Pinstriping from a Ford F100

Mike was very much in his element. We perused the cars for several hours, stopped and grabbed some local cuisine, then perused for several more hours. As it is an open format car show, cars came and went at various times. After dinner, two 1970 Chevelle's appeared. So of course, studying ensued.

I was enjoying the reflections off the shiny paint.

Its great to see a singular love of automobiles crosses so many barriers. The owners varied as much as the spectators. It was a nice evening with my husband; an unexpected date.

HDR app Adventures

Life has been relatively adventure-less lately: shift change, nerve blocks, different days off as the Adventure Husband. A shift change has resulted in walks with the kiddos at dusk. Walks with the kiddos means playing with the various new photography apps on my iPhone. My newest obsession: HDR. HDR requires two photos of the same object. The camera chooses a low light and high light picture then stitches them together. When you attempt to do that with busy dogs you get over lap or ghost like effects.

Rommel x2 + Elly butt.

 Bones and Elly. Rommel stepped in for one of the two shots.

 My beautiful baby.

 Can't be in two places at once.

 Do four ears hear better?

I find joy in getting the "right shot". Thank the stars for digital so I can take a million pictures to get the right shot.