Re: Arizona Wanderings - forthcoming
50 years ago, Mark Lubiszewski and I were military brat pals living in Garmisch, Germany, and attending Munich American High School. That’s us below – proud Class of ’69, MAHS.
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Tim Shelfer, on Flickr
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Tim Shelfer, on Flickr
This is Garmisch, where our dads were stationed together at AFRC (Armed Forces Rec Center).
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Tim Shelfer, on Flickr
And this is where we went to school in Munich.
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Tim Shelfer, on Flickr
Mark & I had reconnected on a high school FB site, discovered we were both riders, and met up briefly 4 years ago in Durango. It was time to do it again, so we put together a plan. Mark lives in northern California, I live in Arlington, and Williams AZ (just south of the Grand Canyon) was about the midway point, so there’s the basis of the plan. Map nerd that I am, I collected some input from Mark, then threw together some routes and an itinerary.
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Tim Shelfer, on Flickr
And here’s our trip. I hope you enjoy it.
Friday, May 11
I left Arlington headed for Clovis NM. I started out cold, needing wind pants over my summer mesh Joe Rockets. By 2pm, my panel thermometer read 104*. I had remembered to put sunscreen everywhere except….
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Tim Shelfer, on Flickr
My niece, Beth lives in Clovis with her husband Gerry and his sister, Sharla (middle). Sharla was injured at birth & will never surpass 3 y/o brain function. But she’s sweet and funny, loves pizza, and if you try to work a 1000-piece jigsaw puzzle faster than her, she will crush you!
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Tim Shelfer, on Flickr
Today’s miles: 427
Saturday, May 12
I slipped out about 6:30 and grabbed breakfast at a McDonalds. This is where my problems started – I discovered sores had formed in my mouth overnight, and eating was painful. Oh well, time to suck it up. I ate the egg & sausage, abandoned the bread, & got on with it. My route was west on 84 to Santa Rosa, a dash along I-40 to Albuquerque, then northwest on 550 to Farmington. That was a fun highway with lots of rugged scenery. Sadly, I didn’t stop for any pictures. But the temp was comfortable today, never exceeding 85*, making for pleasant riding except for the winds the past 90 miles. Winds were up to about 35 mph and gusting higher. I spent the night in a Motel 6, and for dinner, lucked into a Captain D’s that was having all-you-can-eat catfish. Strangely, eating all that fried food wasn’t a problem as long as I kept it bite-sized.
There were issues with this Motel 6. First, I tried two rooms before getting one in which the A/C worked. Second, I guess the motel lost track of which room I was in. About 12:15am while I was sawing logs, a family opened the door and walked in. Took about 10 seconds to convince them I wasn’t Goldilocks and I wasn’t getting out of their bed.
Today’s miles: 399
Route - Clovis - Farmington by
Tim Shelfer, on Flickr
Sunday, May 13
Leaving Farmington early, I headed west via Indian Service Road 13. This took me close to Shiprock, where I spent some time shooting some pictures. It was worth the detour.
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Tim Shelfer, on Flickr
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Tim Shelfer, on Flickr
Then I headed west into Red Valley, AZ…
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Tim Shelfer, on Flickr
…and over Lukachukai Pass. The pass is about 8600 feet, tightly curvy (about 20 mph riding), and with narrow crumbly pavement and no pull-offs. It was fun riding, but there was no place to pull off until I was well down the west side.
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Tim Shelfer, on Flickr
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Tim Shelfer, on Flickr
From there, I rode through lots of red cliff country.
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Tim Shelfer, on Flickr
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Tim Shelfer, on Flickr
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Tim Shelfer, on Flickr
I had been worried about gas but, as it turned out, there were stations about every 20 miles once I crossed the pass. I’m used to watching for livestock on New Mexico roads – cattle are common. On the reservation, so are goats, sheep, and horses. I suspect if I hit a horse on the VStrom, I’d lose.
I made Williams in early afternoon. Here’s my route for the day.
Route - Farmington - Williams by
Tim Shelfer, on Flickr
Mark arrived a couple of hours later on his 2012 Triumph Explorer 1200 (hereafter known as the “Tex”). As I walked out to greet him, the Tex was politely peeing coolant from the expansion tank into the parking lot. This would be a source of worry for the next few days. We had dinner at a pub, reminisced about high school, and got to bed at a decent hour, anxious to go visit the Grand Canyon in the morning.
Today’s miles: 325, give or take.
Monday, May 14
Up early, coffee from a Safeway across the street, then we kicked it in gear & headed for the South Rim. Man, I didn’t expect it to be so crowded in mid-May on a weekday. Trust me, it was crowded. Most tourists were well behaved, but I actually did witness an idiot at a lookout below me toss a plastic bottle into the Canyon. Too bad the people close by didn’t toss HIM in after it. They did, though, report him to a nearby visitor center. Hope someone got his picture.
Speaking of pictures, we took a few ourselves. The Canyon is nothing if not picturesque.
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Tim Shelfer, on Flickr
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Tim Shelfer, on Flickr
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Tim Shelfer, on Flickr
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Tim Shelfer, on Flickr
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Tim Shelfer, on Flickr
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Tim Shelfer, on Flickr
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Tim Shelfer, on Flickr
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Tim Shelfer, on Flickr
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Tim Shelfer, on Flickr
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Tim Shelfer, on Flickr
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Tim Shelfer, on Flickr
We spent the day at the South Rim, then headed back to Williams in late afternoon. Dinner was at a friendly little Mom & Pop café where we had some really good chicken fried steak. Because CFS is soft & thin, my mouth handled it okay.
Williams has reinvented itself with a cool, retro Route 66 motif.
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Tim Shelfer, on Flickr
Today’s miles: about 130
Tuesday, May 15
Moving day. Unfortunately, I woke up feeling worse, including that my face was now swollen and I had a time getting my contacts into my squinty eyes. But whatcha gonna do when you’re 1000 miles from home? Riding is elixir for the soul, so we rode!
Route - Williams - Payson by
Tim Shelfer, on Flickr
We rode east to Flagstaff, then cut south through Oak Creek Canyon, which is beautiful, curvy, and fun.
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Tim Shelfer, on Flickr
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Tim Shelfer, on Flickr
Then into Sedona where a minor disaster struck. Inexperienced as I am with traffic circles, I got confused in a roundabout and stopped. Mark was watching the traffic, not me, & suddenly his left side case clipped my right case. Totally my fault! His case popped off the bike & landed in the street, but fortunately was undamaged. I picked up a dent in mine, but no biggie. A friendly EMT truck showed up at just the right moment & gave cover while I collected Mark’s luggage out of the road. During all this, the Tex decided to pee on the ground some more while the motor was shut off.
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Tim Shelfer, on Flickr
Well, got at least one picture of Sedona’s Red Rocks.
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Tim Shelfer, on Flickr
Undaunted by the mishap, we headed on to Jerome, an old mining town at the top of a cool, switchback-laden road, where we had lunch in a tiny diner run by a couple of neo hippies. Neat little town.
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Tim Shelfer, on Flickr
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Tim Shelfer, on Flickr
And from there, on to Payson, where we stayed at the Christopher Creek Lodge. Which turned out to be 24 miles past Payson. Oh well. Neat little rustic place with pine walled rooms.
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Tim Shelfer, on Flickr
Today’s miles: 223
Wednesday, May 16
I woke up in the morning feeling worse than ever. I called my doctor (2nd time, actually) and was sent to an urgent care clinic in town. Not exactly the vacation I had in mind.
Urgent care clinic Payson by
Tim Shelfer, on Flickr
Mark was a sport about it, though. The doctor gave me some Prednisone for the swelling, and a homemade mix of “Magic Mouth” (Benadryl, Maalox, and Lidocaine) to numb the pain in my mouth. That immediately helped, but we were realizing I needed to get back to Arlington sooner than later, to see the doctor and figure out what’s going on. So we did some rebooking.
Today’s miles: 100?
Thursday, May 17
We still headed for Alpine AZ as planned, but sadly, only for one night. However, we took a bunch of fun byways and had a great trip getting there!
Route - Payson - Alpine by
Tim Shelfer, on Flickr
This whole leg was great. But what really made the ride was the detour SW on 273, and back NW on 261. 261 went up over a nice, squiggly, 9,000 foot pass. We took a break at the top.
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Tim Shelfer, on Flickr
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Tim Shelfer, on Flickr
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Tim Shelfer, on Flickr
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Tim Shelfer, on Flickr
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Tim Shelfer, on Flickr
We made Alpine by noon and checked into the Sportsman’s Lodge. Comfortable, nicely furnished, and all for $82 a night in a tourist area. Frank, the owner, is a BMW rider himself, so the place is very bike-friendly.
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Tim Shelfer, on Flickr
By now, the Tex had quit urinating on shutdown. Apparently, the expansion tank had been overfilled at the last service, and the coolant was just seeking its proper level.
We had lunch at the Bear Wallow Café, highly recommended. Mark had the Terlingua Chili while I opted for homemade strawberry rhubarb pie. Delish, and I voted for a rematch at dinner. Then we hopped on the bikes and made the run across the state line & down the hill to Glenwood NM. This is a great, curvy road. In the past, I’ve only done it in a Jeep pulling a trailer. Trust me, it’s way more fun on a bike!
Route - Alpine - Glenwood by
Tim Shelfer, on Flickr
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Tim Shelfer, on Flickr
Glenwood isn’t much except a few gas stations and tourist cabins. But there’s a cool canyon nearby, featuring a series of catwalks. I’d visited there when I was in the Army back in ’75. Today, Mark relaxed in the shade and I dashed the ¼ mile up the trail to shoot a few pictures.
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Tim Shelfer, on Flickr
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Tim Shelfer, on Flickr
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Tim Shelfer, on Flickr
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Tim Shelfer, on Flickr
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Tim Shelfer, on Flickr
Then we streaked back up the same road we’d just streaked down an hour earlier. In either direction, it’ll make you smile.
Back in Alpine, we had dinner at the Bear Wallow Café. This time I had the Terlingua chili. My mouth was better, but apparently not yet ready for prime time. The chili was great and I had half a bowl before I couldn’t take the pain anymore. Then we split a piece of homemade blueberry pie, which cooled my mouth down.
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Tim Shelfer, on Flickr
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Tim Shelfer, on Flickr
Sorry for the focus on this one. Cell phone pic.
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Tim Shelfer, on Flickr
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Tim Shelfer, on Flickr
Today’s miles: 293
Friday, May 18
This morning, we split up and headed our separate ways. Mark up into Utah, then across Nevada and toward the Bay area. Me east across New Mexico and Texas. Mark was up with the chickens and out the door at 6am, when Alpine, at 8,000 feet, was still a frosty 37*. I dallied a bit in a hot shower, waited for the temp to climb above 45*, and left around 8am.
My route took me NW on Hwy 12, alternating through pine forests and high plains. I eventually connected with US 60 for a desert dash toward Socorro NM.
Route - Alpine - Artesia by
Tim Shelfer, on Flickr
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Tim Shelfer, on Flickr
About 50 miles west of Socorro, I stopped to take pictures at a VLA (Very Large Array) of radio telescopes. I’m told they listen for space noise such as black holes & pulsars.
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Tim Shelfer, on Flickr
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Tim Shelfer, on Flickr
While I was standing there, two ladies in a Kia and headed westbound pulled over and told me they were looking for I-40 to Texas. “You won’t find it that way,” I told them. “I-40 is to your north and Texas is behind you.” She explained they had passed me & turned around & came back to ask for directions. They had a GPS but no maps, & had no idea how to locate the interstate with their Garmin. I got out my trusty Butler map, showed her, & explained, “Turn left in Socorro, right in Albuquerque, and hook ‘em east.” Hope they found it.
Not the fastest way home, but I opted for a detour. I love Cloudcroft from my El Paso days. So I cut south on US 54, picked up 82 in Alamogordo, and followed it up the mountain and through Cloudcroft, Mayhill, and into Artesia. For those of you who haven’t experienced that road, Alamogordo is at 4,000 feet, white-hot, and sandy. In fact, it’s the gateway to White Sands National Monument. But turn east on 82 onto this crazy mountain road, and 16 miles later, you’re at 8,600 feet and up in the pines. It was worth the detour just to feel the temperature drop from 91* to 71* in a matter of minutes.
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Tim Shelfer, on Flickr
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Tim Shelfer, on Flickr
Past Mayhill, I dropped through the dunes to the desert floor while the wind whipped up until it was gusting at 40mph, according to Weather.com. At the hotel, I had to angle the bike into it, for fear of a tipover.
Hotels aren’t cheap in Artesia, but as luck happened, the cheapest available on Hotels.com was a business-class joint, the Legacy Inn & Suites, for $89 + tax. Indoor entrances, ginormous rooms, thick new sheets & mattresses, and a dresser full of foofy skin creams & such. I spent an hour in the shower, taking a steam bath and rehydrating my desert-parched skin.
Legacy Inn by
Tim Shelfer, on Flickr
I climbed into bed with a book & was asleep before 10.
Today’s miles: 399
Saturday, May 19
I overslept in the morning (till 7:15am) but it was glorious; I needed the rest. Breakfast was precooked omelets, and biscuits & gravy. Good food for my sore mouth, and lots of protein for the dash home today. As I mounted up at 8am, the air was still & the temp was perfect for wearing just a wind shirt under my mesh gear.
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Tim Shelfer, on Flickr
Out in that part of the world, you see plenty of this.
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Tim Shelfer, on Flickr
And this. Red dirt country. Where my grandfather ranched in the 30s. Where my dad grew up.
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Tim Shelfer, on Flickr
I love to travel, but this is always a beautiful sight….
Welcome to Texas by
Tim Shelfer, on Flickr
Artesia to Arlington is flat & straightforward. I ran west to beautiful Hobbs (yes, that’s a joke), through Seminole, and filled up at LaMesa. Apparently few people there had ever seen a motorcycle and nobody knew what a Camelbak was, because I was quite the star of the Allsup’s Station. The manager let me fill my bag with cold water, but I had to demonstrate to her how it worked. She thought it was a swamp cooler for my back.
Then I headed west through Snyder, where I saw this cool, restored old Sinclair station. Full disclosure – not my picture – I didn’t stop, so swiped this image off Pinterest.
Sinclair Station Snyder TX by
Tim Shelfer, on Flickr
Then SE onto US 84, which is where I ran into a wall of a headwind. Staring at my trip computer, I watched my cheap-o-meter drop from 45 mpg to around 35 mpg before I finally turned east onto I-20.
In Abilene, I gassed, took my last bio break, and chugalugged a Gatorade to tide me over for the 2.5 hour dash home. Somewhere east of Ranger Hill, I ran into my only rude traffic. I’d driven over 2600 miles surrounded by polite people, but on I-20, I came up on one of those vet riding groups. Inexplicably, they were riding in the left-hand lane of I-20, about 150 bikes, mostly trikes pulling trailers, and running about 55mph. Cars & trucks coming up had to pass on the right, and weren’t quite sure what to do. So they slipped by in the slow lane at about 60mph, while traffic bottlenecked for miles behind. Moreover, a few of the back markers occasionally side-slipped right, further slowing down interstate traffic.
I had moved up with the traffic and passed about the last 15 or 20 when the left lane suddenly ran out. As we slowed, I let one trike zipper in, in front of me. A guy beside me suddenly accelerated, veered on me, and swung his trailer at my front wheel, forcing me onto the shoulder to avoid an accident. I bit my tongue & kept my middle fingers to myself, & thought about how badly that kind of stuff represents both riders & veteran groups. Good time to pray inside my helmet to calm my temper & nerves.
Once the construction zone was past, they thankfully stayed right & traffic was able to clear quickly. I put the VStrom at 75 mph and didn’t slow down until I hit the Tarrant County line. I needed a bathroom stop, but didn’t want to encounter those guys again.
I dragged in at 4:10pm CDT, saddlesore, wind whipped, eye burned, & very glad to be home & see my wife, who graciously allows me to have my little adventures. Thank you, Jan. I love you.
Alas, because we cut the trip short, Mark & I didn’t get to ride the Devil’s Highway from Clifton to Alpine AZ. But it’ll be there and, together or separately, we’ll be back. Plus, next year is our 50th anniversary for the Class of ’69. Ride-in, drive-in, or fly-in, I hope I see Mark (and a lot of other old friends) there. Maybe Denver or Nashville; we haven’t worked the details yet.
For nearly 3,000 miles through desolate country and over high passes, the little Wee hummed along happily with its sewing machine motor never missing a beat. I’ve recently looked around at Beemers, Versys 1Ks, and a couple of other bikes. But the Wee just seems the perfect bike for me. Perfectly set up for my travel comfort. Everything I need, nothing I don’t.
Along the way, my trusty old Garmin gave out. The plug receptacle, not really built for motorcycle vibration, got loose. Once again, duck tape comes to the rescue to get me home.
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Tim Shelfer, on Flickr
I already have a new one ordered for my next trip, when I take my wife to Wyoming for a trailer camping vacation in June.
Today’s miles: 450
Some statistics from the trip:
- High gas mileage: 66.92 mpg, Socorro to Artesia
- Low gas mileage: 38.85 mpg, LaMesa to Abilene. I truly believe Abilene is the epicenter of all wind.
- Average gas mileage: 49.7 mpg
- High gas price: $3.58 / gal in Williams AZ
- Low gas price: $2.58 / gal in Clovis NM
- Total miles ridden: 2838 miles
- Total miles off pavement: 100 feet in motel parking lots. We had a dirt leg planned from Payson to Winslow, but that unfortunately got cut.