Crawdaddy 96 Posted May 16, 2014 Quick blast about Cannonball..... Off with the Sun on Sat 5/3 to meet up with Trophy/CID/Kug/Jason and a few others that showed up to see us off.... Rest break The SDAR crew swept the dirt sections after Brawley......everyone arrived safely in Yuma (including RAD who had some bike issues and wound up meeting us there.....) Nice reception at the historic "310 to Yuma" prison.......prickle pear Margaritas/BBQ/Band Day 2 provided more dirt on our way to Mesa, AZ......didn't snap any pics........another day of dirt sweeping for the SDAR crew...... Day 3 we headed up the Apache Trail to Roosevelt lake........nice/scenic dirt road with great views of Canyon Lake and Apache Lake on the climb up.... Who says you can't ride a heavy Indian in the dirt? Once we reached Roosevelt Lake, CID and I turned left/north for the Grand Canyon and Jason headed for New Mex. with the Cannonballers. Trophy, Kug and Rad and already turned back at that point..... We cruised on pavement to Prescott then we jumped on Williams Valley Road up to Seligman......major dirt road......just what I was looking for on the VStrom Seligman is a funky little town......we popped open a few beers and settled in for the night..... The next morning we headed up to Peach Springs.......I was planning on riding down to the bottom of the Grand Canyon with CID to show him the views.......long story short - Two wheeled permits are no longer issued to ride down to the bottom......very irritating......my hunch is that locals have torn the place up on their dirt bikes/quads so the simple solution was to ban all two wheeled bikes rather than evaluate on a case by case basis.......they're missing out on a lot of goodwill/revenue with responsible riders........we pleaded our case to the Tribal Counsel directly......met with deaf ears....... So we pushed on to Oatman for breakfast Then I headed for my place in Bullhead City and CID dropped down to his place in Havasu A few pics from the remainder of the week One last dirt shot on the VStrom along Silver Creek headed into Bullhead Toys at the ready My friend Dave rolled out for some river fun I bumped around in the RZR a bit between Dave's visit and Jason's arrival Who says there's no water in the desert? Another Oatman run for breakfast with the locals Jason rolled in Sat and we went for a float Jason and I hammered home in FIERCE winds on Sunday Some last twisties along Mesa Grande Pulled in the driveway at 1200 miles on the nose Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Vacman 0 Posted May 16, 2014 Your Vstrom looks awesome. It's the first one I've seen that I'd actually want to own. How was riding sweep? How many went around the dirt sections? I see what looks like a road king in one of the pics. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Crawdaddy 96 Posted May 16, 2014 Your Vstrom looks awesome. It's the first one I've seen that I'd actually want to own. How was riding sweep? How many went around the dirt sections? I see what looks like a road king in one of the pics. CID and Kug swept the longer dirt stretch out of Brawley......Jason and I rode out to the Glamis Beach Store and hopped on the road there.....then we cruised along the tracks down to the 8fwy.........I think it was a ~20 mile ride.........the majority took the shorter stretch.......we probably swept behind ~20 riders........the issue was speed not terrain......some of these guys were riding ~20mph with legs stretched as outriggers .......very difficult to ride a ~600+lb pig that slow.......so they fell and we helped them lift their bikes.......we tried to encourage them to pick up the speed to make things EASIER ...... We stayed back.....rode about ~50mph, caught up, stopped and waited.......repeat........repeat.......same drill on Sunday riding to Mesa.......actually, at some point, we blew off the sweep roll a ways into the Sunday ride and twisted the throttles past the dirt clouds in front of us The guy on the orange Harley in the rest break picture rode with us to Brawley.......he had his wife on the back and dumped it in the dirt parking lot when they rolled in.......luckily no damage to bodies or significant damage to bike.......just bruised ego...... Only a handful of riders rode "road only"...... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Oracle 195 Posted May 17, 2014 I enjoyed the write up and pics, thanks for sharing. That really sucks about closing down the Grand Canyon trail. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
hodnettjj 0 Posted May 18, 2014 Well... Here is my view of the ride... When I heard the Cannonball was going through New Mexico I thought it was a great excuse for a Motorcycle Camping trip to visit family in Albuquerque. Day 1 Outbound SD to Yuma The meet up at the waterfront gave an opportunity to see many different configurations of camping gear, tires, bikes, and people... Our first day saw the highest temps of the trip… 102-103 heading through Glamis… I used this cooling vest on the first 2 days of the trip. http://www.cyclegear.com/CycleGear/Biker/Base-Layers/Tops/brand/BILT/Cooling-Vest/p/29038_60744_2 It worked for about an hour or so… nice and cooling… Our first day ended in Yuma with a dinner at the Territorial Prison. The Cannonball crew had arranged shuttle buses to get us back and forth from the hotel… which was really nice after a few prickly pear margaritas…. The Crew… The food was pretty tasty… Day 2 Outbound Yuma to Mesa We departed for Mesa, AZ. Leaving the hotel absolutely nothing happened… The route was some interesting dirt roads. That included a historical stop at Agua Caliente. Baker’s Account: “From then on I rode a very bad stretch of desert, made up of rocky gulches, deep washes and quantities of sand, all the while through intense heat. Four miles before reaching the town of Agua Caliente (called by the natives Water Springs) I ran out of gasoline while in deep sand, and from there I had to push my machine along until I reached the springs, with the thermometer standing at 119 degrees in the shade.” Day 3 Outbound Mesa to Datil, NM This is my favorite day of the outbound leg of my trip. We left Mesa via the Apache Trail to Roosevelt Lake. I could have taken a picture every 100’. Cooler temps than the previous days, great scenery, great friends… all and all a great day… At Roosevelt Lake Crawdaddy and CiD hooked a left north… and I went right to continue on to Globe. The road out to Globe in to NM was awesome, 3 lanes high speed mountain roads that were very well maintained. However the road through Showlow is 35mph… and they mean it… speed cameras at almost every intersection… Elk are an issue in the area. The Cannonball crew caught up with me in Datil, NM. I would be staying to camp ($2.50) and they continued on with the main ride. Day 4 Outbound Datil to Albuquerque I wanted to be in Albuquerque by 9 so that meant a 4am wake up… to say it was cold was an understatement… The bike was hard to start… but I got going… I stopped here to take a pic of the Very Large Array. http://www.vla.nrao.edu/ This is when I noticed the rear of the bike covered in oil… it was a mess… I didn’t see an active leak… there was oil in the sight glass… the temp gauge was normal… no oil light… I was in the middle of nowhere so I decided to head to the next town. There I searched unsuccessfully for oil… I did find some paper towels to clean up. I drove another hour to Socorro, NM and drove past the Cannonball group getting ready to head out. I stopped at NAPA… After dropping the skid plate I noticed the source of the leak was near the oil filter gasket. It wasn’t currently leaking… and hadn’t leaked for at least an hour and a half… I decided to clean things up… top off the oil and head to Albuquerque. While in Albuquerque I got a new oil filter (but didn’t install it) and changed my rear brake pads. I stayed in Albuquerque for 3 days… it was crazy windy… Day 8 Return Albuquerque to Desert View Grand Canyon I departed Albuquerque at 5am. The website for desert view says they usually fill up early afternoon… so I wanted to get ahead of that. This morning was the coldest temps of my trip 23 through Grants, NM. I stopped in Grants for my first gas stopped… then I noticed another small oil leak under the bike… ugh… I drove over to the O’Reilly’s and made use of the parking lot. They loaned me a drip pan and I swapped out the oil filter with the one I had brought with me… That’s when it happened… 2 oil filter gaskets were on the bike… ugh… This oil leak… like most problems in my life… was self induced… So Top Tip… ensure you remove the old oil filter gaskets when you change your oil… I made it to desert view early to a nearly empty campground ($6). This is another day I could have taken a picture every 100’. This is a useful sign if you are visiting with “Internet Affiliates” I got dinner from the full grocery store and headed back to camp… what a great day… Day 9 Return Desert View Grand Canyon to Bullhead City I had an early start to head to Bull head. These guys were on the side of the road on the way out. My route took me on Route 66 to Kingman… through Golden Valley… in to Bullhead… There we headed to the river… Cool water… colder beer… great day on the river… with a night at Lazy’s… Day 10 Bullhead to San Diego This day was started with a run to breakfast… you have to love AZ… We took a quick ride along the river to get started… Our route in to San Diego we hit a bunch of the best roads… Montezuma, Mesa Grande, OJH, Highland Valley… A great way to end the trip… I was just under 2000 miles… I could go for 2000 more… Spot tracker... I forgot to turn on the "Track" feature on Day 3... https://mapsengine.google.com/map/u/0/edit?authuser=0&authuser=0&hl=en&hl=en&mid=zvQ0vIHEu0t0.k9RuQuQ_cjH4 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Crawdaddy 96 Posted May 19, 2014 I was just under 2000 miles… I could go for 2000 more… Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
97xr400r 122 Posted May 20, 2014 Great ride guys! Thanks for posting the map Jason, I think I'll incorporate most of this into my "visit gramps alabama ride" in september, YES! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bagstr 287 Posted May 20, 2014 Nice Reports gents, A question and a statement. Were the Inmates returned to their cells after the party? I prefer Crawdaddy's packing efficiency. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Covered in Dust 163 Posted May 23, 2014 Getting roosted by an 800# Indian. CiD Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
97xr400r 122 Posted May 24, 2014 that's awesome! haha Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
