Devils 'n Dragons

[Zubb 1061]

12 minutes ago, Wierdrider said:

WHEN???

3 years ago.  We decided on that trip to dump the sport touring bikes and get GS's so we could do some BDR and AK stuff.

[Zubb 1061]

Disclaimer:  this thread will continue to be littered with references to our countries most sacred day of the year. July 4th.  And  in addition, the endless stream of Moto-photos will not  decrease. I have a bike porn addition and make no apologies for either. 

Its common for me to encounter a state of Zen when touring. The minutes turn to miles turn to gas stops turn to new state lines. And it makes me happy. 

Even hauling 8 gallons of fuel it is not uncommon for me to look down and go ‘Holy Sh*t I’m out of gas!!’  I guess a 340 mile range just isn’t quite enough. So the need to foray a bit off freeway can be called into play. It’s at times like these the adrenaline pumps a little harder and you find the unexpected. Here I ambled about 6 miles off I-40 to find a fuel pump and stumbled into some cool rural discoveries. 

i knew Route 66 paralleled I-40 but hadn’t planned to explore much of it due to time constraints. Fortunately I found myself bouncing onto and off of the Historic Mother Road for the next 1000 miles or so. It deserves its own special focused Moto Tour. Someday. 

 

[Zubb 1061]

I ventured on, absolutely in LOVE with this new machine!!

125 horses, 92 ft/lb of torque at 6,500 RPM. She pulls HARD all the way up north of the Ton mark. And just as remarkable is the aerodynamics. BMW has done a ton of excellent engineering since the ol’ 1150. The airflow is the cleanest of any bike I’ve ridden. Both in the low and the high position. I kinda felt like I was in Star Wars checking out the new space ship. 

Just before sundown another rain squall hit. No worries. I have proper attire for such things. But lightening, lightening kills motorcyclists and being from Colorado have a huge respect for it. I’ve both had and seen the effects of near hits and direct hits. 

So I ducked for cover to let it pass. 

city parks don’t like you riding up footpaths and parking in authorized areas. I didn’t care. 

Pro  tip: download a Radar App on your phone so you can see what’s coming and how long it will last. Thank me later. 

An hour later the worst was past and I got this ———

At full resolution this one looks pretty good for an iPhone pic. I’ll put it up in my office for awhile and it’ll remind me of that moment. And no matter what deadline or stress I have at the moment, it’ll make me smile. 

 

[simicrintz 177]

Cool write up and pics, Kelly!

[Zubb 1061]

I rode deep into the night. The lighting on this bike is fantastic, and I felt really good so why stop. I was half heartedly committed to a thousand mile day, but my rule #1 is that sleepy driving is as bad as drunk driving. Do......not....... do it. 

I employed an iron butt trick that night, which is when I do start to get sleepy I pull into a major truck stop, fuel up and go in to the truckers lounge. Find a corner and stretch out on the floor, ear plugs in, and get a good half hour nap. Or 2 hour nap if you need it. This is 10X better than trying to power nap at a table in McDonalds. Why not just sleep in the park? Because it’s 100 degrees out and you need the air conditioning. 

I finished the day at 900 miles. Quite short of my capabilities, but I started this whole trip with a sleep deficit so I napped more than normal. And the heat.... ugh, there’s a reason I live out west. I’m allergic to humidity. So my rest stops were quite a bit longer. 

Heres some more bike porn and Route 66 discoveries. 

Good cheap rates here  

Texas is a pretty cool place. I like Texans. Hey! does this qualify as taking the GS off road???

And who doesn’t want to see the world history of barbed wire, right?  Haha .... Devils Rope.

 

You gotta love those moments when you are riding along and go ‘what the heck????’ If I were to name a photo, this would would be called War of the Worlds  looks like those space things that invaded from the movie  

Turns out it was just ...

Further down the road I see 20 cars pulled off the service road and wondered what the heck was going on so I circled back  

Carhenge I believe it’s called   Some farmer planted a field full of Cadillacs  

I decided to not hike out there and take a closer look because 1) there was a crowd  and I wasn’t in a crowd sort of mood.  And 2) it was muddy  see below  

So on I rode. 

[Zubb 1061]

There was a point in Oklahoma where I got real sleepy and didn't see any truck stops close enough on the GPS.  So I pulled off onto a "rest area".  with no tables, toilets or anything really except for a big gravel circle where about 6 semi's and a half dozen cars had pulled into for some sleep.  I parked the bike and walked about 15 feet down a slight embankment and laid down in the weeds pretty much.  Now I won't tell you it felt safe.  There's some fairly strange stuff that goes down at rest areas.  But this seemed like my best option considering how sleepy I was and it was in farmland Oklahoma, not Los Angeles. There was a moment, laying there all geared up, helmet on, staring at the stars in the black black night . . . it was a good moment.  A smile on my lips.  A happy heart, doing what I love, a completely selfish, not worried about anyone or anything, this makes me happy moment.  You know the ones, right?

It's the moments that you live for.  That you remember for the rest of your life.  Why then?, why there?  It was the feeling, not the scenery, not the great photo op of me at a bucket list location.  It's just the feeling of joy, and gratitude and that black night chocked full of bright stars in that moment.  I had a very restful 2 hour nap there and then continued on.

[Wierdrider 187]

Great stuff 👍👍

[Zubb 1061]

Day 3 would be around 850 miles. West, west and more west. New Mexico is pretty cool. 

Tucumcari was a gas stop, but once inside there’s a huge restaurant and museum. You never know what you’ll stumble into on the road. 

Moving on toward Bard NM for more remnants of the Mother roads past  

The goal was to overnight in Albuquerque. And as I ride down ou of the mountains toward town it started to storm again. By the time I hit town it was coming down hard. I rode across a bridge to my hotel and noticed the normally dry concrete river had enough fast moving water in it to cover the whole bottom of the river.  It was a flash flood from the mountains 20 or 30 miles away. 

I checked in and walked out front,headed to bar across the street. But noticed, holy cow the river had risen to near the bridge height. And I’ve never in my life seen a river running at such a violent speed. 

anyone getting in there was not gonna get out. 

Then, I finally found. A great bar with great beer. 

And the bike and her new owner slept high and dry and like the dead all night 

 

[Wierdrider 187]

I bet it took you less time to ride across the fricken country, than it does for you to give us a ride report!!!🥴 

I know, I know, LIFE.

I’ll wait patiently.

[Zubb 1061]

Ouch. I resemble that remark. 

[Zubb 1061]

I was galloping toward Gallup New Mexico  when I came across Chief Yellowknife’s attempt at humor and capitalism. There was a massive cavern eroded into the cliff where he’d set up a cool mock camp for us Tourons to see and enjoy. In the back, up the cliff were several ruins of cliff dwellers from a century or more ago. 

Petrified wood, cool remnants, not sure though how to get up close and get a better look. I imagine one pays an entrance fee to the Chief. But I didn’t have time for that. 

I liked his sign ‘Make Chief Yellowknife Great again’. While I appreciate the irony, and complicated humor, it reminds me of what my dad taught me that in essence people don’t make you great. You make you great. 

 

[Zubb 1061]

The Devil made me do it. 

 I’ve been wanting to ride this next stretch of road for three years since I first heard about it. The Devils highway! Seems that many years ago this road was Arizona 666 until eventually someone in government decided that was a bad name and rebadged it as Highway 191. 

 To be honest, I was far more excited about riding this road then I was about the dragon. The dragon is epic. It is historic. And it is well known as a fantastic sports car and motorcycle road. Hell you can even buy stickers there! And I did. But the Devils highway is different. Instead of 11 miles, it’s closer to 150 miles.  And instead of 318 curves, I’m sure there’s well over 1000. 

 I pulled into Springerville for fuel, food, and planned my attack. 

 I wouldn’t say that rain plagued my trip. But I did have to deal with it every day. Thus the importance of having proper riding gear. Looking behind the bike in this photo you can see that I’m not going to be tearing it up through the corners. I’m going to be riding conservatively because, rain rain and more rain.  And that’s fine, because I am really more in an exploratory frame of mind than anything else. 

 I didn’t know there was a special prison for Apaches! I thought that stuff was way behind us. 

 This was a picture  hanging in the window of a gas station that was taken in August, I believe two years ago. Maybe these Harley riders decided to go home and buy adventure bikes after that. 

 The roads were wet and void of all traffic. The route over and through the White Mountains is remote, desolate, and an endless string of 2nd gear corners. The views are spectacular. The pavement in good shape and clean. The emptiness of all things human (except for pavement) is therapeutic and rejuvenating.

Cattle and deer were everywhere  

The cows  in particular had no interest in leaving the road. They were quite content to lick the puddles of rain water off the surface. My honking and revving having little to no effect. Eventually I just slowly rode through them.

I wasn’t in much of a photo taking mood, I just wanted to absorb the time, place and joy of the half day long moment. 

What’s interesting to me is that two days before this I had ridden the most famous Road in America.  Yet this road, was 100 times more to my liking. 

The late afternoon rain and lightning storms were forming up. So I decided to hole  up in a little nowhere spot about 100 miles north east of Tucson for the night.

 Later, having fish and chips with a good beer at a local bar, a middle-age guy and his wife pulled up stools next to me  and of course the guy started jabbering away about motorcycles and trips he'd done in the past. His poor wife just kept rolling her eyes and eventually got steaming mad. She had imagined a little date night with her man at the bar but instead was relegated to the corner having to endure Moto talk for about an hour. Poor woman. I actually felt pretty bad for her. So eventually I turned the conversation to her. What does she do, does she like living here, etc. She got a little happier and him less so.

 The next morning I got held up with some urgent business calls and email. I hung out at the motel until the Housekeeper finally kicked me out. 

 So I clicked off about 75 miles until I found cell signal again and stopped to make a client phone call. It was hotter than heck already but at least I had a good surface to write on and take some notes of my conversation. 

 

 The rest of that day was pretty uneventful save  for enduring the horrendous Arizona heat. 

 Eventually I would see 109° on that screen. I managed my water intake and my rest stops. It takes a little longer when it’s this hot.  In fact I doddled a bit trying to kill time while waiting for the sun to get low in the sky. 

 Might not want to lay down and take a nap at this rest stop. 

I blew through Yuma, El Centro, and was in familiar territory now. I couldn’t wait to hit Ocotillo and top the grade. Desert View  Tower always reaffirms the heat is behind me, cooler temps ahead. As I rode the long long  descent toward San Diego temps fell to 54 degrees and I was freezing by comparison.  But there was no way I was going to stop and put a layer on. 

 And then, home sweet home. 

And I’d do it again tomorrow if I had the time. Thanks for allowing me to share. 

 

[Wierdrider 187]

Great write up Kelly, congrats on the new ride👍👍

[tntmo 887]

Your pictures of the Devils Highway are great.  I just finished getting a Yamaha R6 together for my son when he returns from Okinawa in September, might have to see if he wants to test it out on Hwy 191 with me before he moves on to his next duty station.  

[Zubb 1061]

3 hours ago, tntmo said:

Your pictures of the Devils Highway are great.  I just finished getting a Yamaha R6 together for my son when he returns from Okinawa in September, might have to see if he wants to test it out on Hwy 191 with me before he moves on to his next duty station.  

I can think of no better place to ride with your son. 

And I didn’t give the camera any real time to try to capture more of it. 

Enjoy! And thanks for the compliment. 

[simicrintz 177]

A++++!  Great write up and pics!

[Bubbagums 42]

Enjoyed the write up very much.

[Zubb 1061]

Thanks guys. Total planning time for the trip itself was about an hour. I believe the best trips  have almost no planning. 

[royboyz 36]

Good write up but next time you will need more than 3 days. 

[Bagstr 287]

Zubb,

The 191 I know runs north and south. Must have taken a bite out of your schedule. Those poor people east of Denver have soo little in the way of ridable roads, they blow up the rep of what they have beyond reason.  Lucky the Great Basin is so far away, that they have to work hard to experience the grandeur.

Great that you got an excuse to explore the diversity of our great landscape.

Bagstr

[Zubb 1061]

3 hours ago, royboyz said:

Good write up but next time you will need more than 3 days. 

True statement.

However I will say this, as a working stiff, I gotta take it when and where I can find it.  Being a mortgage banker, in the heat of home buying and refinance season I was buried to my eyeballs with work.  It was a random moment when I suddenly realized all banking would come to a grinding halt for almost 5 days so the impact of time away would be minimal.  So I bought the flight and jumped on the plane 6am the next morning, knowing it's easy enough to figure it out as you go.  You just gotta go.

I can't wait to 'slow down' abit in the years ahead and take some real time away for trips like Alaska for example.  But for now I'll continue to hunt for scraps on my calendar where I can stick a half day, overnighter, 3 or 4 day trip in.  Thank God in heaven I have an understanding wife.  She really dislikes moto's but knows it a big part of who I am.  God bless her, I'm a lucky man.

[Zubb 1061]

1 hour ago, Bagstr said:

Zubb,

The 191 I know runs north and south. Must have taken a bite out of your schedule. Those poor people east of Denver have soo little in the way of ridable roads, they blow up the rep of what they have beyond reason.  Lucky the Great Basin is so far away, that they have to work hard to experience the grandeur.

Great that you got an excuse to explore the diversity of our great landscape.

Bagstr

Plugging the Dragon and the Devil both into such a short trip was really ambitious if I may say so.  I do have considerable experience though with 800 - 1,000 mile days and I knew it could be done without burning out.

Riding the Devil did not do a darn thing to quench my thirst.  It just made me  aware of how epic the road and the White Mountains are!  I feel even more need than ever to go back and do it again.  Add some camping.  Exploring. Adding in a loop back on New Mex 180.  Dang .... there's gold in them thar hills!