As a Tour Of Honor rider I lacked one site to complete my New Mexico collection of seven locations. I would have grabbed it on the last NM ride, but Brenda was tired and sore and wanted to go home so we bypassed it in favor of her. This past weekend was as good a time as any, so we loaded up and hit the road at 5 am.
Route Map
First stop was Grandma D's Cafe in little Willcox, Arizona for breakfast at 7:30. It's your typical small town, mom & pop, cozy little place. The French Toast was as good as all the reviews say it should be.
From there we headed to Reserve, New Mexico via 191 (the Devil's Highway), and 78 from Three Way into New Mexico. I must say that 78 from Three Way to Mule Creek is a wonderful ride. Great curves and switchbacks, great scenery, very little traffic and good pavement.
Route Detail
As we passed through the Mule Creek area we had to make three water crossings. When it rains out here, the washes tend to flood quickly and I kept an eagle eye for any rain clouds upstream from us. All three water crossings only had a couple of inches flowing and it was flowing slowly so I notched down into 2nd gear and went through slowly. The first and the third crossings were uneventful, but there was a hidden pothole in the second crossing that gave us quite a jar.
I had to hustle along once we were on 180 north from 78 because this big boy was growing and growing and growing, and I wanted to get into Reserve before it did. Fortunately, we only had a few sprinkles on the way in. The photo does not give it justice, but this thing was massive and it kept building upwards and towards us with each passing minute.
About 18 miles south of the turn for Reserve I had a doe and two young fawns (maybe 18 inches tall at most) run across the road in front of me. Brenda was looking in another direction and didn't see them cross, but as I braked hard and pointed into the forest she saw the doe standing still watching us and her two babies next to her. Brenda loves those kinds of wildlife views.
We made it into Reserve without any other surprises and I took my photos. This was a very interesting site, and the plaque made for good reading. This is out of the norm as most of the locations we go to are your standard Military or First Responder memorials, but this one really gives you a good history lesson.
I always capture Brenda at the worst time. In this photo she looks like she's ready to spit!
We could see the storm clouds getting worse in the direction we were heading so I put Brenda's rain jacket on her and I saddled back up. I have a Kilimanjaro jacket and it's good for most rain showers, but I have a separate rain jacket in case it's going to pour. We made it from Reserve to Alpine with just some light rain along the way, but nothing major. I parked out front and went ahead and put the cover on the bike to protect the electronics, and then we went inside to have a bite to eat. After we had ordered, two more riders pulled up; one on a Magna, and the other on a big GS. They were on their way down the 191 to Morenci, and they too wanted some lunch before the ride. They timed it perfectly. The rain started coming down in buckets just as soon as they had pulled their gear off the bikes and came inside. They sat at the booth behind us and we traded weather stories for a couple of minutes.
Brenda had a cheeseburger that she absolutely loved while I had a grilled cheese sandwich. There's not much you can do to a grilled cheese to make it good or bad, but it sure tasted great to me. .
The waitress was pushing some pie for dessert, but I wanted to get back on the road since the weather seemed to be breaking. As she went to prepare the check we had a bright flash and an instant crack of thunder and the rain began again. I'm guessing that the bolt must have hit in the field behind the bait shop because it was CLOSE. The waitress returned for the check and I let her know we'd be cooling our heels there for a while and ordered some cherry pie and ice cream. It was T A S T Y !
Eventually the rain let up, the lightning/thunder stopped, and it was time to load up and head to my mom's in Show Low. As we had been eating I saw a Slingshot and a couple of bikes pull up and go into the restaurant across the street. One of the bikes was an orange HD and I thought of my friend Randy who drives one of those massive mine trucks at the Morenci copper mine, as he has one just like it, but I gave it no more thought.
After posting on Facebook about our lunch at the Bear Wallow, Randy posts the following photo which shows the bike out front and us up on the porch getting our rain gear on.
He said he had gotten up from his table to yell at us, but I was more concerned about not dropping the Wing on the wet pavement while doing my u-turn and didn't pay attention to anything else. Small world, huh?
From there, it was pretty uneventful all the way to Show Low. Rain showers here and there, but nothing really bad. I always enjoy coming down the hill as you come out of the forest just south of Springerville. It's such a great view over the valley.
We passed the Madonna Of The Trail next to the drug store in Springerville, but we didn't stop because we had gotten the photo on the last trip. If you're not familiar with these statues I urge you to learn a little about them...
http://www.dar.org/national-society/...trail-statue-0
Little did I know it, but two hours earlier another one of my friends had been at the statue getting his photo for his Tour Of Honor credit.
We had dinner with mom that night in Pinetop at the Red Devil Pizza / Italian Restaurant. That was some of the best pizza I have had in quite a while. I'll definitely be back.