I'm proud of the Arizona Contingent... 19 bikes and 22 bodies and this is only the second month we've done it. I think I've honored the memory of the TWT IPRD. Now, where's my "Second Annual TWT IPRD" t-shirt?!?!
My ride started at 0700 with a few hiccups. I got some nice heated gear a week or so ago. I got my plugs installed on the bike yesterday. I suited up, went to plug in and then discovered that the male plug is the (I assume) BMW plug as it's skinny and doesn't have a friction fit in the lighter plug. Oh well, I'll just bundle up and wear the liner under the leather jacket and wear the winter gloves. It was only 51 but I didn't want to freeze like I did the prior morning.
So after a few minutes of delay I'm out the door and on the road. Gee, the bike sure is noisy today! Only then do I realize that after putting on the balaclava, helmet, silk liners, and winter gloves I had forgotten to put in the ear plugs. With 60+ miles to go just to meet everyone for the ride I'm not going to suffer this noise so into the first gas station to de-glove, de-helmet, add the plugs and reverse the process.
Then off I go, a few minutes behind schedule, but I've got almost 90 minutes to cover the 60 miles. 30 minutes later I reach the freeway, wick it up a little, mosey into the HOV lane and then cruise to the meeting destination. I was the second to arrive but the others came rolling in quickly so we parked and chit-chatted for a while.
Brands represented were Harley, Victory (including a Vision), Honda, Kawasaki, and BMW. I think I saw a Suzuki too but don't recall for sure.
After the basic safety talk, we saddled up and hit the road. Where to? I have no idea. I just followed the leader. I know we went through Buckeye but I couldn't tell you the names of most of the towns we passed through. We hit the road right about 9 am, stopped at the bridge for perhaps 15-20 min, made a gas stop along the way for those with small capacity (I was barely off Full at that point) and then made it to the Rock Springs Cafe right about 12:30.
Mandatory "everyone stuck at a red light photo".
It wasn't ALL straight and smooth.
Very cool bridge in the middle of nowhere.
Yep, those mountains in the distance are where we're heading...
Soon enough we reach the Rock Springs Cafe. This place has quite a bit of history behind it.
Check it out.
Yours truly about to wolf down some Pumpkin with whipped cream. I was VERY disappointed in the thin slice of pie. This place is renown for their pies and I've had the Cherry before and was really impressed. I guess they just don't put the effort into the pumpkin the way they do the others. I'll remember that for the next trip.
And to show that I wasn't the only one stuffing my pie hole...
John, the BMW rider. 450K miles under his belt and just back from a trip to Alaska. One of the IBA members.
Laura, another IBA rider.
Wayne showing off his dinky pumpkin pie.
Diane, (MSWING) another IBA rider who hardly ever eats sweets showing us that she really does eat once in a while. She is recently back from a solo 6000 mile trip on her Goldwing.
Some more of our Motley Crew.
And a parting thought as you throw a leg over the saddle. This was on the windshield of yet another IBA rider in the group. I think her license plate was SQKLA which probably means Squirrel Killer.
Oh yeah, I mentioned that it was 51 when I left the house. It was almost 90 when I got home at 4 pm. I'm glad I took my summer gloves with me. 9 hours and 295 miles for the day. Good people, good food, good ride.
Until next time...