Last Day of May 2012

Stopped to take a picture on May 31st.  It's a DRY heat. :-)

This young lady, "Teri", saw me, drove around the block, and came back to ask if I wanted to be in the picture. People in Kingman are friendly!

30 May. Bagdad

Carl had a Denver omlette

The Bagdad Diner is a good place.  I had cottage cheese in place of bread and potatoes.  Lanny and I both had the special...green chili and sausage omlette

Back to the 50's.  Biglefti, Ed and Slippers.

Still an active mine. It's mostly a company town. Very nice ride through the verdant desert to get here.  Crossed the Big Sandy River, famous in the Cattle Drive days. I brought the "half a busa" up from Yuma last week.  It's a pleasure to ride.

Different Blog for a week!

From May 14 through May 20th, I'll be using a different blog for all posts.  Getting ready for a bike trip to a vroc rally in Kanab, UT.  So, all pictures will be posted on that.  This picture is of the bike getting packed.  Bags are hanging open.  New Backrest is installed, so I can use the other bag for storage and rider backrest.  Here's the address:    http://kanab2012.blogspot.com

11 May 2012

A decent stretch between two very steep and rough parts of this dirt road.  The Valley is the North end of where Kingman lays, and over the mountain is Dolan Springs, and Hwy 93 to Lake Mead and Las Vegas

The first part was challenging, but the second part was even more steep and rocky.

  

Coming down was tricky too.  Too steep and loose to leave it in gear without breaking the tires loose, so feathered the brakes and slid down.  Ed and Carl were waiting at the bottom.

Ed is buying their weekly lottery tickets from Ron, owner of Roger's Market in Meadview City.  This is a weekly routine.  Ron is a NASCAR fan and all 'round good guy.

Indian 1 is the road that goes out to the Glass Skywalk over the Canyon

North Stockton Hill Road, near Pierce Ferry Road.  March 2011 a husband and wife on a Harley was forced off the road here.  The rider died, his wife recovered.  The pickup driver that did it is still in jail waiting for trial. It was some sort of personal vendetta.  Too bad.

All the way to Bagdad

Bagdad, AZ is still an active mining town.  Pretty ride to get here, 103 miles from Kingman.  Rode with Ed & Carl, nice weather and scenery.  This is their favorite Quick Stop in town.

Behind the Shell gas station in Wikiup, AZ.  88 degrees now, Carl put some water on his "cool vest"  I filled my 44 oz drinking cup with water

I-40, going down the hill into the valley where Kings lays.  75 mph speed limit, so we're rolling along at a good clip.

Gas station in Old Town, Kingman.  For our Canadian friends, you can get Canadian gas here!  Same kind we use, but if you tell them you're a Canadian, they will charge you more, so you'll feel at home!

37th Anniversary pictures

May 6th.  The Hualapai Mountain Resort.  Today is our 37th Anniversary.  We was going to try a new church that had a 9 AM service, but when we got there, no cars were in the parking lot.  So, we came up here for breakfast

We had a nice table looking out at the Elk.  They are wild, but like to hang out here.  The food was good, but different than when we were here last.

Downtown Kingman is 3350 feet elevation.  We're 12 miles away them there, and the elevation here is over 6000 feet.  There are a lot of nice summer homes in this area.

When we got home, I had a nice ride to Hackberry Store to find out how the big day yesterday went, and have a cup of coffee

Back home, the bike goes up so I can install the docking plates for the Sissy Bar/luggage rack.

I found Pat work on the back garage door.  She sanded the whole door, and prepped it for painting.  It's a metal door, and there was a little bit of corrosion on it.

These are out of order, but this is the finished job on the one side.  The spools are for attaching the saddle bags and the new passenger back rest which is on order. A lot bigger job than expected.

Had to remove the rear shock, the chrome frame cover, and all the mounting bolts and backing plates that hold the fender on.  Factory uses red locktite on everything, so the bolts and nuts were very difficult to get off.

Cigar Store Indian at Hackberry

Elvis and Marilyn were cruising, and got pulled over by a cop.

Will finish this side tomorrow.  It was a good day, perfect temperature and lots of sunshine.  Good food, nice ride, and some productive bike work :-)

Cinco De Mayo

Desert Flower in the Black Mountains

Early morning in downtown Oatman

One Old, Tired, Mean Woman.  One of these days I'll have to go up and meet her.

Kingman Fun Days.  If you don't like old cars, just scroll through the next 30 or so pictures.  Since there were over 800 cars in town today, I did real good to only post about 30 some.

The red flaked paint on the car looked almost exactly like the paint on Jamey T's bike.  I didn't have to nerve to tell the owner his car looked like a Bass Boat :-)

Mid 80's today, people are seeking shade.  The cruise starts at 5 PM

Red Merc.  The radio said there was over 600 cars registered to be in the show, and at least another couple hundred just showed up to drive the cruise, or just park and watch.

Very nice Oldsmobile

The Bass Boat again

There were even 3 or 4 old RV's from the 40's and 50's

I had a 55 Mercury identical to this.  Even with the red painted wheels and the Oldmobile spinner hub caps.  Same color.  Only difference, mine was a 2 door hard top.

One of many food vendors

Some of the same vendors were here last weekend for the Laughlin Bike Rally festivities

They were busy serving up Burgers, Shakes and Fries.

There were several "40 Fords" here.  They are the same age as me, but the all looked to be in better condition.  Pat liked that one.

Old Indian.  Maybe a Mohave.

Very nice Model A, with a newer flat head V-8 engine

Lots of 57 Chevys here, this was one of the nicer ones.

Nice color on the Little Deuce Coupe

Route 66 was closed off, and lined for 6-8 blocks on both sides of the road.  Side streets were also full of Classic Cars

A nice 55.  But.....they were all nice!

Ford Sedan

Love those coupes!

There were a couple of Crown Vics with Continental kits

That Chevy has a small block with a big roots type blower on it.

59  El Dorado, just sectioned.  this is Dream Builders shop. By next year, this will be all finished

We used to have a Harley with this same paint job.  It was on the cover of American Rider Magazine back in 1985

Chopped Sportster.  Not my "cup of tea", but the work was good

I doubt if they use this pickup bed to haul much cow manure out of the barn.

Inside that pretty 40 Ford

The rest of the truck

Another Crown Victoria

Out of all the VERY nice 40 Fords we saw, we both liked this one the best

The unfinished El Dorado again.  A real sled.

Both for sale.  $40K for the black, $38K for the red one.

This Charger is very similar to the 69 Dodge Super Bee I had when Pat and I got married. She said she married me for the car. But, I used to sell cars like I do bikes now, so it didn't last now.  I'm still here, 37 years tomorrow.

Old track racer

I passed up a lot of 49-51 Merc's, and about ran out of cars, so decided to add this one.

50's Bus

A "Big Dog" chopper

A very plain looking Harley, but it will get us home.

That's All, folks!  I used a LOT of restraint not posting all the car pictures.  It was hard to choose which ones, so I just grabbed what you see without any special reason, there were nicer ones, and some not so nice, but I wouldn't have turned down any of them!