June 20, Route 66 ride

Went on a local Poker Run today.  Another Switchback was there.  The guy has long arms and bad ears. The pipes were short and LOUD.  The guy that rides it is part owner of the shop that sponsored the run.  A little too hard core for my tastes, but really some nice people no matter what they look like.

New friend Al.  73 years old, rides this Sportster.  Canadian, but has been down here for several years. Winters in Yuma, so may get to know him. One of the check points on the run was in Oatman, so we rode together and stopped for a pop at Cool Springs and got a little acquainted.

T-shirt in a Seligman store.  We hit the road at 7 AM to beat the heat.  Had a nice easy ride on the Mother Road.  This bike looks like a '59 Panhead.  I owned one, and wrote a poem about it years ago.

For my friend Bob.  A V-8 Diesel engine, drives an axle with one wheel to turn the PTO.  Don't know what the huge pulley operated, but it must have been a big generator or something

2  half inch slotted steel plates are welded onto the tire axle.  You have to loosen 8 bolts, then use two 3/4 inch bolts with locknuts to line up the driving wheel and adjust the tension on it.  Very good engineering, but very sloppy construction :-)

Back to my favorite store.

The old Supai tries to strike up a conversation with the lady, but she doesn't understand his native tongue, and she's from Brazil and doesn't speak much English. 

The famous Max is getting in a morning nap.  He's been out chasing rabbits and got a little tired

Can't remember this dog's name, but he's a few years older than Max,  isn't very active any more.  He holds down the fort behind the counter

The last "Happy" picture of Ed and Carl

While entering the highway, Ed slowed down to check traffic, and Carl managed to get into him with his front wheel.  About 1200 pounds of rolling Harley and Carl managed to destroy a saddle bag, side cover, and seat.  I was very impressed with the reactions of both.  Very calm, despite a big expensive disappointment.  They are brothers, and display a lot of brotherly love.  Good Guys.

While surveying the damage, this group from Germany pulled in, all on rented Harleys.

They were interested in what happened, but none of them spoke enough English to really get the picture :-)

We were lucky today, no tour buses stopped while we were there.  Just bikes and a few tourists in cars

After removing all the loose stuff, Carl takes the parts inside for them to keep until they come back in his pickup to get them.  No one hurt, not damage to Carl's bike, so it's not the end of the world.  The on-looker is one of the German riders.

Early ride

All the gear, all the time. I rode out Route 66 this morning in the cool mid 80 degree temperatures. On the way back, having coffee at Hackberry, a couple of Adventure Riders from Germany rode in on a matching pair of GS1200 BMWs. They must have been higher in elevation when they left, they were really layered up and roasting by the time they stopped here. They had very limited English, so we weren't able to talk much, but we smiled a lot. Seemed like nice guys. They really had a lot of nice gear too!

Getting used to the little Switchback. Small bike, big engine. Sort of plain looking for my taste, but I'm going to leave it pretty much like this, at least for awhile. A good "utilitarian" sort of ride.

A test

Bill Williams Recreation Area on the Colorado River.  Between Lake Havasu City and Parker, Arizona. This is from a bridge over the Bill Williams River.  A swamp in the desert!

June 13th rideHu

Ed

Carl had Ham and eggs with biscuits and gravy. That is a half order of ham! It's 3/4 inch thick!

Ed had a nice Breakfast Sirloin with his eggs and stuff. We were there when they opened the kitchen, the main dining room wasn't ready, so we ate in the bar.

Outside dining has a side for smokers, and this side is non-smoking. We're at 6800 feet elevation here, a nice COOL 82 degrees outside.

The General Store at the Resort

Sign says "Hog Corral", but it worked just fine for a couple of Vulcans and a Half-a-Busa.

Copied Biglefti this morning, wore my "Arizona Leathers" (Shorts and a tee shirt) It's OK when you ride a plastic scooter

East Side of the mountain. This is only about a mile from Stigreaves Pass

Mid 90's, but Carl had never seen the Fish Pond Springs before. He had to get up there and take a look

Not to be out-done, Ed climbs the rock steps, which take you about half way up to the springs. This time of year it's very dry up there, but the water is still running

While we were there, several groups and single riders came by. Very few people know about the spring, it's not visible from the West, and if you don't know exactly where it is, you won't just stumble onto it.

Did a little dirt riding to get up here for a picture. Would have been easy on the XT, but was sort of tricky on the little wheels with not much suspension of the scooter. It was worth it.

You can't tell from the pictures, but I had to climb up quite a ways from the highway to get here.

New items at Cool Springs Store. Very nice chairs. Was thinking "patio", until I priced them...$300 ea!! But, they aren't plastic. :-)

All the best materials go into the chairs

By the time we finished out diet pops, there were several Harleys here. One couple was from Florida

Ed with his "cool vest" at Cool Springs

Ready to head home. Took my T-shirt off and rode home bare. Only about 30 miles, but I'm sort of pink tonight :-) Summer is coming to Kingman! It's 8 PM right now, and still 92 degrees outside.

Lake Mead City

75 mail boxes in one spot here in Lake Mead City

Normal Friday morning ride so Ed and Carl can pick up their weekly winnings and buy lottery tickets

This area on Northern Arizona has some very interesting people living in it.

I'd say "anything but..............."  Not a lot of contentment out here.

This place in the desert has a huge American Flag flying, it's off to the left, thought it was in the picture, but I missed it...

Route 66 Day

Peach Springs.  On the Rez.  This is an old gas station, store and repair shop.  The building used to be covered with vines, but a couple of years ago, they scraped them all off to preserve the building.  The walls are very thick.

During the 30's, 40's and 50's, a lot of cars gassed up here.

A cooler than normal morning.  T-shirt for Ed, Slammer jacket for me.  It was only in the 80's

Carl (vroc "Slippers") keeps emergency rations on all 3 of his bikes.  You never know when you might need a snack.  Sort of like Winnie the Pooh, and his honey pot.

This Store is next door to the Road Kill Cafe.  I've already posted a zillion pics of Seligman, so didn't take many today.

Skid's new camper on America's Main Street

Slippers and Ed soak up a little shade during our Hackberry stop for a cold driink.  There was a group of riders from Switzerland here on rented Gold Wings.  They were just pulling out when we got there.  There are many tours that stop here every day.  Bikes, Buses and Cars.  June 6th 2012.  A fine ride on fine American (Mexican, Japanese, and Taiwan) made motorcycles :-)

Moving into Summer

Howard, you need a decal like that for your car!

Katie put up this sign.  She says she's had it with that old guy.  He's pretty old and worn out, but still she may be able to get a few bucks for him. :-)

New business in Kingman. They are also specializing in Diesel performance products.