Triumphrat

HiDesert · 07-21-2009, 12:45 AM

Sing it to the tune of "I Love Paris." You could also sing it to the tune of "Tin Pan Alley," but be prepared for people to look at you funny if you choose the latter, unless you are singing in a facility where the staff are 'nice people who want to help you.' And that's probably where I belong, because I didn't listen to any of the many, many people who looked at me strangely when I decided to ride my motorcycle to the conference.

In Tucson.

In July.

Hey, it's for work, so I'm getting paid for mileage! How can you pass that up?

At least I was equipped for the journey. Armored mesh jacket? Check. Camelback for continuous hydration? Check. Map of Arizona? I'd pick one up at a gas station.

I rose bright and early on Saturday to start the journey, and set the alarm back half an hour. Yadda yadda yadda, it was about 8:45 when I headed out of town, taking the canyon/mountain roads I know (and love) so well to get to Albuquerque.

Before long, I was on I-25, and past all 17 exits of Albuquerque. Knowing how to spell "Albuquerque" right on the first try is one of the earliest signs that you have been assimilated, and become a New Mexican. The only earlier sign is withdrawal symptoms if you go more than 15 minutes without green chile.

The countryside along the Rio Grande south of Albuquerque is deadly flat, but the blessed civil engineers had decided to throw some hairpins into I-25 to keep motorcyclists on their toes. See what I mean?

HiDesert · 07-21-2009, 01:03 AM

About an hour south of Albuquerque, you get to Socorro. I made my first gas stop there. It wasn't terribly hot, but I got some peanuts and a diet coke at the gas station. I then found route 60. I'd planned this part of the trip around a photo stop at the VLA. I'd also hoped to find some curvy roads.

Oh, well...

I chased a red convertible Corvette through a small town or two, and before I knew it, (after 47 minutes 12 seconds) I was at the VLA. For those of you who've been wondering what the VLA is, I'll put this picture first.

The VLA is 1) a radio interferometer device that allows us to gather radio-wave space image of remarkable resolution or sensitivity (depending on the dish placement), and 2) proof that scientific committees have the creativity of a box of generic low sodium saltines. It's on the Plains of Saint Augustine, right next to the Cibola National Forest, just north of Mount Withington, just west of a town named for a rock formation called "The Lady of the Mountain." So what do they call it? The Very Large Array. I suppose we should be happy they didn't call it the "Big Good Radio Thing" and leave it at that. Anyway, the dishes are cool.

From the Configurable Radio Astronomy Platform (see, there's a better name already - or maybe not), I continued west. I saw a pronghorn antelope as I headed back to route 60.

I always like going west. I kept hoping for good curves, but this is about all I got for miles and miles.

At least the weather was pleasant.

HiDesert · 07-21-2009, 01:14 AM

I passed through some more small, interesting towns, and crossed the continental divide. As usual, I didn't have my camera ready, so I don't have a picture. One of these days I'm going to turn around just to get that picture, even though it's never that special of a sign.

This sign, on the other hand, performs the vital function of informing all and sundry that "Hill blocks view." If you need to be told, the rest of society doesn't need you behind the wheel/handebars/voting booth curtain, IMHO.

One of the last towns I passed in New Mexico, Quemado, had a very pretty little church on the east side of town.

Soon after that, I entered Arizona, the Grand Canyon state. What they don't tell you is that the canyon was carved by the sweat of those foolish enough to visit in July. But I digress. I entered Arizona.

... and found myself in Springerville. It was time for gas and lunch. I passed up the usual array of fast food restaurants in favor of a little Mom and Pop café.

Lunch was good, and I got some good advice about how to stay at higher elevations for as long as possible. So I departed route 60, and headed off on route 260.

HiDesert · 07-21-2009, 09:59 PM

Route 260 was okay, but not great. The scenery was nice, but I'd been hoping for more curves. At least the temperatures were pleasant.

The road was pretty open for quite a while, and then I started coming to some towns.

Soon they all seemed to merge together into one, that finally broke up a few hamlets past Show Low. There was too much traffic too. The road finally rewarded my patience with a few good curves outside Payson.

I made a good, long gas stop in Payson, and recharged the camelback for the descent into Phoenix. The gas station attendant liked my bike, and warned me about a spot up ahead with frequent radar traps. I wasn't really going faster than the flow of traffic, but I appreciated the warning. There hadn't been anyone to warn me about the speed camera that I'd encountered coming into town, however! Speed cameras, in the good 'ol US of A! The horror! I wasn't really sure what the limit was, so I slowed down, only to see a rather surprised car in my mirrors. Good thing those cameras keep us all safer...

So now I began the final approach to the valley in which Phoenix lay, like a dragon egg in the heart of a bonfire. There were some more good curves:

HiDesert · 07-21-2009, 10:08 PM

... and the momentous event of the first Saguaro sighting of the trip.

Saguaros fascinate me. I love them. There will be more.

As I descended into Phoenix, the heat rose. Then it got hotter. Then, much to my surprise, it got even hotter. Fortunately, when I hit the highways of Phoenix (and they are many), it got even hotter.

If you want a rough idea of what it feels like to ride through Phoenix in July, find some heat lamps, stand under them in full gear, and cool yourself off with about a half dozen hair dryers set to 'hi.' Uncomfortably hot temperatures are the concept I'm trying to get across here. In the wrong gear, without a camelback, I'd change 'uncomfortably' to 'dangerously.' Even in mesh with a camelback, it was exhausting.

This was Saturday afternoon, so I was somewhat surprised to hit a block of stopped traffic. That was not going to fly; I took the first exit, and hoped the heat hadn't messed with my mental compass as I did some seat-of the-Sargent navigation through what turned out to be not the best section of Phoenix. I pulled into a McDonald's to cool off and call my Uncle to verify the directions. He laughed at my reaction to the heat (about which he'd warned me in no uncertain terms, it must be said), and I laughed at the dancing monkeys I was seeing (is delirium a sign of heat stroke?), and then I was back on the road. Fifteen or twenty (hot, hot, oh so hot) minutes later, I had arrived, and was soaking up air conditioning and ice water as fast as I could.

It was hot.

sditsurfer · 07-22-2009, 10:35 AM

I have been traveling back and forth to Tucson a few month now by plane to visit a friend of mine and the heat is downright oppressive! Saying it is hot is an understatement. You are brave man to endure that heat for so many miles. I am definitely yearning for those quiet Arizona highways...(soon)

Medic09 · 07-22-2009, 05:43 PM

I'm making the ride down to Tucson in 2 weeks for a trauma conference (not getting paid miles, or anything else!). I was also planning a right turn at Socorro. Would you change anything in your route or gear?

Sprint's picked up a vibration since my crash up in Estes Park a few weeks ago. Gotta try and get rid of that before the ride to Tucson.

So, that's it? No more pics and narrative? You're only in PHX; what happened to Tucson?

HiDesert · 07-23-2009, 01:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Medic09

Sprint's picked up a vibration since my crash up in Estes Park a few weeks ago. Gotta try and get rid of that before the ride to Tucson.

Pardon? I don't remember hearing about that! PM/email me!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Medic09

So, that's it? No more pics and narrative? You're only in PHX; what happened to Tucson?

Glad you asked...

I knew it would be hot the next day, so I got up really early to dash for the mountains. Then I went back to bed for another hour or two, got up, and spent several hours comparing trip pictures with my uncle, who's just as much of a southwest shutterbug as I am, and that's saying something. He then cooked me an excellent breakfast, and I hit the road around the stroke of 12:00. It might have been 1:00. Whatever.

Getting through the city was smooth, but hot. Not as hot as riding into town the day before, but hotter than it ever gets up in my mountains. I really should have hit the road sooner, but time flies when you're comparing pictures. I headed east out of town on route 60, where I saw a fellow Triumph rider; if this is you, PM me!

Route 60 is very highway-ish until you are well east of Phoenix. Then the saguaro sprout up, the hills draw near, and after a couple of very wide, sweeping turns (the kind you barely have to lean for, unfortunately), you start to climb.

There are a couple of miles of reasonably entertaining curves, and then you get the town of Superior, Arizona. Humble folk, those Superiorians. It was originally a mining town, like many of the towns east and southeast of Phoenix.

I stopped for gas, and to top off my camelback with as much ice as it would hold. I'd done so at my uncle's house too, but it melts fast in those temps (certainly over 100F, and it may well have been above 110F by that time of day).

With both critical tanks full to bursting, I got back on the road and hung a right to get on route 177. Now we're talking. Nice road.

HiDesert · 07-23-2009, 01:47 AM

The riding was very good, and the cactus and flowering desert plants were a very pretty backdrop. There was also very little traffic; gotta love that. After a few miles of good turns, I crested a rise and came upon a large pit mine.

The road descended from here, and it got hotter and hotter as it did so. I was also passing through some more small towns, so I had to keep the speeds down. In a young nation, New Mexico and Arizona have some of the youngest towns.

Some of the oldest, too, but not along this road.

The main entertainment was watching the saguaro. I may have mentioned that I find them very interesting.

I stopped in the town of Winkelman to soak up some AC. I got some soda and nuts as well. It was really getting hot. I probably loitered around (well, actually, inside) the gas station for 15 or twenty minutes before getting back on the road and making a right onto route 77. 77 follows a stream down a valley until you come to the town of Mammoth, where it breaks west to climb a ridge (giving you a very good rear view mirror view of the hills to the east).

The Yucca Trees got thick as the road climbed this ridge. I passed the Biosphere 2, and then began the final, gradual drop into Tucson.

It got hotter.

HiDesert · 07-23-2009, 01:58 AM

I knew 77 eventually hit the highway, and I knew one of the exits from I-10 would take me straight to the conference hotel, but I thought it would be quicker to cut straight west and get to I-10 that way, rather than continue on the diagonal down route 77. I did the stop and go, red light to red light thing for what seemed like forever on 77, then picked a likely-looking street and cut west. It was hot. I was really looking forward to the interstate, where I could blast up to 60 or 70ish for a bit and sort of cool off as best on can at one hundred and you've got to be kidding me degrees. Finally, I got to the highway. The on ramps were closed. Great. Slog down the access road. Every ramp was closed. It was yet more stoplight to stoplight traffic. %^&$.

Finally, I found my road and headed west, into the hills on the west end of Tucson. It would have felt really nice to ignore the speed limit for a mile or two of that open road. But that would have been wrong. Sure would have felt good, though.

Finally, the hotel was in sight.

I pulled up the front entrance, and tried to convince the valets to let me keep the bike under the covered area in front of the entrance. Nothing doing. They did let me keep in right by the covered space, though, where it could be seen from the front desk. I went in, checked in (they were quick enough about getting me checked in that I wondered how badly my pants needed washing), and headed for the room.

Where I turned the AC down to it's lowest setting. Aaaaaah.

So, Medic, getting back to your question, I'd say the best route would be I-25 to Socorro, 60 past the VLA, then down 191 (which is a fantastic road, and one I planned to hit on the return journey) to route 70 to I-10 and into Tucson that way. That will keep you at higher elevations longer, and 191, just to reiterate, is fantastic.