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V-Tom heads out to western USA May 2018

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#1 ·
Early in 2018 I was planning a trip to Arizona to visit my Daughter and see some more of the south-western USA. Turned out I had training on the New Cayenne with Porsche (I have been Porsche's for about 24 years) in Albuquerque at the same time so I added it to my trip. My wife couldn't come so this ended up being a solo trip which meant little sitting around and lots of riding. Three days were spent at my daughter's and two full days training in Albuquerque.

Left May 12th and arrived home May 29th.
Ended up doing 10,828 Km or 6,728 miles.

I will try not to bore you with videos and hopefully not too many pictures.

..Tom
 
#2 ·
Bike packed up and ready to go.

While I have sidecases (GIVI E41 and GIVI E21) I can't stand them and only will use them if I have no other choice. I really love my 80 liter Givi Waterproof bag on the back seat. The GIVI bag makes for a great backrest! It was loaded up a bit more than otherwise since i had to have dress clothes for the Porsche training.



First couple of days was largely slabbing (as was much of the wide open spaces out west!)

thought this was interesting:



..Tom
 
#3 ·
I love Southern Fried Chicken!

When planing my route I made sure there were Fried Chicken places near where I stayed overnight. I planned to go down the Natchez Trace parkway and read good reviews about the chicken at "Loveless Motel". Since I would be running through there at lunch time on a Sunday I phoned to see what the odds were of getting in and out fairly quickly. (This was in early April.) I spoke to the Manager and she pointed out they had take out and it shouldn't be too bad. What we both didn't 'realize was that Sunday was Mother's Day and there was a **two hour** wait when I got there !!! I checked in at the counter and the moment I spoke to the lady there she asked "Are you the Canadian that called?" She took me aside and mentioned the wait and if I told her what I wanted she would get my order in quickly! What a nice lady! Chicken was great too!



Went on Natchez Trace. Pretty road with a great history. If you are into that history then I am sure it would be a very interesting place to explore. For my tastes it was boring and I got off a Tupelo (and no I didn't check out Elvis' birthplace.)



Into Alabama:




Crossing the Tennessee river:



And into Mississippi:




..Tom
 
#4 · (Edited)
After I got off the Natchez trace I slabbed it west for a bit.

Crossed the mighty Mississippi:





And into Arkansas:



..Tom
 
#5 ·
I went into the Arkansas Ozarks (but don't know where the pictures are as I'm at work. If I find them I'll post them here later.

Was really nice riding! Scenic, great twisties! thanks @SECoda for making me aware of the Ozarks!

..Tom
 
#42 · (Edited)
I hope you find those Arkansas Ozark pictures. I took my wife on a few of the roads south of Branson, Mo that we ride on in the truck recently and she got motion sickness almost immediately.
 
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#6 ·
In the Ozarks I stayed in "Eureka Springs". Nice little town, didn't take any pictures. Headed west avoided interstates for a bit and eventually hit Oklahoma:






Okay what happens when it's 100°F/38°c:



..not a cloud in the sky, you are slabbing along the interstate and your hands are getting hot so you take your gloves off; not thinking that the medicines you take make you very sensitive to the sun?

Not good:







Okay it looks bad enough but (scarily!) didn't actually hurt. I had pure vitamin E oil and poured it over my hands and it was actually fine the next day.

Moral of the story:

Don't do that! (or wear sunblock!)

..Tom
 
#7 ·
Hit Texas:



Slabbed across the top of Texas. Very wide open county which is typical out west. Saw what I am sure wasthousands of Windmills:



And into New Mexico:




Hard to explain how you feel slabbing along for hours with this being the typical scenery:



Got to the training in Albuquerque. I won't bore you with a bunch of pictures from the training but it really was wonderful scenery around there. didn't know they had Ski resorts and an extinct Supervolcano.

Here is a stop on the test drive of the new Porsche Cayenne:



(The young Lady there was Kahla who works in our service department. She was my partner on the drive. Wonderful young lady!)

..Tom
 
#8 ·
After leaving Albuquerque I headed south and then west as I wanted to see the "Very Large Array" (VLA) near Datil. (It was in the movie "Contact" as well as a couple of other movies that I don't recall.) It is conveniently on the way between Albuquerque and Morenci, AZ where my daughter lives.

Very desolate country there and and you have to make sure you have gas. I had planned on stopping in Magdalena for gas as there was a nice new looking Valero gas station showing on Google Street view. Only problem is that when I got there it appeared to be permanently shut down. If I didn't gas in Magdalena I would not have enough gas to go to the VLA and continue on to Morenci directly. I would have had to backtrack, gas at Socorro and take the interstate around. It would have added at least two or three hours. Fortunately a ranger told me there was a little gas station I had missed on the way through town. Only regular but I knew my Strom would run fine on it if needed.

After that more wide open space before getting to the VLA:



The VLA is on an ancient dried up lake bed. I saw at least 5 Dust Devils and perhaps a few more. There is one crossing the highway up ahead on this picture and there was another one behind that doesn't show in the picture:



The radio-telescopes are moved around on rails. On the way into the center you cross the tracks. I almost wiped out leaving this spot after the picture as the gravel was very loose and some of it was round river rock:



The radio telescopes are spred out across the deseert:




These things are BIG! About 100 feet tall:



..Tom
 
#9 ·
Leaving the VLA you are on the lake bed for a while and I saw several more Dust Devils. There are two in this picture:



And a close up:




I almost never saw anyone else in this area:



..Tom
 
#10 ·
In Arizona!



HWY 78 has a nice set of switchbacks coming down the mountain. Picture doesn't do it jsutice:



Won't bore you with family photos but here is my daughter, her BF (hopefully futuree son-in-law0 and me:



Spent three days there then headed up Coronado trail past the mine:





This mine is HUGE! Largest Copper mine in North America and it messes with your brain when you look down it.



..Tom
 
#11 ·
Once you get past the mine is has some great twisties with lots of unspoiled wilderness and scenic views:





This isn't scenic but I liked the shot for some reason:



..Tom
 
#12 ·
After Coronado Trail I headed to a place in Arizona I always wanted to go to.

The roads on the way there largely looked like this:



And I took it easy.


I have been in AZ about a dozen times training with Porsche and three times on bikes and sometimes got near to it but not near enough to go there.

Finally I made it and was "Standing on a Corner in Winslow Arizona"! And have the picture to prove it!



:)

..Tom
 
#13 ·
From Winslow I doubled back a bit and back into New Mexico:



Strange wonderful feeling riding down empty roads and empty county with just you and your bike!



Headed up to Colorado:




And up the "Million Dollar Highway"





Saw this little beauty on display in Gunison:



..Tom
 
#14 · (Edited)
Been to that copper mine in Arizona Tom, have some of the exact same pics and from the same locations as well........amazing is all I can say. So you got to ride some of route 666 I assume, it is every bit as good if not better than the Dragon 128. :smile2: Oh and the million dollar highway in Colorado, it's unreal isn't it, and where are all the pics from that? We stayed 2 nights in Ouray, Steve and Craig did some exploring up to an abandoned mine way up in the mountains.
 
#15 ·
Up to Cripple Creek:



It was fairly late when I got there so the trains weren't running but at least one of the engines had fire and you could hear it boiling away:



Next stop Pike's Peak:





..Tom
 
#16 ·
I headed north:







And into the Black Hills. Very scenic area but lots of traffic.



Mount Rushmore:



(Gotta love my Harley T-Shirt!)

And the Crazy Horse Memorial:



Steam engine on Display in Deadwood:



Spearfish Canyon:



And looking for Close Encounters:






..Tom
 
#17 ·
Heading up to Montana though some badlands:



And the mountains ahead:



And finally Montana:



..Tom
 
#18 ·
I wanted to do a loop on Beartooth Hwy starting in Montana but it was closed at the border with Wyoming.



Lots of snow up top.



At the border with Wyoming there were probably 50 cars, most with trailers for Snowmobiles. I saw some snow-bikes out there:



I saw these three jump off the cliff at the switchback above this. I didn't realize they were skiing so kind of freaked me out until I saw them at the switchback below:



..Tom
 
#19 ·
After Montana I basicalluy slabbed home:



Don't know where my pictures are of Minnesota and Wisconsin. Maybe I'll find them later. Here is MIchigan:



I went back through Sault St. Marie but first wanted to go over the Mackinac Bridge which I did a short while after this photo.




Didn't take any worthwhile photos after this and tried to not put too much boring stuff in here.

Hope you enjoyed!

..Tom
 
#20 ·
PS:

I planned this trip using "FURKOT"

I had hard timelines to get to the training and to visit my daughter. After visiting my daughter I had ideas of where to go not firm plans andf I pretty muck decided my route after Arizona the night before. Coronado trail, Winslow were high on my list as was Million Dollar Highway and Cripple creek (I had last ridden those in 2011 on my 2006 DL650.)

Pike's Peak was on my wish list as was Mount Rushmore and Beartooth Pass so it was nice to be able to see them.

Here is how the trip looked on the map view on Furkot:




..Tom
 
#21 ·
I enjoyed your trip, V-Tom, am very familiar with the Socorro/Datil area, and tho' I know I'm closing the barn door too late, others may benefit -

A few years ago, I was driving my 4Runner east on the freeway near the AZ/NM border. Came down into a long dip across a dry wash and saw a large dust devil coming toward me in the wash. Didn't think much of it and went into it at 75 mph. Baaad mistake. It was like a giant hand slammed that SUV and tried to spin it. I came out the other side at an angle and had to fight the car straight on the road. Nearly wrecked me.......a motorcycle would've been cartwheeled into the next county. DON'T ride thru dust devils. (I know you didn't, but your comment brought back the memory)
 
#22 ·
Nice pics and write up. Saw some big nasty dust devils in the So East part of Oregon that had recently gotten scorched. Gave the place a real Mordor aspect.
When we'd get hit by the dust devils out in the Mojave desert we were traveling slowly and they weren't huge but it's good to remember to shut the windows of the 4Runner. Gets messy otherwise.
 
#24 ·
That looks like a great trip, V-Tom, and I'm feeling jealous! I've been to the southwest several times now on a bike, and every time I see photos of it I want to go back. I was just standing in front of that same sign as you at Pike's Peak in June.
 
#26 ·
I needed to save something for next time I'm down there!

..Tom
 
#27 ·
Great write-up! You have ridden pretty much everywhere. Did you think highway AZ191 heading north from the mine was the best? Many claim it's one of the best rides in the country. Living in AZ we not only get to see dust devils a lot, occasionally you have to ride through them. When they cross the road you just hold on tight and go!
 
#29 · (Edited)
It's a great ride for sure!

My wife and I rode it a few years back. We had planned to ride it on sportier bikes but the stupid rental company screwed things up and we ended up doing it on Harleys. Nice bikes but not the best choice for that road. Being alone and loaded up meant I wasn't very aggressive but enjoyed it just the same. In some ways It reminds me of the switchbacks on 89a but it has been a while since I rode that and memories might be getting mixed up.

I suspect there are dust devils and there are DUST DEVILS. I had experienced the little ones here in Canada and they are no big deal. The ones I saw down there looked like much more powerful ones and I wouldn't want to hit one of those in a 4-Runner let alone a bike!

..Tom
 
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