Thursday, January 10, 2013

Much colder and dust.... And the longest bike ride yet.

Loyce made the comment this morning that if I was going to go ride the bike, I had better go get it done today...  The next several days are forecast to be highs in the upper 40s...  And lows in the 20s....  And along with that we are to have winds that kick up the dust, like last summers dust storms...

The temps today shot right up to the 60s so I went out almost at once when it became noon...  Today I decided to up the speeds a little, and hit the freeway US 60 to the East..  Out thru Gold Canyon and on to the Florence highway 79...  This heads off down towards Tucson...

I was rolling about 65 and at times 70, but that seems to be no problem for 1800 cc's of boxer 6 cylinders...  Once down to Florence I turned back  North on the Hunt Highway..

This is a small road that is narrow and somewhat rough.  It winds up from the Florence area thru a Del Webb community called Anthem...  They come up with some of the oddest names for these places....

Eventually we came back to the South end of Queen Creek about 10 miles South of us here...  I rode back to the Wendy's up at the North end of Ellsworth Rd...

At the Wendy's, I was called by the broker that I use in West Des Moines, so we got in quite a discussion about anything and everything...  He knew about the motorcycle because his assistant had to send some money for me.... so he had to know all about that....

You can't hide much from your banker.....LOL..  Anyway I was tired from the ride, so I went shopping at Wal Mart and back home...  About 70 miles today, which makes the total mileage over 300 now for about 6 days...

As the sun was going down, tonight, it became really cold...  In the 40s rather quickly....  It is to stay that way for the next several days...  They're talking low 20s at night...  That will be the end of quite a bit of our summer vegetation we planted last summer..

If I am going to ride with the Romeo's next spring, I had better get used to riding the bigger bike, up to two hundred miles at a time...  Those guys are viscous...  Many of them are members of the Iron Butt club, where they ride 1,000 miles in less than 24 hours....  Unless something changes rather drastically, you won't have to worry about me joining a ride like that....

Retired Rod


6 comments:

  1. Don't think I could be part of the "Iron Butt Club", that's too many miles for me. Glad you enjoyed your day before we go into frost mode!

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  2. Hi: I don't think you meant Anthem. That is north of Phoenix. Could you have meant San Tan Valley? When you want to take a longer trip, try the road from Florence to Oro Valley (north of Tucson). Beautiful desert country. Not too developed. But two lanes all the way.

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    1. Perhaps it was Copper Basin which is South of San Tan Valley... But there were signs for Anthem, but perhaps they were just advertisements for Anthem and I was really in Copper Basin.. I don't get down that far very often...

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  3. No way would I ever want to be part of the Iron Butt Club - whether on a bike or in a truck. We're waiting until tomorrow to head to Q because of the winds today. It's just going to be so cold I'm going to be miserable no matter where I am. Glad you got in one more great ride.

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  4. The Iron Butt Club - that sounds about right for guys who'd ride bikes a 1,000 miles in 2 days. Some folks, not me of course, might suggest that you'd have to have an Iron Brain to do that!

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  5. butterbean carpenterJanuary 10, 2013 at 9:42 PM

    Howdy Rod,
    Sounds like you're getting the hang of it; it really is easy, once you keep going; just put one leg on the right side the other leg on the left side and KEEP YOU MIND IN THE MIDDLE!! Most breakfast groups only go about 60-80 miles to eat around down here; of course it's that far to the next town out here in West Texas!!!
    Please, don't send us that dust storm; we have plenty of our own!! Sorry about your plants, hope some of them make it!!

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