This club uses several meet up points, and today it was the Denny's Restaurant on Country Club and Southern.. This is not convenient for me out here in the extreem East part of the valley.. But hey it is what it is... So the first part of the ride was down the 6 lane highway 60 back to the center of downtown Mesa...
They met up at 10 AM and I was so early that I thought perhaps they had changed things... The reason for using that as the starting point, is because it is on highway 87 which is the road to Peyson, Az..
Once on the highway, these folks are all long range riders, and they put their head down and set the cruise controls on 70.. The ride is led by people with hundreds of thousands of miles on Goldwings and they ride thru the mountains like it was flat land... Of course I am brand new on my three wheeler, and that pushes my skill set... So I slow down at times when the road is challenging, which makes them pass me by and think poorly of me... Oh Well...
We ate lunch at the El Rancho Mexican Restaurant there in the middle of Payson... It is right across from the McDonalds... At the main intersection of highways... The food was authentic and good, but I have trouble with the spices in Mexican, so I stuck with a hamburger... and a salad..
As we were congregating out in the parking lot, I asked if we were going right back down the highway to Mesa... And most folks didn't want that. We decided to veer off and do the same ride we did last week passed the Roosevelt reservoir.. And then back thru Globe... We looked at the GPS and it was another 127 miles.. That took most of the afternoon, but it was a high 80s day in the mountains and past the lake... There wasn't a cloud in the sky, so the lake was very blue...
Once back into town, people veer off from the main highway heading on to their home points... No one returns to the original beginning point... So we just honk and wave as we leave the remaining riders...
I was gone about 6 hours, and Biscuit was glad to see me come home... She was sleeping in my big recliner, and sat on my lap once I wiggled into it with her...
Retired Rod
Better safe than sorry, Rod, when it comes to the challenges of the ride. I admire your stamina to be able to ride that far and for that long.
ReplyDeleteWhen we were riding I always wondered at the guys who would drink beer with lunch and we would take a lot of ribbing as to why we didn't drink--not on a bike! Biking is dangerous enough without taking chances--glad you are careful. We just had a motorcycle death in Billings--un-experienced rider came into a round-a-bout too fast and lost control.
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