Thursday 6 May 2004

Up early and on the road by 7:00. Thought we'd avoid winds in the morning - ha! Miles of desert. Highway 95 - Las Vegas - miles of stop and go traffic on the "freeway." Yuck! To 93, through Boulder City, then down to Boulder/Hoover Dam. We parked just across the dam, at Lot 9. Nice Aussie parking attendant (ex-motorcycler himself and VERY motorcycle friendly) gave us a VIP space under the awning in a handicapped spot. Very hot! Walked across the dam to the new Visitor Center.

Lunch at the "High Scaler Café." Gil being a log scaler, we must take a specially modified photo.

The Visitor Center is too damned slick. Where are all the old photos? The excellent videos? We take the tour, which we find mediocre. Now you just go down a huge elevator, walk through one tunnel, then see one turbine room. Then you're sent back up.

Back on the dusty, windy desert highway, now in Arizona. Lots of drivers. We nearly ran out of gas; got some just outside of Kingman. Then Gil went one way (Highway 40) and I went another, towards Highway 66. Using our cell phones, we hooked up again about 30 minutes later. We decided to stop for the day in either Kingman or go up Highway 66 for a bit. We're tired.

240 miles today. We end up at Best Western King's Inn. Nice place, with a little living room area. We're living it up now - everything matches and there's a pool. $74.

Tonight is the much hyped finale for the long running TV show "Friends." We decide - what the heck - to order in pizza and watch the finale, even though we haven't watched the show in years. We note the channel that is advertising "Friends at 9:00." At 9:00, sure enough, on that channel, we watch an hour of Friends but it turns out it's just reruns. Oh well. The pizza was good.

Friday 7 May 2004

I baked my own waffle this morning at the motel's "free breakfast" - yummy! Highway 66 - calendar shots along the way

Gil: here Becky is referring to the online motorcycling community call the Sport-Touring.Net (it's all about travelling on sportsbikes, often at "above-average" speeds) and the yearly calendar they produce. We stopped on this trip periodically to snap pictures hoping to make next year's edition.

- to Peach Springs, where we stopped for gas at this picturesque old station. We mailed a postcard to the Martins in England here at the tiny, friendly post office. Back on the road,I accidentally ran over a squirrel shortly before reaching Seligman, where we bought tiny Route 66 souvenirs.

East on Highway 40, where we made good time on a good road. 40 took us from desert to high forest, to Flagstaff, then Highway 17 south to the turnoff for Highway 89A. Quite the scenic road, spectacular red rock formation, down through the twisties into a steep canyon and Slide Rock State Park, formerly the site of an orchard ranch. We walked in the dazzling heat to the river where we relaxed for a bit. Seems like a popular picnic/swimming spot for the locals.

Back on 89A, we stopped in the very touristy Sedona for lunch. Found a Mother's Day present for Wade's Becky. This is the sort of town you'd love if you had lots of money and were in the market for guided canyon tours in pink humvees and lots of expensive "western" jewelry and purses. After lunch, we climbed up the twisty slopes to Jerome, a former copper mining town perched on impossibly steep slopes. Visited the visitor center/overlook just before the "downtown." We pass a bunch of sportbikers having a cool one in town - of course I miss a gear and make a slight fool of myself as we make the abrupt left turn and steep rise out of town.

Climb, turn, turn, climb, turn, turn, descend into Prescott Valley. Some confusion over signage, but eventually we make it into Prescott, south on 89. We stopped a few miles outside of town at the legendary Encore Performance and Fabrication, where they sell Moto Guzzis and other exotics. Gil is looking to replace his rear tire, but they can't help. I do try to assist them with a scooter sale, however. "My, you look great on that bike - very sporty. Yes, you should buy it, but of course you'll want to take a motorcycle safety course." (A few minutes later she dropped the bike standing still, and was quite mortified.)

Rode through the picturesque town square of Prescott, but couldn't find a place to stay within walking distance, so we backtracked a bit and found the rather humdrum and expensive Best Western Prescottonian. (A month later, our Visa bill revealed we'd been charged 3 times for our one night there….a subsequent phone call did result in rectification, but I don't believe we'll be staying there again. The host at their restaurant was kind of a creepy guy, too.) Anyway, we're very tired. 266 miles today.