Great write-up and photos, @OsteKuste! Looks like a great day even though it was wet. But that's a great excuse to dry out a bit while eating (and drinking) your way through your drive. Absolutely stunning views and scenery in that area.
Thanks for a great write-up and fantastic photos, @JtC! I completely agree with you about loving the desert and how beautiful the scenery is. Although Lost Dutchman park is right up the road from us we've never even been there. Sheesh. Nor to Tortilla Flats though that's on the group motorcycle ride list. How is the road to get there? We've heard conflicting reports and would prefer to stick to asphalt. How fun that you ran across a car show! Love your description of Total Wine & More as an "adult candy store"--that's awesome! We have one exactly 1.9 miles from our front door which is a mixed blessing. And now with COVID they actually deliver.
I rode my Street Glide Special both Friday and Saturday and hit both local H-D dealerships. The smaller of the two is called Old Pueblo H-D and that's where I rode on Friday.Tucson's nickname is "The Old Pueblo" (the story of how that nickname came to be is for another time). It was the first time I've been out on that new bike by myself and I found it really relaxing to be on a solo ride. I hadn't been to the Old Pueblo dealership since prior to my bicycle accident so probably nearly a year ago. It was great to see my buddies in the sales and service departments and just to hang out and look at and sit on bikes. While there I found a couple of shirts and when I went to pay the clerk told me I had 8,000 points in my account! Well, that equates to $400. I was totally surprised and had she not told me that $$ would have gone to waste since points expire at the end of the calendar year. I guess I still have double points and all of the parts and engine upgrade stuff I put on my Street Glide Special was automatically loaded into my account. So the upshot of that is that the LED headlamp that I just ordered will pretty much be "free". Saturday I did another solo ride to the larger H-D dealership simply called Harley-Davidson of Tucson. That's where I ordered my LED headlamp and while I was there I checked on the status of some other parts I have on order--a KlockWerks "Flare" windshield and trim and Custom Dynamics LED turn signals with smoked lens covers. Those are in so when the headlight arrives I'll ride over (any excuse to ride...) and they'll pop everything in and on for me gratis. So as of this past weekend I've finally put more miles on my Street Glide than did Mr. Sandi and the techs before I could ride it---the bike has 367 miles on the odometer and I've put on exactly 200 of those. Mr. Sandi and I are doing an overnighter this coming Friday/Saturday to a little town called Payson. It's a great loop ride with the first day being about 280 miles through the Salt River Canyon and some gorgeous scenery and the second day being about 175 miles down the Beeline Highway. This will be the most miles I've ridden since Las Vegas Bike Fest a year ago and I'm really looking forward to it. It will also be the first time I've been out of Tucson since 2019.
Sandi said, "Tucson's nickname is "The Old Pueblo" (the story of how that nickname came to be is for another time)." Eck! Ya' big teaser!!! Now we have to hear it.
The road (88) is a great ride. It is very smooth, very curvy and pretty hilly to boot. Lots of fun and I'd love to take either of my bikes up it. The pavement doesn't run out for quite a ways past Tortilla Flat and those are some of the best curves. The down side, of course, is the traffic. The lake up there is very popular so there's RVs, folks pulling their boats, and of course plenty of bikes and sports cars. That said, it isn't that difficult to find yourself in a big enough gap in traffic to rip it up a little -I was able to squeal the tires on the Wrangler a few times. As for Total Wine and More, we're already talking about setting out a few hundred each to go wild the next time we're in one! Dangerous stuff, but fun.
Thanks, Sandi. That's interesting and funny -"where the hell is Tucson?". I guess it's true what they say, follow the money. Apparently the trick worked because the area seems to be booming!
Thanks for the info on Tortilla Flat and the area around there, JtC. We'll have to check it out this winter. Sounds like it's a good thing you don't live as close to Total Wine and More as I do.
Well, it’s a non Triumph but it has two wheels... Took the mountain bike out to enjoy some decent Fall weather. The ride is Pinnacle Firetower Trail on Buffalo Mountain near Erwin, Tn. The trail climbs about 2000 ft elevation in 4.8 miles, so a pretty challenging, rocky climb. At the top is a restored Forest Service fire tower. They were used in the day before satellites and cell phones to guard against forest fires. They would have a caretaker stationed there with a pair of binoculars and a radio to raise the alarm if smoke was observed. Now this one is converted to a lookout tower you can climb. I remember climbing this when I was a kid when the stair tread and floor were made of half rotting wood. Now it has been restored with all steel construction. It was a beautiful day and the view from the tower was worth the climb. At one point the trail crosses a gravel forest road. Met a fellow there on a Kawasaki Versys. It was a nice looking bike, especially considering what he said he paid for it as a new 2020 model. I couldn’t get a used Tiger for what it cost new!
He was just on the gravel access road. Not very difficult terrain at all. The trail I was on crossed it at one point, which is where I found him. That being said, I have found myself on a gravel road or two with my Street Cup
Spent this last weekend at the local community college. Took my daughter and went to the safety class. Friday night classroom and riding all day saturday and sunday. They provide all the bikes. I got a 200 suzuki van van. She had a tu250x suzuki. It was great fun and a good learning experience. Weather was terrible- 40 mph wind on saturday and a bunch of rain on sunday, but we made it through. We felt lucky, the van van and the tu250x were the nicest bikes. The rest of the class were stuck on GZ 250's, with no mirrors, no tailights, and multiple dinged fenders and scrapes. Most fuel tanks had large beauty marks. I had a ball on the van van, big long seat so I could slide back a little, big fat tires and a torquey little engine were nice for weaving in and out of cones in a parking lot.
Was yesterday but nipped up to Melton Mowbray for a cuppa and to collect a couple of pork pies; one for the father in law and one for us. The cafe pictured is a great place to stop/meet when passing through Melton.
Was going to take the Speedy for a last pre lockdown ride today but local roads soaking and covered in crap so went for a cycle instead. Peil Island from Roa Island, sorry about the sunshine! Peil Island still has it's own king. Really the landlord of the pub but a proper title. The title originating from the time of Lambert Simnel and his attempt to usurp the English throne. The castle was originally built by the Cistercian monks from nearby Furness Abbey in 1327. Furness Abbey The Abbey dates back to 1123 and was the second wealthiest and most powerful in the country after Fountains Abbey in Yorkshire. A very strange calm feeling to walk in the grounds.
