Family
Family arrived today. Lots of fun so far. Lots of stuff to share but no time to blog.

We'll be up in the mountains for the next two days. I'll be keeping notes and catching up with the blogs when we return to Pheonix. Wish me luck.

The Descent
I slept in this morning as I had yesterday. The good time I made on days 2 and 3 really allowed me to take my time these last two days. I left Payson at 11:30 a.m. to head the rest of the way down the mountain to Phoenix -- a 2 hour ride. This was by far the best combination of scenery and riding conditions yet. The weather was perfect -- no wind! There weren't many places to pull off, so the picture posted here doesn't really do justice. I figured I would just enjoy the ride rather than worry about documenting it. (I may be able to get some better shots on the way back up the mountain with the fam.)

The mountains and valleys at times reminded me of the those in the northeast, though they seemed more dramatic. By that I mean every ridge, gully, peak and outcropping stands out boldly here, whereas in the northeast the complete blanket of greenery smoothes over all the fine details of the topography. In Pennsylvania, that drama is only apparent in the winter, when the trees lay down their guard and reveal the harsh reality of the weathered land they cling to for life.

The vegetation changed pretty quickly as I dropped in altitude. It seemed like I went from Ponderosa pines to saguaro cacti in a matter of minutes. (Remembering yesterday: the change was just as quick when climbing up the other side of the mountain range.) Then a half-hour of riding through the desert to Phoenix. Actually, to The Greater Phoenix Area. Tempe, Mesa, Scottsdale, Glendale, et. al., adjoin Phoenix to make one uber-city. So my saying that my destination was Phoenix is true in the same way that Sweetie grew up in St. Louis even though she really grew up in Bellefountaine Neighbors. Or that Blossoms says she is from Delaware when she is really from the Greater New Jersey Area. (I was going to also make fun of Cornbread, but I can't think of any "Greater Area" that Monroe City would be a part of.)

TGPA seems like a pretty cool place. Mill Street near the ASU campus seems like the happening spot. Like South Street in Philly, 6th Street in Austin, 9th Street in CoMo (I know, I know... it's a stretch). I was told that all of Mill St. downtown is WiFi-ified, as is the entire ASU campus. (McDonald's even has WiFi.) There are lots of bars, shops, cafes, bookstores; you know... the whole college-town-main-drag situation. The place I tried is the Coffee Plantation. It's okay. The atmosphere is better than the selection.

Some of my family arrived in town this evening: my brother Ojo and his family Moe, Poe, and Goe; and my mom, Ruthless. Ojo and family went straight to see some other relatives, so we'll meet up with them sometime tomorrow. Ruthless and I got caught up over a beverage at the Sheraton lounge. Tomorrow the rest of the clan arrives. Tonight I rest.

Desert to Mountain
An amazing day of riding: The Painted Desert, the Petrified Forest, wind gusts of 50 mph, a climb to 7,700 ft., Ponderosa Pine forests with snow on the ground, a 30-minute downpour coming down the other side of the mountain, and finally our arrival in Payson.

I really feel like I had to run the gantlet to get here, but it was worth it. There is a strange sense of euphoria knowing that you've come through something very difficult to achieve a goal. The last thirty miles was intense, to say the least. Rain had started in earnest. With nowhere to pull off the winding mountain road, my only choice was to push on. I started to shiver a bit with a few miles to go. (Shivering is a great indication that you are no longer in complete control of your body -- and therefore your bike.) I could feel it get a few degrees warmer as I dropped down out of the mountain, and it was welcome relief.


I know I'm reaching my limit mentally when I start to talk to myself on the bike. "Just a little farther." "Ten miles left." "I can't believe there's snow on the ground." "I'm glad I got these gloves." Under better conditions the talking is more mundane -- "Is that a butte or a mesa?" -- but it is still a good indication to me that I should start looking for a motel or campground. I also sing a little, mostly Pearl Jam, Van Morrison, and show tunes. (It's all been said before, so you better come up with something good if you're going to comment about that last one.)

Anyway, I finally started uploading some pictures. The photos from this morning are pretty cool. (Not as cool as the views themselves, suckers!) The first is one of many amazing views from scenic overlooks in the Painted Desert National Park. The second is from the Petrified Forest National Park. I'll add more pics to older posts when I get the chance.

303 and 304
I was incommunicado for the last few days, so this is a make-up post.

7.5 hours, 272 miles. Doesn't sound like that much, does it? I'd planned on 266 miles per day, so I'm still on track. I was pretty worried about getting caught in the rain -- thus the numerous rest stop/truck stop comments -- but it only sprinkled three times, for a few minutes at a time. Not even enough to get out the rain gear (thanks again, #4). Again the big problem was the wind: not as bad as Okla., but still enough to tire me out.

I pulled in to Gallop, NM, at 5 p.m. I pulled into the KOA with plenty of light left in the day to set up the tent for the first time (thanks again, porkchop). As I got off my bike I saw the KOA employee locking up the office door. She saw me coming and said "Oh, are you wanting to check in?" I saw that she was putting up a "back in 15 minutes" sign, and she seemed like she was in a hurry. So I said, "Yeah, but I can go get some gas and be back in 15 minutes if that's better for you." She said "Okay, I'll be back soon."

Long story short, (too late) an hour and twenty minutes later it was getting dark when she returned to open the office. I was less then pleased. By this time a line of RVs had formed and those folks were also not pleased. I asked the woman to give me a cabin for the cost of a tent site, since I no longer had time to unload my bike and put up a tent before dark. The woman decided to not exceed my expectations. She offered me $5 off the cabin price.

"Miss, if I wanted to spend $30 bucks I would have ridden for another hour tonight and stayed in a motel along the highway. I stopped here over an hour ago so I could set up my tent and save $15." She stared at me for a few seconds unsympathetically. I was having a real Meet-the-Parents-airplane-scene kind of moment, but I stopped short of being detained by the TSA. I was done riding for the day, and didn't see any cheap motels in the immediate area, so I gave in and took the cabin.

OK, in with the good air, out with the bad air.

The good news for the day is, without even trying, I added two birds to my life list. #303 was a Greater Roadrunner that was loitering outside the motel this morning while Nina and I were getting ready to go. #304 was a Common Raven in the high plains this afternoon. I just passed 300 earlier this month, when All Terrain Reda and I picked up three new species at Eagle Bluffs (American Golden-Plover, Sandhill Crane and Cinnamon Teal). My goal for this trip is to reach 330. It's pretty lofty, but definitely possible. The birding begins for real after this weekend's family activities wind down.

Namesté
I was practically alone on the road today. I think I saw a total of 5 other bikes on the road -- three being ridden, two being trailored. One of the trailored bikes is a show bike built by a famous custom bike builder, Gary Woodford. It was the first bike Gary built for Discovery's "Southern Choppers." (If you're interested, see it at www.milwaukeeiron.com -- click on Photo Gallery; Bike Showcase; Lucas Oil - The Side Car Bike.)

Anyway. I put in 313 miles today from Hinton, OK, to Tucumacari, NM. It was much less windy today, so my ride through the Texas panhandle went well. Western Oklahoma blended into Texas without much of a change in scenery. But as I approached New Mexico the landscape changed: first a bit of rolling hills, then mesas. Beautiful land, although it is a bit depressing. As amazing and striking as it is, I'm so used to seeing trees, shrubs and grass that it's hard to not think that this semi-barren land is somehow wrong or incomplete. I hope I get a chance to hit some parks in NM on my way back east and take in more of the landscape. But for now I have to settle for the views from the highway.

Speaking of the weather: I got screwed (and not in a good way) and I'm probably going to end up stuck at a truck stop for a day. Yesterday the forecast for Texas called for showers tonight. The line on the map looked awful close to the NM border. My plan was to get into NM before the storms developed behind me. I was planning on camping tonight in Tucu. In the last half hour of my ride tonight the clouds steadily thickened to the point that I was sure I would be hitting rain. Screwed. I got in to Tucu and made a quick decision to use a bit more of my motel fund and skip the camping for another day. So I pay for the room, head upstairs, turn on the weather... no rain. More accurately, no rain reaching the ground. The air is so dry that the rain that was falling from the massive clouds evaporated before in reached Earth. Screwed. The new and improved forecast calls for rain tomorrow. It may or may not hold off until the afternoon, but the idgits on the box seem pretty sure it's gonna happen. Thus the truck stop. Screwed.

Finally for today, I wanted to talk about a phenomenon in the bike world. We wave to each other. Every bike that goes by. You can hold your hand straight out, point two fingers, hold it down at an angle, or do the Statue of Liberty. But everyone does it -- from a 50-year-old Harley guy with a full beard and Jack Daniels tank top to the 19-year-old in Tommy and Oakleys on a Ninja crotch-rocket. It's nice. (ATR, it's a lot like the dirt road phenomenon.) With the lack of people to wave to today, I was thinking about this wonderful tradition. It made me think of a word I learned from my former yoga instructor. "Namasté." It is an Indian (the Asian country, not native American) word that means something like "I see the divine in you." Or, "I see in you that which is pure and good." It's a sign of respect and/or love. It's similar to the Hawaiian word "aloha".

We all have issues. We all have faults, We all make mistakes. Each of us is different. Yet I recognize that which is good about you.

And so...
Namasté

Breezing Through Oklahoma
I put in 330 miles today, making up for some lost time from yesterday. Every mile of it was a workout. I spent the entire day wrestling with 40-50 mph wind gusts. I guess I held my own, but damn, another day of that and my arms are gonna fall off. Today I realized the value in a heavier bike. If I had done this trip with my old bike I'd have been blown off the highway.

I saw a few interesting/unusual things today. First of all, the scenery was nice. Fairly flat, but nice. Some of the lowlands around the rivers look like something out of Lord of the Rings: Twisted, gnarled trees sticking out of otherwise barren mud flats. Beautiful in an odd way. Somewhere just outside of Tulsa, a small hawk -- carrying a still wriggling snake -- flew across the highway right in front of me. The snake was fairly small. The hawk was smaller than a red-tail.

I also rode past several fires. It was hard to tell if they were controlled burns or if they were wild fires. From what I could see, they didn't look like large, out of control fires.

The Microtel Inn I'm in at the moment is much nicer than the Best Budget Inn from last night. (Free WIFI.) Tomorrow's goal puts me in a tent in Tucumcari, NM. No WIFI at that particular KOA. Sorry folks.

Now is the time on Sprockets when we sleep.

We Have Lift-off
After packing, unpacking, repacking, reunpacking, and rerepacking, Nina and I finally hit the road at 1pm. The original goal was 11am, but anyone who knows me won't be surprised much that I was running late. That's how I roll. Let's move on.

Once on the highway, it became abundantly clear that the "skip resistant" CD player I bought was not gonna hack it. After 20 minutes of listening to Behind the Front -- 2 seconds at a time -- I pulled over and shut 'er down. Once I start feeling a bit better about my progress, I'll rearrange where I'm keeping the walkman and try again.

Other than the Great CD Fiasco of 2006, the riding went pretty well. I stopped four times on my way to Springfield. The first two stops were primarily to check my packing job. I was very nervous about all my belongings flying off the back of the bike at 70mph. The other stops were for gas, snacks and drinks.

Springfield. Springfield was my fall-back plan. I thought that if I had a really good day, I could make it out of Missouri on Day 1. But at the very least, I wanted to make it to Springfield. By the time I rolled into Springfield I was ready for a break. The sun was starting to drop, and it was getting pretty chilly, but I just had to get past Springfield. I didn't want to resort to my "very least" scenario on the first day of my trip. So I pushed on just past the last Springfield exit, and got off the highway as soon as I saw a sign for a motel. Of course as I'm following the signs to the Best Budget Inn I see "Springfield city limits". Alright, I guess I'll stay in Springfield.

(I'm posting after the fact, as the Best Budget Inn did not have WIFI availability. Go figure.)

6 Days and Counting
In six days Nina and I will be on our way to Payson, Az., a small town north of Phoenix. The plan is to spend Friday on last minute preparations and packing, then leave on Saturday. (I'm keeping open the option to leave on Friday if the preparations go well this week and if the weather is acceptable. I'll ride 1330 miles to the Payson/Phoenix area by next Friday, 3/30/06. After a weekend in Payson/Phoenix with family, two weeks of birding and riding our way back to Columbia.

I'm Walter. Nina is my 2004 Yamaha V-Star 1100 Custom. We've been getting ready for this trip for months -- thinking about it for years.

I think it started a few years ago: My family was all together for some event (my niece's graduation maybe). All the siblings were participating in the usual late-night talk/cry session. It's pretty amazing, really. Five adult siblings, a few spouses and a few of the older grandkids talking about everything: dreams, fears, parents, jobs, family gossip, demons from our childhood. At some point -- as we always do -- we got to the subject of my oldest brother, Billy, who died 20 years ago. I don't remember exactly how it all came together, but I think my brother, tank, suggested we all go to Payson sometime to hike to the place where Billy died. I was in immediately. He had me at "hello". Amazingly all the other siblings, our mother and two nieces are meeting in AZ.

I wanted to turn this trip into a road trip, but I knew I would need a newer and bigger bike. I loved my old bike, so I was looking primariy for another Yamaha. Six months ago, after a few months of searching, I found Nina. I had hoped to hold onto my original bike -- A 1986 Maxim X 700 -- but I eventually decided I would sell her to a good home. A trustworthy guy I worked with, Karaoke, was looking for a bike, and it seemed like a good fit, so I let her go. I'm sure I'll have plenty of time on this trip to talk about Nina, so I'll save some details for later.

Preparations started in earnest about 6 weeks ago. I've been spending a lot of time online, downloading maps, looking for bike accessories, scouting out birding hot spots, and researching motels and campgrounds. I've also been collecting camping and riding supplies. Yesterday I mounted some hard saddlebags on Nina. The rest of this week I'll be packing my gear. Luckily, Sweetie has been very patient with me through all of this.

Once I'm on the road, my web access may be patchy. I'll be eating at coffee shops and staying at some campgrounds that have WIFI, so I hope to post fairly often.

(Some administrative bullshit: Following the lead of my blogging inspiration, ATR, names have been changed to protect the innocent. Only Nina and myself will be using our actual names.)