Featured Rideout Gotta Love An Overnight Getaway!

As some of you know, I recently traded my Harley Fat Boy for another bike in Harley's Softail family--a Low Rider ST. Between wanting to give the new bike a little shakeout and a few of us feeling the itch to "get outta town", four of us rode to Silver City, New Mexico for a little "overnighter".

After riding through the modest "wine country" around Sonoita and through the old West town of Tombstone, ur first stop was in Bisbee, a great little town that was a copper mining town in its heyday. I've reported previously on Bisbee here on the forum as Steve and I go there fairly frequently. These days it's a good getaway spot with lots of fun festivals, galleries, restaurants, and breweries. There's even a mine tour of the old Copper Queen Mine. This trip we grabbed breakfast at the Old Bisbee Breakfast Club in the Lowell District of Bisbee. That's my blue bike, "Johnnie".









Old Bisbee Breakfast Club is located in the Lowell District of Bisbee, a small but interesting area filled with old murals and cars. Here's a link to Bisbee's districts and some photos I took before we resumed our travels to Silver City.

https://www.discoverbisbee.com/neighborhoods







The next town we passed through was Douglas, Arizona which sits right on the Mexican border. There is a border crossing there that sees cattle brought into the US from Mexico in what amounts to $4,000,000 per WEEK!

After about 20 miles on Interstate 10 (ugh), we turned north at the town of Lordsburg, New Mexico and rode into the Gila National Forest---beautiful! The roads there are quiet, peaceful, and smooth. From Lordsburg it's about 45 miles or so to Silver City.

We stayed at cool old (for the U.S. old) hotel called The Murray Hotel where we've stayed several times before. We had to book for a Sunday night because the hotel was super busy the previous weekend as well as the weekend of our stay. The previous weekend there was a huge British Car Club and Show that took over the hotel and the two days prior to our stay the hotel was booked with a big high school reunion encompassing 1970-1976.

Three of (the fourth taking was taking the photo) in front of the hotel...



And the hotel lobby...



Continued in my next post a bit later today. Stay tuned!

 

Gotta Love an Overnight Getaway - Part 2 (of 3)

Steve and I love Silver City as a short(er) trip riding destination. The small town lies at the foot of the Piños Altos Range in the Mogollon Mountains and sits three miles east of the Continental Divide. it has a population of about 10,000 and is home to Western New Mexico State. The school mascot is, appropriately, the Mustangs! Silver City was founded primarily as a mining town--gold, copper, and silver--and mining is still the foundation for the local economy.

One of the cool murals that can be seen around town. The "historic creek" is Little Toad Creek that flows (trickles at the moment) through Big Ditch Park.



Silver City is also home to many musicians and artists and has a thriving downtown arts district. The Silco Theater, built in 1923, was renovated and re-opened on February 26, 2016, as a 156-seat community movie house. Silver City hosts two music festivals each year--the Silver City Blues Festival each May and Pickamania—a Bluegrass, Americana, Folk and acoustic festival—each September.

Here's a photo I took of the Silco Theater which originally opened in 1923 and was renovated and reopened in 2016 with 156 seats. We'd probably have hit the nightly movie but it seemed to be closed on Sundays.

(Thanks to Wikipedia for some of the above details.)



Steve and Ron opted to nap and hang out once we were checked in and settled, but Russell and I preferred to have a look around town. We also wanted to check out Big Ditch Park that runs parallel to Main Street. We began our stroll at Big Ditch Riverwalk Park and spent most of our time there as it was beautiful and very peaceful.











There's also some funky and fun art along the walking trail in the park. It's hard to tell from this photo unless you blow it up, but it tells the story of how the creek flooded the town back around the turn of the century (20th Century, that is).



After a lovely and relaxing respite in the park, we climbed the steps out of "the ditch" and wandered along Main Street to meet up with Ron and Steve for dinner.

One example of some of the architecture that contributes to the charm of Silver City



And another of the murals that dots the town



Continued and concluded in my next post...

 

Gotta Love an Overnight Getaway - Part 3 of 3

As Russell and I walked back towards the Little Toad Creek Brewery and Distillery we felt a few raindrops. Another pedestrian told us to turn around. We did as she asked and were rewarded with this!



The restaurant was packed this evening. It's a very good spot but, that said, one of the main reasons it was so crowded was that most every other restaurant in town is closed on Sunday nights!



The menu is composed of fairly typical "bar food" with some assorted salads thrown in for good measure. But our server was quick to inform us as she handed us the menus that their fryer was out of commission so there were no fried foods available. Which mean NO FRENCH FRIES! She said they were also out of greens but might have them momentarily as they'd sent another employee out to buy some more. We were all happy to order one of the many things that remained and I chose to have the peanut slaw with my Reuben sandwich. Honestly, I was mostly interested in their beer list which is quite good. I chose the "Grumpy Old Troll" IPA in honor of my three riding buddies. That's Steve's Pandejo Porter to the left of my beer.



After dinner we wandered the half block (seriously, half a block) back to the Murray. Someone remembered that we needed to take the traditional Van's sneakers pic so we snapped one in the hotel entryway. Our "gang" has taken to all wearing Van's when we're off the bikes.



After breakfast in the hotel, we packed up, checked out, and were on the road at about 8:00am. Here are 0ur four bikes looking from the hotel across the street.



The decision was made to take Interstate 10 back to Tucson. I grudgingly agreed but I REALLY dislike riding the big interstates because they are filled with RV's and big tractor-trailer semi rigs. But one of our friends needed to get home quickly to schedule some medical things for the next day. What's really funny and ironic is that he rode off about 10 miles into the ride down to Lordsburg and the freeway and we never saw him again! So the three of us who were left behind could have chosen any route we wanted. It turned out ok, though. Traffic on the freeway was down a little bit and the wind wasn't as fierce as anticipated. Actually, I think the fairing on my new bike is really well designed and that did the trick!

Our mid-way stop back to Tucson was in the town of Willcox. We were happy to get good gas this time--the place we gassed up at on our way out of town only had 88 octane and the place was a dump with trash flowing out of the cans by the gas pumps. The Willcox Travel Center was a major step up with 91 octane, clean bathrooms, tidy trash bins, and a picnic table outside the front door where we met another riding group who were coming from near Austin, Texas on their way to Phoenix.



Even the hawks like this place.



The Willcox Travel Center was only 90 miles from home so I called our dog sitter to let her know we'd be home much sooner than originally anticipated. I never did take off my jacket liner either yesterday or today. The winds were high but the temperatures were low. Even when we arrived back at home in Tucson around noon, this was the temperature. While 81ºF may sound hot to some of you, here in the desert the temperatures usually feel ten degrees cooler than the ambient temperature reads because of our low humidity.



While I was looking on my iPhone for the Tucson temperature, Silver City popped up first and I was VERY glad that we'd chosen to leave as early as we did!



Our total mileage for our little two day--one night trip....



Fast Johnnie's total mileage odometer reading upon our return on Monday was 1,043. Time for my 1K service, which I had done on Thursday!

Over the past few years I've come to really enjoy and appreciate taking little MC trips--one or two nighters. They are truly "the pause that refreshes". While I absolutely love our big adventure motorcycle trips, they require a lot of planning and organization up front (at least the way we do them). These shorties are more spontaneous and simple. But, whether short or long, I just looooove being on the road!

 

Thanks, @Dawsy! Yep, Johnnie and I have definitely gelled. This is definitely a v-e-r-y fun bike to ride. I'm loving the handling and the engine a lot, lot, lot. Yep, is is very fun to have a bike that you really enjoy.

 

@BonnieCat

Thanks, Nikki! I'm glad you enjoyed my little Silver City report.

It's a fun coincidence that we both wound up with blue bikes. I've never had a blue vehicle of any sort much less a motorcycle. I'm really happy that you've found a bike you enjoy and that you're back out on the roads again. And thanks for posting about Bluey here on the forum! Looking forward to a few ride reports from you, too.

 

@learningtofly

Thanks, Tony! Yes, Silver City was a great little break and a nice "shakedown" ride on my new Low Rider ST. While it really isn't the best choice for long trips like our June Southwest tours or Sturgis, it's definitely doable for shorter trip. I put a sissy bar on it and my new Le Pera seat (with a pillion area) is currently out for delivery with UPS! So with those two items I'll be able to use my TourMaster luggage to supplement the small hard bags that came stock with the bike. And if I can't pack for a two or three day trip with all that space, I'm in big trouble.

To answer your question about our group, all of the core group of us who ride together regularly on Sundays and do trips together are fully retired. All except for me! Fortunately I work part time. Plus I work for a school district on a school district calendar which gives me some flexibility and some chunks of time during breaks and summer.

Our core group has shaken out to include about half a dozen or so riders including one friend who rides with us most Sundays but no longer does trips with us since his wife (my best girlfriend) stopped riding two years ago. He works full time but is looking to retire in two years. And we have another friend who currently rides with us only rarely but is retiring at the end of this year and promises that he will become a regular. As the ride organizer, I'm always in "recruiter mode" but it seems that folks in general are riding less than more or not riding at all which is discouraging. And I'll be darned if I can find a good female riding buddy. But that doesn't stop me from trying!

 

Tony, I forgot to respond to your question about my minimalistic dash. I actually really like it! At first I thought it was too minimalistic and too small. But as I’ve ridden the bike now about 1200 miles, it has everything I need and nothing I don’t. I do have to glance down to see it just slightly but it’s definitely in a better position than the analog gauges were on my 2020 Lowrider S.

 

@learningtofly

I hope you can swing getting out for a test ride on a Lowrider ST, Tony! If you do, I’d love to hear your impressions of the bike and also how compares to the sport glad that you had. I did a test ride on a Liw Rider ST last fall and mostly liked it at the time. But I wasn’t too keen on the foot peg and accompanying leg position. Other than that, I liked the bike from the get-go. Now that I have an engine guard installed, I have a place that I can use for brief stint of stretching my legs when I need to.