Featured Touring Adventures In The American Southwest: 1800 Miles, 8 Days, 7 Friends, 10 National Parks

Yes, Durango is a wonderful place, Russell! Steve and I were just today scheming for our next week-long trip and are thinking it would be fun ride up to Durango and use it as our "home base". One overnighter on the way there and one on the way back because Durango is well over 500 miles from Tucson by nearly any route we'd choose. It would be fun to stay put for four nights or so in Durango and do day rides from there. There's just so much great riding in that area. East to Pagosa Springs and Wolf Creek Pass. West to Mesa Verde National Park. North on 550 and 145 through the San Juan Mountains where we rode last week. Plus it would be nice to only unpack the bikes a couple of times rather than daily. And, yes, Durango has some great places to eat and shop and Steve and I love the overall vibe of the place. We've not done Vegas to the North Rim so that's on our list, too.

Wow, your sister lives in Marana?! Our buddies Kelly and Dena, who you've seen in the photos in this thread, live in Marana. In fact, Tucson Harley-Davidson is technically in the Marana city limits. That's a mere 10 miles from our house. It is a small world. Let us know if you get that plan to come out and ride. It would be great fun to meet up and perhaps we can show you some of our favorite local rides!

 

Thanks for the positive comments on our tours success, Martine! I sure hope that you're able to get back out West--and even more specifically to Durango--in the not-too-distant future. Yes, we saw so many wonderful places on our trip and that more than made up for missing Monument Valley. Besides, we're already figuring out a way to get to Monument Valley this fall as a long weekend.

Thanks for the tips and recommendations on the narrow gauge to Silverton. That definitely sounds like the way to do it and we'll make it a point to do just that when we're back in Durango! Your experience with jumping off and camping then hopping back on is so cool. And it's so fun that they let you do that. You and HH sound like my kind of adventurous folks.

 

Thanks for sharing those great photos, Dougie! They make me want to pack back up and head out on the road again. Zion and Bryce are definitely on our bucket list. And although we've been through Mexican Hat and Valley of the Gods and Monument Valley, I could ride there every year for the rest of my riding days and never tire of those places. What year was your Wild West Tour??

 

Day 7: Friday July 2
Cameron, Arizona to Payson, Arizona *152 miles
National Forests: (2) Coconino, Tonto

We awakened to blue and sunny skies this morning and temperatures in the high 70ºs F. As we were packing up the bikes, we were all trying to figure out just what time it was in order to plan our breakfast meetup. Unlike most of the United States, Arizona doesn't observe Daylight Savings Time. However, the Navajo Nation does observe Daylight Savings Time. This made for a bit of confusion and, coupled with restaurant staff who weren't even adhering to the stated hours of operation, we pretty much just wandered around figuratively bumping into one another until we saw other hotel guests heading in for breakfast.

Here we are, all finally gathered around the breakfast table.


My breakfast was delicious--blue corn pancakes with maple syrup, an egg over medium, bacon, and coffee.


Here's my trusty Street Glide Special, all packed up and ready to roll. This was my first big trip on this bike and I am super happy with it.


Here's our route for today. We were concerned that we'd have to figure out a detour because of a large wildfire near Strawberry and Pine. And detours in the American West can be l-o-n-g. The roads for any of the routes we'd typically take were closed as of the day we departed on our trip. But we monitored the status of the fire and road closures in this area and about two days before today's ride we learned that the road we really wanted to take--Lake Mary Road-- had been reopened. Hurray!


About 30 miles into today's ride we passed through the northern Arizona town of Flagstaff which is home to Northern Arizona University. Ten miles north of Flagstaff and visible as we rode south from Cameron towards Flagstaff is Humphreys Peak. Humphreys Peak is the highest point (12,633 feet) in Arizona and is one of the three San Francisco Peaks on the rim of an eroded volcano.


We rode through two National Forests today, the Coconino and the Tonto. The areas in and around "Flag" as we Arizonans call Flagstaff are in the Coconino National Forest while Strawberry and Pine are in the Tonto National Forest, as is Payson, our days destination. The Tonto National Forest is the largest of Arizona's six National Forests at 2,875,000 acres. The parts we rode through today were primarily pine and mixed conifer. Tomorrow's ride would be primarily Sonoran Desert and chaparral.



An aerial view of the Tonto National Forest near Strawberry, Arizona (Google Images)


@Dougie D, you asked me about whether we were going to take a detour to Winslow, Arizona and do a little standing on the corner. Well, we were close to Winslow, Douigie! A mere 51 miles had we made a left turn after Happy Jack rather than a right turn to Pine.


After riding all day yesterday without a drop of rain and after waking up to clear blue skies this morning, we wound up riding in the rain (again) today. It started to look threatening about half an hour after Flagstaff. Steve asked me through our Senas whether I thought we should find a pull-out on the side of the road and stop to put on our rain gear. I said YES immediately! I'd just seen four motorcycles coming from the direction we were headed and they all had on rain gear. Turns out our timing was perfect. It started raining on us about five minutes after we donned our rain suits.

As we approached Payson on the twisty roads down through the tiny mountain towns of Strawberry and Pine, the rain let up and it started to clear. Fortunately we were close to our hotel because the temperatures also started to climb. We'd booked rooms at a local hotel called the Majestic Mountain Inn where we've stayed a number of times in the past. It's clean and comfortable and the staff are always helpful and friendly. Plus it's only a two minute walk to our favorite Payson restaurant, Fargos.


It's always nice to be able to park directly in front of your hotel room!


Day #7 continued in my next post

 

Day #7 continued:

We arrived in Payson and at the hotel a bit earlier than anticipated and not all of our rooms were ready for occupancy. So Kelly and Dena hiked off to a nearby grocery store to get some beer and chips for the crew while we found this nice picnic table. We eventually all just hung out in the shade while we waited for our rooms to be ready and chatted about todays travels over brew and snacks.

That's Russell on his 2020 Road Glide Special all decked out for traveling with his TourPak and wraparound backrest. And that's Ron, Larry, and Steve saving our seats at the picnic table.

When Russell first set up this travel "rig" on this bike we all teased him. But....as I've said before, one of my mottos has become "Never say never". It's stunning how much can be packed into that TourPak top case. After Russell parked his bike in front of his hotel room, we took turns checking out what his setup felt like. I'll tell ya, I'm sorely tempted to get the same setup. It's REALLY sweet. Even our BMW 1250GS friend loved it! I might have to ditch the cup holder, though. That might be just a little over the top.


Most of the rooms are built around a long rectangular open space and each room has a little patio off the back door with a small table and two chairs. You can buy individual cold beers in the hotel lobby and Steve got us each a Guinness to sip while we looked at maps and relaxed before dinner.




There were even wild blueberry bushes by our little back patio!


We saw this pickup truck on our short walk to dinner. This type of truck is not uncommon in this part of Arizona although I have to say that the paint job was pretty impressive.


We always dine at Fargos when we're in Payson. It's got a diverse menu, excellent food, and good service. They've expanded their patio significantly and Steve had made reservations for our group of seven on the patio. But when we arrived the weather was taking a turn for the worse and they'd stopped seating people outside although the bad weather never did materialize.


Fargos' bar


Steve and Larry shared the largest piece of carrot cake that any of us had ever seen!




Tomorrow...our final day on the road. Onward and home to Tucson!

 

Day 8: Friday July 3
Payson, Arizona to Tucson, Arizona *183 miles
National Forests: (1) Tonto

Today was the last leg of our eight day trip. I cannot believe how fast the week flew by! We had received some texts last night from our dog sitter about a massive monsoon storm that hit Tucson yesterday afternoon so we were all glad that our ride back to Tucson was scheduled for today and not the previous day. It was sunny and dry when when we woke up and as we ate our breakfast on the breakfast building patio. No bacon, @Wessa and @Dawsy so no photos. Nothing worth taking a photo of...not even in the age of digital. But breakfast was included in the price of our room so there's that. Actually I had a freshly made waffle with blueberries that was quite delicious.




The first part of our route home down the Beeline Highway, AZ Route 87, was a familiar one to us and is a beautiful ride with expansive views and big sweeping turns.


However, about eight miles before exiting AZ 87 onto the Bush Highway towards Saguaro Lake and the edge of the Phoenix, the devastation of last year's Bush Fire is still jarring to the eyes...and the soul. This fire burned hundreds if not thousands of magnificent saguaros. It was a human-caused and burned 194,000 acres. The fire started on June 13, 2020 and was contained on July 6, 2020, so it was still burning exactly one year ago today.


Remnants of fire damage dissipate the closer you get to Saguaro Lake. This "lake" is actually a man-made reservoir and is a very popular recreational area for Arizonans in the summer. We've been on this route a number of times but I've never seen it as busy as it was today. I'm sure that's partly because it was a holiday weekend (the day before the U.S. Fourth of July) and also because people have been so excited to be out doing things after being locked down last summer due to the pandemic. Here are a couple of Google Images to give you an idea how beautiful Saguaro Lake is and how busy it was today.


This photo was down a bit from the lake and is the adjoining Salt River where tubing is an incredibly popular summertime activity.


This is the last photo I took during our trip. Here we are at our last gas stop in Apache Junction about just shy of 100 miles from home.


For me, returning home is always a little bittersweet. I'm glad to be home but sad to be at the end of our travels....for now. Next up is Las Vegas Bike Fest at the beginning of October.


There was an additional incentive to be happy about being back this time in particular. And it involved reuniting with Ellie, our boxer! It was difficult to be away from her for a week since she'd only joined our family about a month before we left. But we had a great couple of dog sitters who kept us informed all week regarding how she was doing. And she did great!


Yes, it was a fabulous trip but after a wonderful 1,790 miles on the road, it did feel good to be back home. Thanks to those of you who followed along with our tour of the American Southwest and for your positive, encouraging comments. I hope you enjoyed the ride!

By the way, we got rained on (again!) today about 15 miles from home. We didn't bother with rain gear this time around, though. Close to home...and back to the desert heat!

 

@BonnieCat
Thanks, Nikki. Not only am I glad that my tales and photos make you feel like you're there with me (which is what I'm aiming for), I wish you were there with me! Perhaps one day you can travel to the American Southwest and Steve and I can take you on some rides to some of the amazing places we have the privilege of riding to and through.

 

@Dawsy
Dawsy, I do hope you'll be kind enough to post a photo or two of "a decent piece of bacon" so I'll have a frame of reference and standard as well as something to aspire to.