Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128245
As it wa s late in the da y, we dec id ed to st ay at the Gr and Can yon Village and leave for Flagsta ff, A ri zon a , the next m orn in g. It is a difficult place to secu re la st - m in ute accommoda t ions, a nd t he rates are quite hi gh. T he alternative was t o drive fo r about four hours at ni ght th rou gh an ar ea wh er e dee r a n d elk ar e norma lly gi v en th e righ t of way, and they ca n be a lot to ug he r t han a m otorc y cl e. W e ro de along the So u t heast ri m o f th e Gr an d Ca n y o n on Hwy 64 to Cameron , Ari zon a, to st art da y three, turn i n g o n Hig hway 8 9 towa rd Fl ags taff . Alth o u gh i t wa s o nly 9 a .m., the temper ature was already in th e 80s, and the co mbina tion of hi gh t emperature and hi gh altitud e is ide al for spawning unstable weather in the mountains. W e co u l d see a larg e storm c l o u d so u t h of us, and as it didn 't seem to be moving , I was su re we wo uld have to ride through it. It tu rn ed out t o be a th under and lig htn in g/ torrenti al dow npour/ hailstorm / fl ash floo d a ll ro lled in to one , and on c e we were into it, the re w as no pla c e to sto p . T urning back was not an opt io n. We rode for three of four m ile s th ro ugh hailstones sta ck ed tw o to six inc hes deep on the h ighway . Fortunately for us , there was eno ug h truck tra ffi c to ke ep th e p ave ment cl ear fo r o ur t ires . An Arizon a Highway Pat ro l o ffi cer was stopped with his lights flashing at t h e point wh er e the flash fl oo d c ro sse d th e highway . He waved us through and m oti on ed with his hands th at the wat er was on ly n in e inch es deep . I looked at th e right ed ge of t he pavem ent an d cou ld see tha t it was closer to two inches th er e, so k eepi ng as far over as we could w it hout go ing onto th e sho ul de r, we m ade ou r way through a bo u t 200 yards of mu d d y wa ter a nd de b r is . After t h at it was back into the hail st o nes for a nother three m il es. W e pu l led off into t he Hi g h w ay 89 C he v ro n a bo u t sev en m iles north of Fla gstaff. Th e manag er was kind enoug h to allo w us th e use of the restrooms to change out of our wet c loth es . Th ankfully, our ex t r a clothes had be en kept c ompletely dr y in th e weatherproof sidebags and tour pack . I was also grateful that we had pa cked extra j ac k ets, as th e ones we wer e w ear ing w er e complet ely soak ed . We rode i nto Fla gstaff and decided to stay o ve rn ig h t th er e , as there was another large sto rm east of us, and on e was eno ugh . SR : He 's not exa ggerating about the storm . It was the gnarliest weath er I have ever been through on two wheels , and I suspect it will rema in so for as long as I live. AR : W e le ft F l ag st a f f for A lb u querque, New Mexico , t he next morn ing with c lear, cool a ir an d clo udy skies . I hoped the tem per ature wo uld stay a little lower th an it had bee n th e past few days , bu t as soo n as th e sun was clea r of th e clouds , its in t en sit y si gn al ed a re tu rn t o m ore heat. W e stop pe d for gas in Gall up, Ne w M exi - co, and had a surprise meeting with Will ie G . a nd Nan c y Dav idson and th eir ento urage as th ey stopped for gas and lunch. W illie G . gave us specia l 100th-ann iversary p ins that he'd had m ad e for those who would be rid ing into M ilw auk ee in his group. We th ank ed hi m for t he p ins , fi n ished gassing up , and left for Albuq uer qu e . We weren 't sche d uled to j oin up wi th the m until we left Springfield , Ill inois, on the last leg of th e t rip. A rriv ing in Al buquerque , we c hec k ed in t o the mot el, then Scott and I went immed iatel y to Ch i ck 's Harley -D av ids on . Their service writ er , St ev e " E va" Balmer, told us he had received the radio and that he would get rig ht after it. We went back to the deale rs hip in the m orning . Th e c hange o ut had bee n made , and th e radio was working fin e. They ga ve us a few pointers on control settings for o pt im al co m m unic at io n perfo rmanc e and turned us loose. SR: A c tually , the re n eve r w a s a nyth ing wrong w ith t h e radi o . W e ha d just had t he sq ue lch set too high. Heh , heh ... So rry , P.:J. AR : W ith both Harl ey s r ea d y to roll , we went up to Sandia Peak . It's a g reat tr am rid e and offers an excell ent vi ew of the a rea as well as an exce lle nt rest aurant for lunch o r din ner. Th e ele va ti o n is 6000 feet ab ov e Albuquerque , and the cooler air tem pe rature w as ve ry p leasant. SR : Th at night , Shawna a n d I roll ed into downtown Albuquerque to catch the street party. We expected to see maybe 500 bikes and to cat ch a mus i cal a ct or t wo. We tot a lly und er estim ated the scen e. Th e r e wer e s e v er al thous and bikes and something like 12 bands pl ay ing up and down the main dr ag . Albu querque reall y knows how to ro ck! AR: We departed A lbuquerque fo r Ama rillo , T exas, on August 22 and fo und a se ct ion of Route 66 tha t looked promising . Th e first five or si x m il es wer e in good rep air and we re j us t wh at we had been looking for. I noti c ed th at the in t ers t ate was veer ing off to th e north at a severe angle, bu t I d i d n 't th in k t o o m uch of i t. Sh ortly thereafte r, the asp halt devel o pe d so me poth oles , more b um ps th e only mu seum dedicated t o pre serving th e m emory of th e "First Inter sta te ," th e me mora b ilia o n d ispla y fro m the early day s of the aut omobile and some ex ce llent film footage of the construction o f Ro ute 66 made t h e vi sit we ll wo rt hw hile . Converse ly, The Route 66 restaurant acro ss the street loc ke d the doors and pulled the cur ta ins whe n we t ried to ent er and eat lunc h . Th ey m ust have ve ry strange hours of operation , o r th ey j ust don 't lik e m ot o r c y c li st s, unlik e the ot h er restaurants in Clinton . W e a rrived i n Ok l ahoma Ci ty aro und 5 p .m ., and after settling in and getting cleane d up, Kathy and I went lookin g for Richard Merschdorf, my high sch ool frie nd. He wa s stand ing by t he sw imming p o o l, and he spotted m e t he instant I step ped out' of the room . It was a shock seeing sa lt and pepper (heav y o n the sa ltl) hair on someon e I rem ember ed having je t black hair, bu t the n I suppose he felt t he same abo ut m e. Th e troubl e with ge tti ng ol der is th at th es e ey es still look at th in g s and peopl e the same way th ey d id wh en I was 18, and to see so meone agai n after t h at many and a gen eral ap pe ara nce of negl ect. T he n the asphalt di sappeared compl e t e ly, and w e w er e on gr avel. Th ings went from bad to wo rse as th e roa dway diminished t o a p oor ly main tai ned ra nc h road w ith a h igh ce nter of loose gravel. Scott and I both ex pe r ie nce d th e b al l b e a r in g effec t o f g ravel und er th e front t ir es but f ortunat el y made it through with out any m ishaps . Som ewh ere nea r t he m idpoint of o ur "e xcu rsio n ," we crossed t he N ew M ex ic o -T exas sta t e This is what the freeway looked li ke on our last few miles into M ilwaukee lin e, bu t the re wer e no signs or other ma rk er s to ind icate th at po int. Fr om there o n the road im prov ed, but onl y bec ause it co uldn' t get any worse. All in all , 20 miles of bad road c on vinced m e that The Old H ighway is l ittl e more than a memory in the W es t. Th is was a sl ow trav el section , and we included a stop at Cadill ac Ran ch . It was interesting to see 10 o ld Cadil lacs bu ried nose first in a field, but Kathy and I ag r e ed it was not our k ind o f art . We rolled in t o Amarillo around 7 p.m. It had been a lon g , slow , hot, dusty, th oroughl y enjoy able day cap ped off by another relax ing c o o ling -off sessi on i n th e m otel pool. years doe s require a lar ge adj ustm ent. We spent a lot of tim e during th e fo llowing days ca tc hing up on wha t each other ha d been do ing du ring the past 45 years . It wa s great to see him and renew an old fr iendship. SR: Think about th is: A big p art of th e Harley -Davidson lega cy is camaraderie, meeting and making friends . Without Harle y -Davidsons , chances are good that m y dad wouldn't.have gotten reacquainted with his friend . AR : August 24 f ound us on our way to Kansas City, M isso uri. We spent two da y s there, wi th th e hi g hlight of o ur sta y being the to ur of t he S po rts ter Plant. Unfort u na t ely , t he tour was very br ief, as the plant was s h ut dow n for the '0 4 m od el c hangeover. I fel t t ha t t he planning for th e m odel cha nge was ve ry poor, as it fa iled to take th e Ann iv ersary Ri d e into consi de ra tio n given t h e number of ri ders who sho we d up for th e tour. M aybe next time. SR: A bout t he only th ing I co ul d add to t he " ball bearing " story was that wh il e Dad had managed to drop his Ultra a couple m ore t imes w hen comi ng t o a stop , I'm not ashamed to admit th at I ve ry near ly lost th e fro nt end of m y U lt ra in th e gra ve l. .. Twice. AR : Amarillo to O klahoma City is a r id e o f o n l y 2 6 0 mil es , so w e stoppe d in Clinton, O k lahoma, to visit th e Route 6 6 Museum . While it is not cue I e n SR : I ag ree. W o r se yet , th ey dumped us all o ut of th e plant in t he loading dock area. What's up with that? e vv S • JANUARY 7 , 200 4 49