Travel

You know, it doesn’t take long for inertia to settle in if you’re not paying attention.  I’ve was off the road and back in Sedona for about six weeks and was really comfortable having daily showers, a nice  bed, access to plenty of ice and a stove.  To snap myself out of it, and being only about a 5 hour ride to Puerto Pensaco, MX (Rocky Point), I decided to take a ride to this sleepy fishing port.  I heard there was a motorcycle rally they host each year and it was happening this weekend.  This rally is billed as “The greatest motorcycle fiesta just south of the boarder”, so it seemed worth the ride.  Oh, and it was worth it. (more…)

The invading hordes are encamped all around the area, the gates of Sturgis have been breached and the town over run with some of the world’s most interesting looking people!  Exhibit “A” is pictured above, we can label him “Hun”.  Besides the hundreds of thousands of participants, there is also a huge influx of tattoo artists, mechanics, vendors and service help that all come here to make a lot of money in a short period of time.  Some of the bartenders not only open beers at a frantic pace, but will occasionally dance on the top of the bar to shake things up.  As if this place needs additional shaking.  Exhibit “B” to the right we can label her  “Hon”.  (more…)

Ah Montana, Big Sky country, cowboys, mountains, fly fishing, skiing, county fairs, horses and cows grazing everywhere, guitar playing… whoa, wait a moment there partner.  Who is this mountain man in the lead picture.  Scott Pemberton is his name.  I was just searching through a lot of pictures I took the last few days that scream Montana, but you can find similar ones on the internet and in books.  This one seemed to scream “Montana???” and so it gets the lead.  After writing this post, it seems to be a bit music centric, although there is so much more to the flavor of Bozeman.  Anyway, we begin… (more…)

Cody, Wyoming is one of my favorite places to come and visit.  Named after Buffalo Bill Cody, the man, the myth, the legend, the town makes sure to keep his memory alive… and make a living.  Lots of history to see, there is a free “shoot ‘em up” western show outside the Irma Hotel which used to be owned by Buffalo Bill and a center in town that is dedicated to him and the history of the area.  In the summer they also have a nightly rodeo and on Thursday nights they have free concerts in the park in town.  Lots of things to do and see here. (more…)

Okay, during my stay yes there was a Naughty School Girl themed motorcycle ride in Durango.  Did I need to shamelessly put it the title with the event poster to draw you in, I guess not.  However if I just titled this Durango, Colorado, I’m guessing that it wouldn’t have quite the same amount of interest. (more…)

I can’t remember exactly where I was trying to get to the day before I arrived in Taos, NM.  I was drifting around so much and stopping to see some of the sites that I fell far short of my intention and it was already getting dark.  So I went to freecampsites.net and there wasn’t a whole lot of options near Farmington, NM, which is as far as I traveled.   Found a spot that was BLM land but really an area for riding off road vehicles not camping.  So after a day of intense scenery, I arrived at the camp and it matched the descriptions in the reviews.  Basically they said, be careful not to get stuck in the sand, the hard part of the road is very rutted and good for an emergency camp, but wouldn’t go back.  That’s where I made my home for the evening.  Except for one barking dog nearby that wouldn’t quit, it was relatively peaceful. (more…)

Cedar City, Utah… what a beautiful and colorful place!  Okay, this is just a picture of where I would park during the day and unleash the Fay Boy to go riding. 

Actually, Cedar City is really  a great jumping off spot for a lot of amazing scenery and national parks.  From here you can easily get to Zion, Bryce Canyon, Grand Staircase – Escalante, Dixie National Forrest and a lot of great roads for bikers or sightseers.  It’s also abut 4 hours from the North Rim of the Grand Canyon which is where I came in from.  Besides being close to a lot of great places to visit, Cedar City itself is pretty interesting.  It has a lot of historical stops and little museums, and the town feels like a bit of a throw back to days gone by.  I liked the look and feel of this place so much I worked on traveling slowly and stayed a week.  (more…)

I know it’s a dry heat in AZ, but probably best not to sit in the sun too long anyway. 

While getting ready to head out of AZ I found a mention on the internet of a motorcycle rally being held at Mormon Lake, AZ, not too far out of Flagstaff.  Seemed like I would be delinquent in my travel duties to not attend an event with a name like “Too Broke for Sturgis”.  Great marketing on their part, at least conjuring up the name of Stugis the granddaddy of motorcycle rallies.  I guess it would be similar to having an event like “New Years Eve in Teterboro, NJ”, just like Times Square without the crowds and fanfare.  Not throwing stones at this event, I love the name.  (more…)

After a couple of days of lake living, it was off to Laughlin, NV.  It’s a town tucked into the lower corner of Nevada right on the Colorado River.  On the other side of the river is Bullhead City, Arizona.  One option I had to get there was to take a bit of a side detour and go to Oatman, AZ.  It’s known as a “ghost town”, which I guess it was at one point, but now this little place is inhabited buy some resident shopkeepers and donkeys that roam the streets.  So for a ghost town, it’s a fairly busy place. I read somewhere that about 500,000 pass through here each year.  It’s one of those places where you again drive through a lot of desert and scrub areas and can’t help but wonder how someone decided to settle here.  (more…)

Checking out the map my thought was to head to Laughlin, NV from my campsite in Quartzite.  I have noticed Lake Havasu on the map many times and it’s in fairly large type so it must be sizable for the area.  I would pass through there on my way so I planned take a little extra time to look around.  Lake Havasu is part of the Colarado River system and since there’s water, was guessing that it probably has some green areas in this mostly desert environment.  I came up from the south and on approach the whole view started changing.  There were a lot of trailered boats being towed, nice looking camp grounds and even a plush green golf course, so plenty of signs that there must be a whole lot of water available.  After riding a while through scrubby desert land you get to a place like this and it tends to be mentally refreshing.  (more…)