Click on the camera above to see
photos we're taking along the way |
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Click the map below to see where we are when
rolling. Our position is updated every
5 minutes. |
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We'll be taking my SPOT
satellite tracking device with us. Click here or anywhere on the picture above to see where we are while traveling. |
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Here we go again!
Another motorcycle camping trip.
This one is a little shorter with only three nights of camping. But we have six and maybe seven motorcycle
campers this trip. It should be a
hoot. We have reservations in the
nicest campground in the Sedona Area, the Cave
Springs Campground which is located on
Oak Creek just south of the steep and twisty descent down from the
Colorado Plateau. The rest of the
nights will be spent in hotels. Why
do we enjoy tent camping? Well, it's
so much more intimate and group-friendly than staying in hotel rooms where we
each go to our room for the night, not seeing each other until breakfast the
next day. When tent camping, we
gravitate to the campfire and chat about the day, chat about tomorrow, chat
about previous trips, chat about future trips, and just have an all-round
good time. Finally, around 9PM or so,
we go to our separate tents and fall asleep almost instantly; not waking up
until the Sun brightens the night into morning. It's special, waking up in the forest with
like-minded friends also enjoying themselves.
We
leave on Saturday, June 3rd, back home the next Saturday, June 10th. So it really is a jam-packed quick
trip. It's about 1,000 miles from home to beautiful Sedona, Arizona; we'll take 2 full days to get there. We're going a little earlier in the year than previous camping trips in order to enjoy cooler traveling weather and maybe miss the monsoon season. We'll ride for 2 days to get to the campground, spend three nights tent camping, and enjoy 2 full days touring the area. Then ride is 3-1/2 days to get back to DFW. Why the extra 1-1/2 days to ride back? (we could do it in two, ya know). Well, in Arizona and New Mexico, we have places to go and things to see on the return trip before crossing back into big, flat Texas for the final leg. We'll explore some of the best areas Arizona and New Mexico have to offer travelers on the way home. |
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Itinerary |
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Day One, Saturday, June 3rd: Garland, Texas to Tucumcari, New Mexico Beginning in Garland at 8AM, we will leave the DFW
area and take US 287 to Amarillo before turning due west on Interstate 40 for
the last hour and a half to Tucumcari.
In Amarillo, we can stop by where Brett is living so he can join us
for the final leg. After our first
gas stop near Harold, Texas, we’ll make it to our traditional lunch at
the Sonic
Restaurant in Childress. Second
gas stop will be at just over 160 more miles in beautiful downtown Claude, Texas. Then, it's only a few miles to the Interstate
for the last hour and a half to Tucumcari.
Our first night’s lodging at the Holiday
Inn in Tucumcari, New Mexico. Some
of us have stayed there several times, the hotel is comfortable and
convenient. Tucumcari
is one of the tourist spots along Route 66 with the old gas stations,
artwork, and restaurants preserved from that era. That evening we'll have dinner at the famous Pow
Wow Restaurant and Lizard Lounge.
We've always enjoyed our meals there.
Mikey promises to behave himself.
Afterwards, back to the hotel and a gas fill before turning in for the
night. The sonic is right there;
stopping for a milk shake is acceptable. Tomorrow will be a longer but
enjoyable day as we head towards the mountains and cliffs. |
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Day Four , Tuesday, June 6th: Let's go have lunch at the Grand Canyon. The Grand Canyon is less
than 50 miles from our campground! To
get there, climbing to the top of the Colorado Plateau (up that twisty road)
heading north out of the valley. We'll
gas up in Flagstaff before leaving
to ride across the open plains to the South Rim Grand Canyon
Village.
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Day Five: Wednesday June 7th: Break camp, it's time to head east. Yeah, the camping portion of our Sedona Motorcycle Camping Trip has come to an end already. But we still have more places to go and things to see. After stowing our gear on the motors, we'll head to one of the local restaurants for a quick breakfast before climbing back up towards Flagstaff to turn east on Interstate 40. Our first stop will be Meteor Crater and Space Museum! Two and maybe three of our group have never been there. We can take a guided tour with one of the guides to learn about how and when the crater was formed, visit the museum, watch 15 minute movie about the asteroid collision with the Earth, and see the new 4D experience. We should plan on a couple of hours here with lunch in the Subway restaurant before heading on our journey. |
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Just a few miles farther
east is Winslow, Arizona for gas and the obligatory pictures of standing on
the corner. Not a motorcycle trip
through Arizona doesn't stop briefly in Winslow, Arizona; one and maybe two of our
group have never done that. To pass
through Winslow and not stop is against everything Motorcycle Trip. It's just a street corner, but everybody
does it. If we didn't eat lunch at
Meteor Crater, we can do lunch here. |
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After getting our fill of
the corner, we can head to our lodging for the night in Eagar, Arizona,
passing the Petrified Forest National Park and turning south to the Howard
Johnson's Rode Inn |
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Day Six: Thursday, June 8th: Devil's Highway Day This will be a longer-than-usual day with desert,
mountain, and Interstate riding. It's only about 390 miles
of riding, but so much will be at low speeds on US
191, bringing our day's speed average down to less than 50 mph. We could take a shorter route, but the
Devil's highway beckons. US 191 is a long highway that runs unbroken from
almost the Canadian border all the way to almost the Mexico border. A
National Scenic Byway, the Coronado Trail, Route 191 winds it way high
into the mountains above Clifton. It's one of the most scenic sections of the
former Route 666 aka "The Devil's Highway", which slices through
the Rocky Mountains from Mexico all the way to the Canadian border. It's surprising that so few people take
the time to explore the Coronado Trail. Even on a mid-summer weekend, you're
lucky to see one car an hour. But
there are usually more motorcycles that 4-wheel vehicles. This section of 191 is a very popular
motorcycle route with steep / sharp curves that surpasses The Tail of the
Dragon in length and corners. The high
point near the northern end is over 9,000 feet elevation. There winds its way through the forests. But as the elevation decreases, the trees
become more sparse and bush-like The highway goes on and on and on, wearing
out the arms of most motorcyclists that ride it from end to end. |
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Below are examples of The Devil's
Highway. Yeah, it's like this for
almost 100 miles. Dan introduced this
road to us several years ago. Yes, we
had to stop and rest our arms.
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Finally, we'll reach Morenci, home of
the nation's largest copper mine. Our
road winds its way around the open pits, through at least one tunnel, under
conveyors, and alongside working mining equipment. Just riding through the mine is an
experience all of itself. In Morenci , we'll stop with fewer
than 120 miles on our tanks since leaving our hotel to have lunch and more
gas before heading down to the Interstate and across into New Mexico. The next confirmed gas station is over 120 miles farther; we probably wouldn't
make it if we miss fuel here.
According to the Internet, the fuel at the scheduled station has high
octane. It's somewhat rare around
here. |
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Next stop is a fuel stop, but it should be
interesting because it's famous. It's
in the middle of nowhere along Interstate 10.
We must stop; might not make it all the way to Las Cruces. Arrival time here should be before
5PM. Too bad we can't browse their
famous fireworks, antiques, and souvenir store, but we probably shouldn't
dilly-dally too much so we can get to our lodging in Cloudcroft before
dark. It's still two hours away. Yeah, gonna be a long day. |
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Yes, it's getting
late and we still have to cross another third of New Mexico to get to our
lodging in Cloudcroft, but we should make it by sundown. The final 10 miles is a windy/twisty road
from the desert and up the mountain. The
accommodations in Cloudcroft should be quite nice. We all have our reservations already; I believe Crystal reserved a suite! This is a historic lodge with 5-star ratings;
but the price is in line with a typical Holiday Inn. Fine restaurant is on the grounds so once
we arrive, we can park the motors and relax.
This should be fun. |
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Day Seven: Friday,
June 10th Back to Texas Day. There's
just no way to sugar-coat this day. We're
leaving the cooler weather and the mountains to head back across the hot-dry
Texas plains. And Texas is big! Really too big for one day so we're
dividing it into two. Yeah, we could
do it, but
it wouldn't be an enjoyable way to end such a good trip. First,
we ride from Cloudcroft to Abilene with stops only for fuel and gas along the
way. We'll be in the mountains for a couple of hours before
everything becomes totally flat. After
the mountains, one hardly needs handlebars.
We may forget how to corner. Then,
we just drone along from gas stop to gas stop to our lodging in Abilene at
the Holiday Inn North. We should
arrive just before 6PM and will probably be ready to relax. A nice hotel and convenient
restaurant will be welcome. There's
gas for our motors and a Denny's for dinner right in the parking lot at the
hotel, unless someone wants to get back on the motors and ride to a nicer
restaurant.
There's a highly-rated Indian Food restaurant (Spicy India) about a
half mile away across the Interstate and several Mexican food restaurants a
bit farther south. |
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Day Eight: Saturday, June 11th Goin' Home |
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