Road Trip

[phot]

Any members in Arizona able to help me planning a visit in early March. I am travelling with my wife from the UK and have a Harley rented for a week. Need some help planning a route to see the best in Arizona on a relaxing cruise, much apreciated.

[racinchef]

Welcome to America! I've been to Arizona only once and that was in 1980. I rented a Yamaha 400 and rode it out to Apache Junction and into the Superstitious Mountains. On another ride I think I headed west on the interstate highway and visited Pioneer City. That was an old west museum town. I think it was about 50 miles west of Phoenix. Another trip was on the interstate south to Tuscon where my Uncle lived. Hope you have a nice trip with your lady!

[dantama]

How long will you be here?

Long enough to ride up to the Grand Canyon?

[MarkG]

Choosing a cooler time of the year to visit. Arizona does cover quite a bit of area along with climatic changes to go with it. If you are interested in the northern part of the state there is always the Grand Canyon (many of us call it the ditch locally). The Sedona and Oak Creek Canyon area, just south of Flagstaff can be a nice ride depending on the weather. The southern end of the state has the Desert Sonora Museum near Tucson. It covers a wide variety of plants, animals, etc., all in one place concerning the Southwest desserts. There is snow on the ground in Flagstaff at the moment. Since you are coming in March things will probably warm up a bit. I'll ask the wife tonight if she has any suggestions of things you might be interested in doing while you are visiting.

One thing to note. Even though it is cooler here right now, drink plenty of water. The drier climate will dehydrate the unwary extremely fast. You are used to a lot more humidity. Hope you have a safe and enjoyable trip.

[MarkG]

Another nice ride is going east out of Phoenix toward Globe. Turning north going to Theodore Roosevelt Lake, then continuing and making a loop back into Phoenix. The round trip is about 225 miles. The Grand Canyon round trip is closer to 500 miles. When looking at the map, regardless of where you might want to go, you can usually avoid the Interstates for the most part and the scenery is better. I just finished going through Florence to Tucson and back with some extra site seeing which was about 225 miles.

I use the new Harley Davidson Ride Planner to plot various routes. http://www.harley-davidson.com/wcm/Content/Pages/Ride_Planner/Ride_Planner.jsp?locale=en_US

The wife is partial to the Tombstone / Bisbee area in the southern part of the state this time of the year. It will just depend on what your interests are when you start looking at everything Arizona has to offer.

There are a couple of other regulars, cactusjack comes to mind, that may chime in and give you some ideas, too. They have been riding their nads longer. Again, I hope you have a pleasant trip and enjoy yourselves.

Thanks for the harley link. Thats my new favorite route planner!

[MarkG]

Glad you enjoy it wolfman. Forgot to mention two very nice features on the Harley link. The check box that says "Avoid highways" that will keep away from Interstates if possible. Then grabbing the route line, after it has been created, and dragging it around to create ad hoc way points.

[dantama]

Cool Markg, I didn't know about that planner at all. Played with it for a minute and bookmarked it.

[audiogooroo]

Slick. Thanx!