Poker run

[cactusjack]

I went up to the Verde Valley today (100 miles north of home, towards Flagstaff) to the town of Camp Verde. The 10th annual Thunder Valley Rally is this weekend. They have a poker run, battles of the bands, a vendor area, and it's based at a casino, so it's win-win for everyone. I went on the poker run today, a loop of about 110 miles with 5 stops. You could start as early as 07:00, and the only stipulation was you had to turn your card in by 4:00 PM. That's a lot of time to dink around on a short ride. I don't know what the official count is, but there were thousands of bikes on the road today. Once we left Camp Verde, we climbed up I-17 to Flagstaff, where it was a very nice day. Temps were very pleasant, which you'd expect at 7200'.

From Flagstaff, we took Lake Mary Rd (a forest service rd) that is very scenic and has a posted speed of only 50 MPH along the rim so the temps were a lot nicer than in the lower elevations.

One of the poker card stops was Mormon Lake Lodge, just off of Lake Mary Rd. Mormon "Lake" is a bit optimistic, every time I've seen it, it looks like a marsh, I hear at certain times of the year, it resembles a lake.

Here's the lodge:


There was a steady stream of bikers through here all day:


Saw a couple of Indians today, here's one:


As we dropped from Hwy 87 on the rim back down to Camp Verde, you drop a few thousand feet and you could feel the difference. It was like riding into the front gate of hell. It was 109 in Phoenix today and probably 105-106 up there. I had to wait around for the revealing of the cards and some raffle results, so I sat near the outdoor stage and watched one of the bands trying to win a real gig at the casino. It would have been nice if there was shade.



As usual, I didn't win anything, so I took off and came back home. I-17 is no fun to ride after dark.

[Cajunrider]

Good pics. Plenty of sunshine.

[cactusjack]

Originally Posted by Cajunrider

Good pics. Plenty of sunshine.

At those elevations, the sun cooks you like a hot dog on a bbq grill. I'm glad I wore long sleeves.

[cactusjack]

I should have mentioned that the second card stop on the poker run was at an RV resort in Mund's Park, about 15 miles outside of Flagstaff, the entrance off the highway was deep, loose gravel, as was the area we had to park in. I wonder how many bikes got dropped there.

Kind of a bad idea, since motorcycles and gravel don't mix.