Rough ride

[cactusjack]

Went on a ride today with a local group I belong to. 3 others besides me showed up, which is the norm for a 400-mile ride. A 2000 Nomad (the purple kind) an '06 1500 Classic and an '08 Street Glide.

Temps were in the mid-60's when we met at the Lowe's parking lot in Mesa at 07:30 this morning. We started by heading east on US60 to the town of Globe about 50 miles away, where we enjoyed a hearty breakfast at Judy's Cookhouse and fueled up. From Globe, we rode another 80 miles to Safford, where we stopped for gas. It was in the 80's by the time we arrived. After Safford, it was about 110 miles to Tucson, about 90 of which were at 75MPH and above on I-10. Heavy traffic, lots of tractor-trailers to dodge and a nasty headwind with gusts of 30 MPH. We stopped on the outskirts of Tucson for gas and to take a little break. The wind sure takes a toll on you.

Our original plans were to stay on I-10 past Tucson, then turn east to AZ-79, the Oracle Highway. One of the guys in the group suggested a different router, we went west of Tucson and turned on a road that took us through Saguaro National Monument, bypassing Tucson traffic. Lots of little hills, dips and twisties. Then we headed east to AZ-79 and to Lupe's Fine Mexican Cuisine. Excellent vittles, by the way. While we were eating, the wind seemed to pick up even more and we still had about 80 miles of open desert to cross to get home. We turned onto the Pinal-Pioneer Parkway and rode the 49 miles to Florence, where we bought our last tank of gas.

With only about 30 miles to home, one of the group peeled off to take a shortcut to his house. The wind was blowing really bad with so much blowing dust, visibility was near zero in some places. The road would just disappear. We hung on and made it back to Chandler. If not for the wind and dust, it would have been a perfect day for riding.