Albert…Albert…Albert, can you hear me…

Day 1, Sunday, June 2

FINALLY!  The day has come.  The day for our Annual Motorcycle ride has finally arrived and I am very excited.  I’m excited because I, unfortunately, missed last year’s trip.  We have spoken about the ride many times over coffee. We met at the Circle K at 35 Ave. and W. Happy Valley Road at 6 AM.  The riders are:

Chuck Roseberry, C.E. Fuller, Ken Shriner, Tim Sindel, Greg Gibbons, Bruce Stallman and Me. 

We all arrived at the Circle K and I immediately noticed that there was definitely a change.  There were only 2 Harleys and 5 Gold Wings!  It was mentioned to the group and Bruce yelled out that we needed to go pick up Jan.  Jan rides a Harley also.

Jan texted me with, “Wats up?”  I replied to him, “All are here and getting ready to leave.”  We left at 6:19 AM, headed to Camp Verde to pick up Jan at the McDonalds just off of I-17.  As traditional, Chuck was in the lead.

At 7:17 AM, after 73 miles, we arrived at the McDonalds in Camp Verde.  Jan was on his Motorcycle and, apparently, had just arrived.  We parked in the back parking lot and talked a bit.  Also, while we were there, some of us made a “pit stop.” We got ready to leave with Chuck still in the lead.  We left at 7:32 AM.

We were headed to Winslow to have breakfast and to gas up.  Now there were eight of us.  We rode for 102 miles and at 9:06 AM we arrived in Winslow and stopped at Falcone Family Restaurant.  We had a good breakfast and then it was time to leave.  We left and all rode a mile away to a Pilot Truck Stop on Route 66.  We all gassed up, made a pit stop…again, and got ready to leave.  We left at 10:32 AM.

I was now in the lead going eastbound on I-40.  Let me explain why I was in the lead now.  When we ride and then stop for gas, we change leaders.  The leaders have the say so as to where we stop for a pit stop, gas or food.

As we rode eastbound, there wasn’t anything really that stood out.  It was warm, dirt on both sides of the roadway and occasionally we had some wind.  After riding for 74 miles, I felt that we needed a pit stop so we stopped in Navajo, AZ at a gas station with a mini-mart.  We made our pit stop and drank more water to refill our bladders for our next pit stop!  We left at 11:42 AM.

We continued with me still leading.  As we crossed the border into New Mexico, we lost an hour.  As we rode on, we saw a couple of electric signs stating, “Caution:  Dust Storms with possible zero visibility.”  The sky to the east was black and we hit a few wind gusts.  It didn’t look very promising!  Then, we started to get rain.  Luckily, it was enough of a sprinkle to cover our bug splattered windshields.  Ken later told us that he didn’t even feel the sprinkle.  That’s our Ken!  He was riding his Motorcycle and “dodging” all of the rain.  What a rider!  We rode for another 77 miles and at now, 1:43 PM, because we lost an hour, we stopped at a gas station with a mini-mart on I-40, just west of the Continental Divide for a, you guessed it, another pit stop.  The pause that refreshes!  We left at 2:03 PM.

I was still leading on I-40.  The smell of rain was in the air.  The sky to the east of us was black.  I saw a couple of billboards advertising a Love’s Truck Stop with a Subway.  This was to be our stop for gas and lunch.  We rode for 42 miles and at 2:36 PM we stopped at Love’s and gassed us.  We went into the Subway and had lunch.  We took care of our pit stop and we were ready to leave.  We left at 3:22 PM with Bruce leading.

Bruce led us eastbound towards Albuquerque.  As we got closer, on the CB I heard Greg calling:  Albert…Albert…Albert, can you hear me, come back if you can…Albert, Albert, Can you hear me…This went on for quite some time.  Later, Chuck told the group that Greg called, “Albert” about 30 times.  He was having some fun listening to Greg on the CB that he didn’t answer Greg for me.  I heard Greg on the CB; however, I was unable to “transmit” on the radio!  Every time I heard, “Albert…Albert…Albert, can you hear me?”  I always answered Greg and said, “Yes, Greg, I hear you.  I can’t transmit.”  Greg finally stated, Albert, if you can hear me, put your radio on the Weather band and listen!”  I switched my radio to the Weather band and heard about the warnings of ¾” hail coming towards I-40 from Milepost 170 to Milepost 260.  It also stated that if anyone was out, to find some sturdy shelter.  This storm is known to do a lot of damage.  Chuck had instructed Bruce to stop at a Holiday Inn Express in Albuquerque.  Bruce led us to the area of the Holiday Inn Express.  Chuck, Jan and I saw the Holiday Inn Express and turned on a side street while the other four scrambled to make a turn and get to the hotel.  We rode for 90 miles and got to the hotel at 4:36 PM.  Jan and I went in to, “make the deal.”  We did and we got a good rate on the hotel for all of us.  Chuck roomed with Jan, Ken roomed with Me, C.E. roomed with Bruce and Greg roomed with Tim.

After we checked in, we moved our Motors closer to our rooms, cleaned the windshields, covered them and “tucked” them in for the night.

Most of us went to the Hot Tub and the pool.  This was very relaxing!  At 7 PM we all met in the lobby and walked to Appleby’s for dinner.  After dinner, we returned to the hotel, full, tired and ready to get to bed.

We rode for a total of 458 miles.  This is normally a little more than what we usually ride in a day.  We also started earlier than normal…6 AM!  I, for one, couldn’t sleep very well last night because of the excitement of the ride. I had 3 hours of sleep. The bed is going to feel GOOD tonight!!!

Tomorrow is another day of the same.  We will continue eastbound on I-40 and go another 400 or so miles so that we get closer to Joplin, MO.  So, until tomorrow…