Day 1, Wednesday, April 15, 2015
The day has finally come when we start our Annual
Ride. I, unfortunately, was not able to
ride last year because of a medical issue.
Ken Shriner took the reins and wrote the blog, along with Chuck
Roseberry. I thank Ken for stepping in
and now, I will take over so that Ken doesn’t have to stress about the blog
this year.
We started by meeting together this morning by 9:00 A.M.
at 7th Street and Beardsley at the QT gas station. The guys: Chuck
Roseberry, Jan Marshall, C.E. Fuller, Jake Jacobson, Bruce Stallman, Ken
Shriner and I all showed up. Of course,
the time was set by Chuck and he was fashionable late. His Daughter, Genna and her infant Daughter, Presley,
were there, along with my Wife, Laura, and Daughter, Jennifer. Chuck arrived and had to go and get his
morning cup of coffee. O.K., it was time
to leave. We said, “Goodbye” to our
loved ones and we were off at 9:35 A.M.
We headed eastbound on the 101 until we reached U.S.
60. We headed east on U.S. 60 and rode
into Superior, AZ. We thought that we
were going to stop for a break or breakfast, but we didn’t and we continued
eastbound.
It was a cloudy day and at 11:08 A.M., after riding for
144 miles, we stopped in Globe, AZ for a much needed “pit stop.” It’s been a while since we all rode together,
but we did park in an orderly fashion, all in a row. We all talked about how it HAS been a while
and we were really not used to riding for that long. Jan made an interesting point. He stated that although we haven’t ridden
together in such a long time, it was nice to be riding in “formation”
again. We continued on at 11:30 A.M.
with Chuck leading. We were now on
Highway 70.
We rode eastbound and it was still cloudy and the wind
kicked up a little harder. We did
encounter a few strong wind gusts and dust.
Eastbound, we continued riding through high desert and hills for another
91 miles. At 12:50 P.M., we stopped for
lunch at Subway in Safford, AZ. We were
all about ready for lunch and another break.
We finished our lunch and rode a block or two to the Giant gas station
and gassed up our Motors.
We left at 1:45 P.M. and I took the lead. We always change leaders after getting
gas. The leader who finishes has the
option to ride at the rear, if he chooses.
NO ONE can take that away from him.
Soon after I took over the lead, we rode onto Highway 191. We passed the small town of Guthrie and now
we were on Highway 78. We got to the New
Mexico border at 2:47 P.M. and lost an hour.
It was now 3:47 P.M., thanks to Daylight Savings Time. We continued
through the blowing dust and gusts of wind until we reached Highway 180. We turned onto 180 eastbound. Jan rode up next to me and motioned that we needed
to stop and make a “pit stop.” I told
him that I had been looking, however, there were no places to stop. We rode through the town of Buckhorn, N.M.
and found nothing available. We rode
into the thriving metropolis of Cliff, N.M., and I saw a small Mom & Pop
store with gas pumps. I turned into the
parking lot and we had our “pit stop!”
We stopped at 4:20 P.M. after riding 90 miles.
We took a little break.
Chuck came to me as I was looking at the map. He told me that because it was getting late
and we lost an hour, the plans had changes.
We were now going to Deming, N.M. to stop for the night. I got on my phone and found a Best Western
that Chuck had told me about. I put the
address on the Navigation system on my Motorcycle and we then left at 4:40 P.M.
I led the group on Highway 180 east towards Deming. We arrived in Deming and I was following the
directions of the Navigation and, for whatever reason, it took me the wrong
way. We rode for about a mile and I saw
a sign for a Holiday Inn Express. Chuck
got a hold of me on the CB and told me of the Holiday Inn Express. I told him that I was headed that way. We arrived at the Holiday Inn Express at 6:06
P.M. after riding for 87 miles. Jan and
Bruce enter the hotel to “make the deal.”
Apparently they did because when I entered, Jan was already getting his
room! Of course, with Holiday Inn
Express, when we went in, we looked for the “homemade” cookies. Yes sirree, they were on the counter. We all got checked in. We took our stuff to our rooms and returned
to the Lobby. C.E. had been in Deming in
the past, (I don’t know why?), but suggested a restaurant named, “Si Senor
Restaurant.” We rode two miles to the
restaurant and had a good meal. We
returned to the hotel and tucked our Motorcycles in for the night. We went to our rooms and changed into our
swim suits and went to the hot tub. THAT
felt good!
After the hot tub, we all went to our rooms. Chuck roomed alone, Ken was with C.E., Bruce
and Jake were together and Jan and I roomed together.
As I was typing this blog, Jan was in bed watching
Combat! and 12 O’clock High. We haven’t
watched these programs in quite a while.
All we needed was, “JAG!”
This was a day that we had been waiting for and talking
about for quite a while. Yes, it was
worth the wait. It was good to get back
on the Motorcycles and ride as a group.
Oh by the way, we told Jake that the “newbie” needed to buy the group a
dinner and occasionally some beer for the evening. I think he bought it! Don’t tell him! We did ride a total of 402 miles. When we arrived in Deming, it did sprinkle on
us for about 5 seconds, and the wind died down.
Tomorrow, we will continue to El Paso and onto Alpine,
TX, where we will meet up with J.B. Henderson.
Let me take this opportunity to thank all of you who follow the blog and
our Journey. Please feel free to send
comments. We appreciate them. Chuck and
I will read them and talk about you people.
It makes our day too! So, until
tomorrow…
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