Pahrump NV back to the "Real World"

Well all good things have to come to an end and today is the day I have to return the Harley, go to the Las Vegas airport and head home. Nothing like a redeye home to bridge the gap, re-adjust the head, realign the brain. But, we are not giving up that easily. Just enough time to do another desert loop, touch California and then thunder back to Las Vegas in style. Quick Green Mt Coffee Roasters in the room, pack up early and on the bike, no breakfast today. We headed west across nothing to Shoshone CA, which is a gas station and museum and not much else. Wicked wind from the north blew us around and the road was rough, but paved and no potholes. Stopped in Shoshone for gas, chatted with a guy and his wife on an Ultra Classic (Harley) from Pennsylvania who were renting from the same outfit I used, but a 4 day trip. Hannah liked the big comfy back seat on their bike, but has never complained about the seat on out Heritage Softail. Yikes, I am starting to sound like a Harley guy!! Other than Shoshone, there was nothing out here. The bike clatters along like it has for the last week and while I still like my Beemer, I see the attraction. This thing will just sit there thumping along at 65 all day. And it gets 40-45 mpg, which is decent. I do not know how Harley pulled it off, but I would say 80% of the bikes I see out here are Harley-Davidsons.

I cranked it up to 75 on the last patch of 2 laner just to feel the speed. Temperature is perfect, air is dry, no traffic, nothing but mountain and sky forever.
So back into Las Vegas to the car (thanks Westgate hotel). I put my earbuds in and let Google talk me to the motorcycle place with Hannah following. We arrived with 20 minutes to spare (noon checkin for these rental bikes). EagleRider did a great job, and they must go to the same training as Disney folks because I barely had the bike turned off, when they came out to get me checked out. The usual wide eyes at how many miles I put on ("you got your money's worth!"). We did just about 2000 miles in 7 days, which is respectable. We found a little Mexican place and had lunch (overdue). Then found a laundromat, dumped everything in our bags into a jumbo washer and stuffed it with quarters. Dry cycle was quick, I assume because of the dry air. Then we did some poking under Hannah's car to check out a cracked plastic protector which she beaned on some back country park road, and it was fine. She ran me to the airport where I set up shop near an outlet on the floor, and Hannah headed toward Prescott, AZ where she will stay a few days before driving to Albuquerque and then home to Vermont.
Thanks Hannah for a great week and for being a great daughter and a wonderful travelling companion. Maybe when you are old and grey, you will remember blasting across the desert behind you dad on a big Harley. Love you kiddo!!

Kingman AZ to Pahrump NV (not a typo)

 

Another great sleep in a cheap hotel and a walk up to the awesome coffee shop on Beale St in Kingman. We realized yesterday that there is a lot more (or arguably less) to Kingman than this old part of town. Riding in yesterday we passed lots of big companies and a big strip with all the usual chain places. People work in big companies, live across the road in developments and shop in the chain stores. Somehow we stuck to little old dumpy Beale St. Just felt more unique.
I chatted up a guy from California on a Suzuki VStrom 650, which is a nice sized bike for touring and I have seen a lot of them touring over the last couple of years. If my trusty old Beemer ever quits..
Speaking of which, my son says I can leave my Beemer in his garage, which they never use because it's always sunny there and there is acres of street spaces, a strange concept to us back east. I told him to check with the roomies, and I could give them a little beer money if that helped grease the skids. That would mean I could fly out there any time and ride around the warm sunny southwest in case of  grey weather emergencies! After this great week, that sounds even better. Stay tuned on that one.
We went north on Rt93 and went straight into Vegas (Hannah navigating), checked that her car was still there, not towed or worse, grabbed a few things out of it and then headed west out of town to Redrocks Park.
We did and hour hike up to a spring (with water actually flowing, which is a new concept after seeing nothing water wise this last week). The hike was moderate and rocky, but well marked with not too many other hikers. There were light clouds which kept the direct sun off us and kept the temperature below 80, so perfect temps.
We decided to go west to Pahrump NV which is a good sized city in the middle of the desert. I guess it's a bedroom town for Las Vegas, but it is 40-50 miles away so a decent commute.
A little thin on hotels so we stayed in the Pahrump Nugget Casino, which is very nice. Not as pricey as I would have imagined, but it is our last night and we stayed in cheap places the last few nights. Walked down the street to a Mexican place (not SouthWest food as has been explained to me).
This is the last night and we have gotten along great. Hannah is a good navigator and seems to enjoy the beauty and solitude of moving through the abundant and quiet landscape. In general people out here seem to be a lot more relaxed about things. Maybe it's all the empty space.
Oh, yea, the town name Pahrump comes from some mispronunciation of the native American term for "water rock" because they found artesian wells here.

Grand Canyon & Rt 66

We walked down to Macey's European Coffee House in Flagstaff for the next to the best cup of coffee I have ever had (the other one is a secret, sorry). I like Flagstaff! College kids and teachers in the coffee shop first thing Monday morning. Very nice vibe here, and the rest of the town as well. Note to self..
Since we ate our vegetables yesterday, putting the long day in from Albuquerque to Flagstaff, we treated ourselves to some dessert. We did the loop up to ride along the south rim of the Grand Canyon. It was pretty sparse on the traffic front, until, we got into the park (free (as opposed to $25) by way of Hannah's park pass). It was surprisingly busy for March but one of the rangers said it was spring break in a lot of schools, hence the mob. I am sure nothing like summer, but tough to find a parking spot, long lines, etc, so we bought some fruit and stuff at the grocery store and had a picnic. Grand Canyon is awesome in it's sheer scale. It surprises you after crawling along the desert and then turning the corner, AND THERE IT IS!!
It was mid-day when we got there so no magical early or late day sun, but Hannah got a shot of sunburned old dad with canyon behind, for the record, which despite my radiance, does not do the Canyon justice. Once again, I tip my hat to Teddy Roosevelt for setting it aside after visiting it in 1903.
The park is very big and the Village is confusing and feels kind of like Disney World with all the lodges and the train and multiple market places. I managed to find my way out and found the road south (Rt69) and filled up (it never ends..) the Harley, and soon was out in the open road again. Just outside the park limit is all the commercial stuff (hotels, fast food, etc) and then nothing but open dry mixed desert high alpine trees.
We got to the turn for Flagstaff and realized we could keep on Rt69 and cut the corner west to get to Rt40. We discovered that there is a 100+ mile stretch of old Rt66 here that goes through Peach Springs (not peaches and no springs anywhere) that was a very nice ride. They even had Burma Shave signs:
"You can beat... A mile a minute....But there ain't... No future in it... Burma Shave"
 (The goal was Bullhead City (just to say we stayed in a town named Bullhead City), but alas, by the time we got to Rt40, it was 5:30 and we were spent, and we knew a great brew-pub in Kingman where we stayed last week, so here we are in the same motel (except the guy shaved his head since we were here last week..) and awesome beer in the Black Ridge Brewery. You can order from 3 different restaurants on the same street and they walk it over to the pub, which we did and they did and it was great. Nice stroll through the old historic railroad town, back to the motel, and.. crash. Awesome day!! Back to Vegas tomorrow.

Work Day - Albuquerque NM to Flagstaff AZ

Another deep sleep and quick pack up to go meet Jake for breakfast (which turned into brunch-lunch). Jake's new place is in a nice, quiet neighborhood with those dreamy "no-mow" lawns. They actually plan them with all kinds of plants and flowering stuff (can you tell I'm a botanist), and then just leave them. No lawn mowers here. We saw a roadrunner running through a yard, looking for breakfast as well I assume. We walked cross-town to a place called something like the Wafflezeum or Waffleteria or Wafflotorium which had waffles for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Pretty creative and packed, but we got a table and had a leisurely brunch catching up with each other. Walk back to Jakes, and said our goodbyes. We snapped the above pic of Hannah, Dad, and Jake, with our trusty steed "Clunk" behind (gotta remember him too!!)
Me being "Mr Prepared" decided to make it a work day and get some miles in so we had some buffer. So we spent the day on Rt 40 (no map required, just draw a straight line 324 miles east to west) doing 1 hour shifts with gas for Clunk every other stop. It was kind of relaxing not having to think which way to go next and traffic was light as we puttered along at 65 (speed limit here is 75).
We got into Flagstaff around 5:30 and found a strangely cheap hotel downtown so we could walk. Hannah knew the town a bit as this is where she spent a few days prepping for her Grand Canyon rafting trip last December so we walked around the town, which is another old railroad town from the late 1800's. Maybe the size of Burlington with a good sized college in it. Found one of 2 brew-pubs and had a nice long chat. Hannah is doing great at this motorcycle thing. Another warm, dry, sunny southwestern day

Our beloved steed, "Clunk"

Winslow to Albuquerque

 Good sleep, hot shower and yogurt / fruit bar at the hotel. Then gas and go. We needed another 300+ mile day to get to Albuquerque by tonight but still wanted to see some side roads. Took Rt 40 for 50 miles or so and went SE on Rt 180 so we could come back up through the Petrified forest park. Light traffic and cooler today. Petrified is another place they set aside (thanks Teddy Roosevelt) and it is bizarre to ride by these logs made of stone just laying all over. Used Hannah's free park pass and saved $10 (which is the real reason I brought her along). Like all the parks, it is a simple, low budget operation that makes these natural beauties accessible to everyone. Watched the movie at the visitor center and walked around the log/rocks there. Quick version is, trees torn down in some weather event, floated downstream and ended up in river bottoms, then covered by silt / volcano ash, minerals leached into the wood cells and then it all dried, earth crust pushes it all up, wind blows all the ash.silt away and voila, petrified logs. (I should been a park ranger...)
We went to Gallop for lunch and found the oldest restaurant in Gallop which had good south-west food and funky decor. Perfect! Old newspapers, 50's music, old decor.
From Gallup we went south to cut through the El Malpais Natural Conservation Area. Like most everything we rode through today, this is part of the Painted Desert so we got lots of great views.

We pulled into Grants for one last tankful to get us to Albuquerque and ran into a nice old guy on a beautiful 1969 BWM. It looked like it just rolled off the line so I chatted the guy up and he bought it when it was new back in 1969. He said they had a very active BMW group out here and his mission this weekend was to ride to all the old forts and take pictures for the group. Kind of a scavenger hunt thing. I told him of my secret plan to stash my RT out west and then fly out a few times a year to ride it. He thought that could be arranged.
He said the best way to ABQ was on old Rt66 which runs beside the highway for about 35 more miles before it merges with Rt40. We did and it was a nice nostalgic road with the old gas stations and old cars abandoned here and there.
I knew about where Jakes new place was so we ot in Rt15 and got a room at a hotel I have stayed at a couple times, then rode to Jakes. We walked a ways to a pizza place he liked and then took a cab to a barbecue he and the other physics grad students were having. They are either quantum folks and or astrophysics so had a nice evening coming up to speed on how little I know and how minuscule I am in the universe. Ah that old college excitement of new discovery!!
Jake's room-mate, Satomi, gave us all a ride back and Hannah and I limped back to motel, crawled in bed and zonked out.
Now we have 3 days to get back to Vegas...

"Standing On The Corner in Winslow Arizona"

No sleeping problems again last night. We walked into town and had coffee. The downtown is only a couple blocks long of "active" business' but an interesting mix. It's fun to people watch and there are young, hip, early family age folks (Mini-Cooper?) in this dry little ex-railroad town. I would rate Kingman "used to be dead but coming back alive". Good coffee too. There is a full sized train they restored with a couple cars in the middle of the park, I am guessing a nod to the train history. Most of the town signs around here say they were established in 1880 or so. I am guessing the train came through and all these town along it took seed.
The goal today was to go to Prescott and see Hannah's buddies she lived with there. We went the scenic route of course, which here means a lot of desert. This time of year, anything that can pop any kind of flower is doing so and in the morning we were treated with red, orange, yellow and white flowers from all these desert plants. I go a whiff of creosote and there is also something that smells like and herb I kept getting big whiffs of. There was moderate traffic going southeast on 93 and it is part 2 land and part divided 4 lane with construction crews making more 4 lane.We gassed and watered up in Wickenburg, and then started the long twisty climb up the mountain toward Prescott. The Harley is not made to corner and I had a hard time keeping the footboards from grinding the pavement on the 15 and 20 mph turns. As we climbed, the desert gave way to forests and the temperature dropped, but it felt refreshing after the hot desert air. We put extra layers on and zipped up the jacket air vents and blasted through the high, dry forest. Very little traffic. We pulled into Prescott which is good sized and very vibrant. We took a long walk through the busy park and walked to the house Hannah lived in 15 minutes from the park. Quiet neighborhoods and no grass anywhere. We walked back, got the bike and rode to Bill's Grill where we met 3 of Hannah's friends and a girl from Australia and had a great long lunch and chat. They were all in their mid twenties and doing all kinds of things. Everything ahead of them..
We said goodbyes and decide to push for Winslow.

More gas (the Harley is getting 40-45 mpg) and then more desert and almost no traffic. We came off the hill down into Winslow and the sky was so blue with nice flat little clouds and horizon to horizon views. We idled through Winslow which is fairly run down with lots of empty storefronts. The Eagles song was rattling around my head this morning with the "Standing On The Corner" line in it. Winslow is touting Rt 66, but like a lot of small towns, it's having a hard time. Found a motel by the highway and walked across the street for Mexican food (really good Mexican food). We did about 320 miles which is an honest day and we were both beat. Tomorrow we ride to Albuquerque to see the boy.

Valley of Fire

I was dead to the world all night and we both slept late. We did another walk way down the strip searching for some breakfast and coffee but alas, the hotels have all the food places inside, so we found a Starbucks and used the old "I just want a simple coffee" thing. I have never understood ordering coffee at Starbucks. Back to the room and checked out. This town never sleeps as it seems as busy in the casino early in the morning as it is at night and you have to go through the casino to go anywhere in a Vegas hotel.
We tore all out stuff apart and got it all down to both saddlebags full and one small LL Bean bag on the rack on the back. It was raining east and south of us so we decided to go north and do a loop through Valley of Fire State Park, which was beautiful. We went up Rt15 to get out of Las Vegas(yuck) and on the way got passed by dozens of Harleys all, as it turned out, also going to Valley of Fire. But being Harley riders, they stopped at the exit to fill the peanut sized gas tanks and we kept going (with our macadamia nut sized tank) and managed to stay ahead of them all day. The temperature was 70-80 so perfect. Not a drop of rain all day, perfect. The Harley ran perfectly, even though it sounds like a sap bucket full of gutter cleaner parts most of the time. The range is supposed to be 200 miles but the gauge said empty after 150 miles and it only took 3.3 gals to refill so I gotta Google this to see how far this will really go. These roads are pretty desolate and I do not want to run out of gas.
We stopped at Boulder City near Hoover Dam and had lunch. This is a nice little town with a nice community feel to it, and we went through some others as well.
The Beavertown cactus (Hannah says) are blooming bright pink and the Creosote bushes are flowering small yellow flowers so there is some beauty mixed with desert on both sides of the road. We passed some huge solar projects so these guys are doing the right thing out here.
We went south on 95 to cross the river at Bullhead City, AZ which is just across the river from Laughlin NV. The difference is there are big casinos on the Nevada side and none on the AZ side.  But I must say, these town seem to have a nice feel to them, with or without gambling. We had a little daylight left and it was warm so we decided to do one more push and end the day in Kingman AZ.
The sun dropped fast behind us and we were rewarded with a spectacular mountain / cloud combo, sunset. Awesome, even with power lines blocking the view. We got a motel (whose name shall not be revealed for continued marital bliss) and walked into another nice little town for a couple cold beers. Kingman has a Yoga studio next to a wine bar next to the Redneck BBQ place (with real rednecks) across the street from a local brewery (where we stopped) and a couple nice restaurants. It is a railroad town so trains seem to moving through continuously. We skipped dinner since we ate lunch so late in Boulder City. Nice walk back to the hotel and bed.
Nice first day for Hannah on the back. She did good..

Viva Las Elvis

Me, and a few others that got the same extra days re-route through San Fran did make it to Las Vegas and on time. I think the nice guy does ok as one couple that was hollering at those folks in New York about their cancelled flight, ended up on the exact same flight as me, the difference being, they stood in that line for over 2 hours yelling and threatening. I read a book instead, and we both got here late.
My daughter somehow got more gorgeous since the last time I saw her, blonder and healthier from all the outdoor stuff she has been doing (as apposed to grayer and pastier her old man has gotten from working behind a desk in the arctic all winter.
And I would like to remind everyone back home that IT IS WARM HERE!! Sorry, couldn't help myself. I was pretty wiped out and I had to figure out how to get the bike, where to stay tonight and how to get the the wireless show. Hannah had her car and took me to the bike shop. On the way I called Seth, an engineer who was in Vegas at a wireless trade show, and he and his family got a smoking deal at the West Gate so I called West Gate and got a less smoking deal, but not bad in the scheme of things.
Big confusion at the bike shop as they had no record of me reserving a bike, but did have a record of me renting one back in Feb, which they agreed did not actually happen. They had told me all was good last Sunday when I checked that all was ok. They had a bike so we got lunch at their favorite taco place a couple blocks away, and when we got back I had a shiny Heritage Softail waiting. Got Hannah a helmet and kevlar jacket, put some earbuds in and the iPhone talked me through Las Vegas traffic to the hotel. Easy-peasy.
We had a couple long walks to catch up, people watch and get a feel for Vegas. It is a party town for sure. I can't wait to leave.
It got too late for the show, which turned out ok as Seth says the classes and seminars (nerdy stuff, even nerdier than me if thats possible) were good, but the vendor exhibits were not that great. Instead I took a luxurious shower and changed my lived in clothes. We  met Seth and Allare and his 2 great kids and went to a secret hole in the wall Thai place that had great food. At this point I wanted nothing but bed and sleep so called it a day.
And yes, Elvis and Marilyn Monroe are still here, everywhere!

I love the smell of jet fuel early in the morning.. We didn't leave JFK until just before midnight due to immovable travel object #14 which was a flat tire on the plane (I swear I saw cans of "Fix-A-Flat" out there..) and it'a a 7 hr flight to San Francisco. I actually slept fairly well back in cattle class at the Airbus B&B. Lots of movies, but I slept instead. Got here at SFO around 4am (7am back home) and next flight (hopefully it will be pleasantly uneventful) is at 9 to Vegas. Hannah ended up taking the hotel I reserved so I expect her to be sparkly clean and rested. The wireless trade show starts today and I should pick the Harley up this afternoon so should be a busy day and not sure how it is put together yet. The picture is the lovely office they had waiting for me when I got off the plane in SFO. As you can see, not a lot of people here this time of day. The nice policeman cruising the airport on his Segway (they actually sold some of those?) said coffee place opens soon. WiFi is everywhere and it is free. They had free "Beta" WiFi on the plane but I chose sleep (or it chose me I suppose) instead.
I was thinking as we landed with all the lights below of inviting one of my Vermont ancestors to come on the trip and all the questions he or she might have. Working on old diaries and stories from the 1800's this past year helps give me some perspective and appreciation for what we do have (comfort, wealth (relative to the 1800's)) and also what we maybe wandered the wrong way on (self control of our food & energy supply (I got no root cellar or wood shed). But what we have is pretty amazing. OK, off to find that elusive pre-dawn cup of Joe.

Happy St Patrty's Day (NOT!!)

Bret from work very nicely gave me a ride to the airport and the Jet Blue folks are really nice. I got one of the TSA Pre-approved which at first I was humbled by, but it actually means you don't have to take your shoes off. (Nobody wants to see old people take their shoes off!). Very windy taking off and really exciting landing in JFK. Sorta like a stunt plane ride, but bigger plane (believe me, I know). So it was suppose to be a boring flight and then I looked at "the big board" when I got off the plane The words "Cancelled" had taken over the column normally reserved for the happy "On Time" column and scanning the list, sure enough, my flight from JFK to Las Vegas was "Cancelled". Cool! An adventure (in my twisted little mind). So I queue up at the "Just Ask" counter with my angry fellow travelers, or not travelers as it may be. So us Vermonters, or this one at least, are pretty non-plussed by these kinds of things, being beaten senseless by winter, taxes and aging hippies all these years, knowing that the sun will come up tomorrow and we will have another interesting life story to tell the grandchildren someday. My fellow travelers were on the other hand, extremely plussed. Better than a Starksboro dog fight by far!! I could sell tickets. The 5 Jet Blue folks behind the counter were up to the task with skin as thick as iron. It took me 30-40 minutes of standing in line (or defending my position in line) before "Julia" asked how she could help. The Jet Blue computers were, as we spoke, trying to re-route me, or do something for me, as her screen was changing as we spoke. So I told her I would get coffee and come back. I think she thought I was some kind of weirdo for not yelling at her like the rest. An hour later, Jet Blue had called my house (robo call) and told the answering machine and Julia confirmed I was being re-routed to San Francisco late tonight and then flying in the morning to Las Vegas. So it's going to be a looong night, but they do serve beer and meals and there is great people watching for this country bumpkin. Oh yea, and free wifi, so  it will be a long night of working on some interesting code later in San Fransciso (if they also have free wifi). Gotta go re-fill on Starbucks, where they laugh when I ask for "wimpy coffee and not that black tar they usual serve". Good night!! Oh and Happy St Patrick's Day!!

Heading to Vegas, Gonna See My Girl

I almost forgot how to sign into this blog it's been so long. I am doing a "3-fer" on this trip. There is a trade show I wanted to go to in Las Vegas (If I told you what it was, you would go to sleep, but think nerds with pocket protectors) and we couldn't justify 2 of us going, so I decided to take in a day of it on my vacation (nerd..). And if that place just happens to be warm, I might as well rent a motorcycle, and if I have a motorcycle, I might as well ride it around the southwest a bit and see some sites. And guess what, my lovely daughter Hannah just happens to be in Arizona and seems tickled to ride on the back. And her brother Jacob just happens to be just about the right distance away in Albuquerque NM to make for a nice round trip that should take about a week. My plane leaves this afternoon, (BTV to JFK to Vegas) and I am ready to see the sun again and thaw out. The driveway is plowed and it doesn't look like there is much snow-wise coming this week so Deb should be able to get up the hill.
I have my usual pile of stuff on the kitchen table ready to stuff into a bag. It's been a long snowy, cold winter and I am ready for a break. I'll keep you posted..