Pheonix and back via Durango.

[monsterbronc]

I just drove to my brothers wedding in Sedona AZ, but had to stop in Peonix to get fittet for a tuxedo. also stopped to meet up with my folks near durango on the way.
I just put over 3000 miles on the bird and even got some camping in on the side, and the low range is a success. But she had a few minor breakdowns, and took a hard hit for the team near Limon Co.

we drove I 70 to limon, then headed southwest to Ignacio with a trailer. My parents are moving and I had to pickup my motocycle. had a blowout near Topeka Ks, and just popped on a spare. then the throttle cable fell off at some piont, but didnt notice till Hays when I dropped out of cruise.

then the biggie happend a few miles east of Limon Co.




I was doing somewhere between 85 and 90 mph (I know it was dumb of me, but I was trying to make time) and the lr tire threw the tread, it tore the flare and trim completely off, and destroyed the bumper corner, leaving a nice dent in the rear quarter. noone was hurt other than that. I limped to limon on the steel belts and had to buy a tire.

we dropped off the trailer at my parents then they followed us to Peonix via 666, I-40, down through Payson, and ultimately ending in Mesa in the Peonix area. got the Tuxedos and then headded north the next day up I-17 toward Sedona. all pretty much uneventful. I finally got to see saguaro cacti, really cool.



then we checked in at a 4 star hotel called the amara, in Sedona, they had valet parking, really funny, my old eagle amungst the BMW's and Lexuses.

SHE HAS A NAME, the valet guys have dubbed her "THE BEAST" and I think it fits.

the wedding was great, big party, lots of booze.

Sedona is beautiful, I would love to live there, but could never afford too.



then we said goodbye to my parents and they went home, and we decided to go camping and offroading (this was planned from the beginning) this is also where the stupid internal slave on the transmission began to leak. not bad, but have to top it off every morning. we went east of sedona, and camped the first night near round mountain. It was windy, cold, and miserable.


 so the next day we went north up 87 and took forest road 69 to chavez pass,  the backway to Meteor Crater.


much better. the road was great too, spent most of it in Lowrange, works wonderfully. Got really great looks from local hunters.

we visited Meteor Caater

really neat.

then we headded back up I-40 to my parents.

took it easy in Winslow.

loaded up my 75 honda 750 on my little trailer and headded home, The Beast doesnt like to tow in fifth, but we made it just fine, now i need an external slave bell housing.

well thats it, Arizona Is beautiful, and I would love to live there, I miss the high desert country.

[Smitch]

Beautiful!

[IowaEagle]

Nice pictures.  Like the family touch a lot.  Happy to hear no one was hurt because of the blow out.  Was the tire an oldie?

[Pack Rat]

Great pictures and awesome scenery, would love to see that in person some day. Bummer about the blow out, been there  . Absolutely loved the picture of your little one sitting by the fire all bundled up, priceless  .

[Jurjen]

Great pictures and good reading (I live in the Netherlands, everything is flat here).
Like the Eagles bit too (the Take It Easy quote).

[bigdog56e]

  MB,
        Excellent pics and narrative. Glad no one was hurt, just the Eagles pride.
                                                                                             Eddie

[monsterbronc]

nothin some elbow grease and a bit of bondo cant fix. not sure how old the tire was, I found it in a junk pile and it matched the others, looked ok to me, still had a half inch of tread almost. I was going a bit fast, plus was weighted down with a trailer and supplies, probobly was askin for trouble. honestly I trusted it more than the one that blew in topeka.

the little one is only 4 monthes old.

cant drive through Winslow and not stand on "the corner", its a route 66 law or something.

[nj]

brilliant! i gotta go there,yup them blowouts do some damage when you are motoring on,bet your pleased it wasnt a front tyre.

[rmedon]

Glad you didn't let those mishaps dampen a great trip!  I haven't seen a tire separate like that in a lot of years, and don't want to in the future.

[jim]

Thanks for sharing that great road trip with us.

[Route 66 Rambler]

The Verde Valley is where I grew up at, monsterbronc.  I've climbed those rocks in your picture many a time when I was young, and most of the others in the area, too.  My brother in law runs the biggest front-end shop in Sedona, he lives on the North side of town up against the rocks.  My dad lives in Camp Verde, and my brother is in Cottonwood, both about 15 miles from Sedona.  I used to work there all the time.

Oak Creek Canyon is beautiful, but I've always felt Sedona itself was very ugly.  You should have seen it there BEFORE they blasted all the rocks out to expand the town.  I called them a bunch of new-age freaks on my website once, and the city of Sedona threatened to sue.  So I just changed the wording a little to reflect the fact that it was just my own well-considered opinion, after having lived there for several years.

There is a cult there called the Ruby Focus Group, who is using a laser to carve out a temple inside one of the rocks they bought.  All of these mystical types seem to think there is some kind of energy "vortex" there, and they constantly raid the indian sites trying to find artifacts to wear, and build those crazy "witching circles" in the old indian burial sites.  There's a sort of on again, off again commune that gathers in places like Secret Canyon and West Fork, driving their Volvos and stuff down the hiking trails, and stripping all the trees for the bonfires.  The tribes are pretty upset about it, and have started armed patrols in the area to drive them off the tribal land in Secret Canyon.  Used to be all ranchers there when I was a kid, but it's the same as the rest of the state.

Nowadays, it's like that song.  There IS no Arizona.  Everybody has just come in and paved it over or trampled it down.  There are entire towns and junctions that just plain don't exist anymore, as they've been taken over by development, and torn down building by building, to put up gas marts and souvenir stores and stuff.  A few others have been moved, because the newcomers outside of town didn't want to have to drive in and get their mail, so the post office got moved out to them.
mike

[monsterbronc]

I know exactly how you feel, I grew up running around the Moab/ canyonlands area in Utah, I love it. Standing on the Edge of Dead Horse point and looking off that 2000ft drop is spiritual to me, then all these yuppies come in and #$@! it all up for the rest of us. that and no one respects the land anymore, they either trash it, or want to ban it. I remember places in Kane spring canyon from whan I was a kid that are now nothing more than dirt bike and ATV tracks. then they blame the 4X4 enthusiats, and try to get all the trails shut down. when Im out Wheelin and I see something cool, I stop get out and hike to it and take a picture. the guys on the ATV's drive over to it, then carve thir name in it, they are the ones tearing up the land. Yuppies are taking over everywhere thats beautiful, I lived in Durango Colorado, and was a mechanic for a construction company, we were building houses on the mountainside with the same square footage as my 70,000$ home, for between 50$ and 100$ million, and they only live in it 1 month out of the year, because its their "other" summer home(we built Tom cruises home, as far as we know he has been there once) so between the lowlife slobs and the rich yuppies, everything thats beautiful is either getting destroyed or overpriced. just to name a few, Vail, Aspen, Moab, Durango, Pagosa, South fork, Silverton, Telluride, Park city, the list goes on and on, thats why blue collar average joes like me live in Missouri(Misery, I HATE it) and Kansas.

In the words of C.W. Mcall "when they take away our country, they'll take away our soul"

sorry, bit of a rant.

Honestly as nice as the 4 star hotel was, I enjoyed camp at Chavez pass better. I just had a feeling like I didnt belong while in Sedona, mostly at the northern side of town, (I wonder how many people looked out their hotel window at the trout down in the river and wanted to catch them, Not many Im sure, I even pondered getting out the coleman stove and frying them up right on th balcony. I bet the front desk would have been really amused) the place reminded me of Durango, It was a really nice place once, but the cost of living got to the point where everything cost twice as much (average gas price in durango right now is 3.50$ per gallon of unleaded, I paied 2.75$ here a couple days ago.) but my pay was still $9.00 per hour. This Is the reason I moved out, and a big reason my parents are moving out, they cant afford it anymore.

I think Arizona Is a beautiful place, and I am really considering moving there within the next few years, But Sedona as beautiful as it is, isnt for me.  I thought Payson was really pretty, but Im sure its well on its way to Yuppieville. Im going to do some reasearch and learn what I can about  Arizona,s laws and such before I decide. I know I wont live in a city, I prefer out in the sticks, but where its still affordable.

[pLaYtHiNg]

Beautiful photos!  I've always wanted to move to AZ too, cuz that's where my Aunt lives, but I can't stand the humidity during the summer!

[Ökensörn]

Humidity??  What humidity?

[pLaYtHiNg]

I used to vacation down there with my step-mother and every summer when the rains would come the humidity made it almost impossible to breathe!  It would be hot as heck, the raindrops would be ice-cold and it was always muggy afterward!  LOL