AZ, CA, NV March '05 - First tour of the year

[VIVID1]

So end of March my BF and I towed our bikes to AZ and took of for CA from there. In all, 7 days of riding, 2230 miles.

Here are the highlights from the trip and my favorite pictures:




Day one was spent riding from Holbrook, AZ to Phoenix area. It was a cold, rainy and very windy until about 1-2PM.

Heber, AZ



Near Show Low, AZ on 60

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Day two from Phoenix to Indio, CA. Sunny and 70’s all day. I wanted to stay in Borrego Springs for the night, but there was no availability at the motels in town, so after dinner we found a place to crash off the interstate.

Butterfly guts - yuck



Sonoran desert 238 near Gila Bend, AZ



Near Borrego Springs, CA on S3

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Day three was cut short due to the nail in my back tire. After calling the local dealers and getting a back tire mounted, we only had a few hours to enjoy the roads and then it started pouring rain.

Near Banning, CA on 341

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Day four was rainy and cold again until we made it to Palm Desert, where the temperatures were in the 70’s and it was as sunny. We ended the day riding through Joshua Tree National Park and spend the night in Yucca Valley, CA.

Palms to Pines 74 near Palm Desert, CA





Joshua Tree

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Day five was our longest day on the bikes, 538 miles. We started riding around 7:15Am and finished at 8:30PM. We rode though the Mojave National Preserve and did a loop though Death Valley National Park.

One of the salt lakes in the area, Bristol Lake near Amboy, CA



Mojave Desert, Kelbaker Road near Baker, CA



Flowers in Death Valley



Panamint Mts in Death Valley

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Day 6 we headed East though Nevada and into Arizona. Did some of the historic route 66 and had a great lunch in Lake Havasu near the London Bridge.

US 66 near Oatman, AZ





Lake Havasu, AZ London Bridge

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Day seven we rode from Wickenburg, AZ back to the trailer in Holbrook. We stopped in Prescott, Jerome and had lunch in Sedona.

89A North of Prescott, AZ



Red rocks of Sedona, AZ



Tlaquepaque, Sedona





87 East of Camp Verde, AZ snow at 7400+ feet





view all pictures

read the ride report

maps & routes

[fengler]

do u have stock clip ons or risers? how many miles do u get out of ur tank? looks awesome i want to do the same thing.

[VIVID1]

Originally Posted by fengler

do u have stock clip ons or risers? how many miles do u get out of ur tank? looks awesome i want to do the same thing.

I get about 150 miles out of my tank, if I'm nice I have the Convertibars on my 954RR but I recommend the Heli bars, that's what my BF has on his Daytona 955i, a much better product IMO.

[fengler]

look familiar?? haha






so no problems with gas?? what so u guys carry in ur luggage?

[fengler]

i would lvoe to sport tourer but the tillis only gets like 120 miles oer tank

[VIVID1]

Originally Posted by fengler

i would lvoe to sport tourer but the tillis only gets like 120 miles oer tank

I try to get gas every 100 miles or so. But having the ability to go 150 makes us lazy at times when I know there are towns up ahead, so we don’t stop, a few times I got nervous and we ended up pulling in to a gas station on fumes with the reserve light on. If you know you can only go 120 miles, just stop every 80-100 miles for gas. The only difference between “touring” and a “day” ride is where you sleep. That shouldn’t stop you from going to far away places.

[VIVID1]

Originally Posted by fengler

look familiar?? haha

yea...

I stopped in the same spot (I think) on 89



89A from the upper lever. Brian took that picture, the little spec in the parking lot in my bike

[V V V]

Great pics and an awesome trip. Cheers to the Touring King and Queen of SBN!!

[DiverDown]

Thanks for the pics, looks like a great trip!