3-20-2010- The 360 Mile Day Ride

3-20-2010- The 360 Mile Day Ride.- Myself and five of my close riding friends decided to take a day trip traveling through the center portion of Arizona. En route to meet them at Ellsworth and University in Mesa I took a 26 mile detour to view the last of the snow on Four Peaks. We then met at 8 am fueled up and headed to Payson. As we arrived in Payson we decided to do an early lunch at El Ranchero, Good choice! from there we headed north up the Mogollon Rim through Pine and Strawberry. On top of the Rim we had clear roads but there was huge amounts of snow, three to four foot drifts still existed.
We continued on up Highway 87 to the junction of highway 260 that would take us on into Camp Verde. Along the way we encountered several Bull Elk with their Cows. There were also many Brown and Redtail Hawks and a couple of Eagles in flight near the Highway, Awesome! Soon we arrived in Camp Verde and decided to continue on to the hillside community of Jerome.
On our way up we passed large groups of motorcyclist, I guess they thought it was a great day to ride also. In Jerome the hillside streets were jam packed with tourist and no place to park, they were having an artisans fair so we continued up Mingus mountain and stopped at a viewpoint to take a break.
Our group, Ray, Rick, Ironhead,Tracey and John.
Ironhead took this picture, thats me in the middle.
Decision making, we decided to go up and over Mingus Mountain and continue on to Prescott.
Yes this was a good day to ride the Vstrom versus the VTX, and Ironhead even left the Bobber at home and rode his Road Couch, the Goldwing!
As we got into Prescott we fueled the bikes and our bodies. We ate at PBR-Prescott Brewing & Restaurant, the pork sliders were yummy! Once rested we brainstormed to decide our next destination. Decision made, we would head south on Highway 89, lots of twisties into Wilhoit, Kirkland Junction, Peeples Valley, Yarnell and Congress. These are very small towns so if you blink you'll miss them.
From Congress we determined we would continue to Highway 60 and stop in Wickenburg for a short break. A warm cup of coffee was necessary as the sun was setting and the temperature was dropping. Back on the road we continued to the Highway 74 Lake pleasant road that would take us to Interstate 17 just south of Anthem and north of Peoria.
As we made our way down the 17 we encountered many other motorcyclist giving us the low hand salute, that's cool. Soon we came to the junction of the 101 Highway and we would take that east through north Phoenix, Scottsdale to the 202 Highway. Traffic was quit a bit heavier now so more concentration was neccessary to deal with the four wheeled cages.
The 202 highway was in sight that would take us back to Mesa and the end of an almost 12 hour adventure. When I pulled into the driveway the dogs were barking and the Vstrom and myself were giving thanks for a great day! and God Blessing us with a safe ride.

God Bless, Sly