Clip Trip

From Queen Creek to Windsor Colorado and back with my good friend David.

This will be forever known as the 'Clip Trip'.




David used to live in L.A. and moved to Chicago about a month ago. He left his bike at his brother's house and this trip was for moving his bike to Chicago. He rode 500+ miles from LA (the long way of course) to my place on Saturday. On the I-10 passing West of Phoenix the temps hit 116. It's only the beginning of June! To make matters worse for him he's wearing what he's got for gear. David is a track whore and has never done a cross country trip. All he has is a one piece leather suit. Hey, at least the thing is perforated.

Things started out great out of my garage. "Prepping the bikes" meant changing the oil and filter on my buddy David's bike. If I had known that he didn't as much as look the thing over after he bought this bike (a few months ago) I would have inspected the whole bike much more thoroughly. But it was late and we wanted to get out the next day early to try and beat the heat.



Left at 6am on Sunday. We headed to the local Waffle House for breakfast. I'd love to meet the person who did this to this poster. I think he'd fit right in with my humor.



Heading to Superior via Gonzales pass. I love me some Gonzales pass.



We were making really good time. Passing through Safford, AZ it started to get petty hot but we were in good spirits since we knew what was in store for us ahead. Route 191, Arizona's dragon!



Passing through Freport McMoran's copper mine in Morenci, AZ is where it starts to get good.





I've taken plenty of great pics of the mine on previous trips to the 191 so we only stopped briefly at the scenic lookout and kept moving. Here's an old pic that I took a few years back from the mine.



As spectacular as it is to see that thing it is no match for laying down some rubber on the 191.



This is a kick ass road!







At the top of the 191 it flattens out into a mesa. I dunno what exactly is going on here but on one side of the road it's all green.



and on the other it's dry and brown.



Weird.



King of the world.



Well, that was of course right up until we were broken down.



We'd had a good lunch at Alpine, AZ just before crossing over the New Mexico state line and had been talking about how great we were doing on time. We were supposed to stop at Farmington, NM for the night but had decided that we should push further north to Durango, CO so that we'd have a shorter ride the next day. On Monday we were to be spending the night at David's grandmother's house in Windsor, Colorado so we wanted to arrive at a reasonable time. As we rounded Quemado, NM and headed towards Gallup, NM on route 36 we were moving at a 'brisk' pace. All of a sudden I see David drop back and start flashing his lights at me. I turn around to find him duck walking his bike off the road. His chain, nowhere to be found.

I went back and recovered the chain. It was at least a half mile back. It's a miracle that he didn't put a hole in his case or had a terrible accident as that thing came flying off at such speed. I was very happy to have found it because I was sure that I had a spare master link in my tool bag which would have quickly put us back out on the road. But I didn't.  I have it in my off-road tool bag at home. Sitting on my tool bench laughing at our demise. So now we're stuck on the open road with absolutely nothing around.

David gets on the phone with AAA to see if they can help. He'd put moto coverage on it specifically for this trip. But AAA couldn't find the paper work in the system so they were of no help. He called his wife back in Chicago to see if she could find proof but cel service was very spotty at best out there. Here he is talking with someone at the insurance company on my phone and trying to find service on his.



Seems like we'll be here a while. After exhausting the AAA option I get on the horn with my best friend Steve in NY. He posts a thread on the ADVrider forum to get the "ADV emergency rescue" ball rolling. Shortly after he does this a flood of texts and voice mails start pouring in. I truly appreciate everyone's help. In the end, the ADV community came through magnificently. But when you're out there stuck with spotty reception, spending time receiving funny texts and voice mails that aren't helpful put a drain on the phone's battery. fuckers. My phone died (which was the better of the two reception wise) half way in a conversation with my friend Alejo from Albuquerque. I tried to put it to charge off of the cigarette lighter on the bike but it gave me some BS error about it not being the correct battery type. So I can't even charge the damn phone. Can this get any better? We're at a point of just leaving David's broken bike somwhere in the bushes and riding 2-up back to civilization. At that point David finally says the hell with it and musters up the courage to walk to the creepy looking trailer that we'd been broken down in front of. This was the only place within miles of anywhere that we could see. I can still hear the banjos plucking away as David walked down the long driveway.



 Here's Valerie. She is the banjo playing lady that lives in the trailer.



We didn't know it at the time but we had broken down in the absolute best spot around. What a fine lady. If we would have known that she was going to be helping us as much as she did we would have knocked on her door the moment we broke down. She's the principal of a school in Quemado, NM, a nearby town that was 25 miles south of where we were. Population 1,500.

Valerie brought out water and let us connect our phones to charge.



She also had a land line! So we got to making some phone calls. We got AAA straightened out, (or so we thought) and they'd be sending a tow truck out to us in about an hour and a half. In the meantime these Harley riders stopped to see what was going on. We were sort of pissed that at least 30 cars/trucks had zoomed on by and not a single one had as much slowed down to see if we were alright. We were wondering what was up with New Mexicans.



The truck in the background was a local farmer that had a trailer with a bulldozer in the back. He told us that he would unload the dozer and come back in about 2 hours and if we were still there he'd lend a hand. One of the Harley dudes gave me phone numbers of 2 places in Grants, NM. We talked for a while and thought that Grants was a better option than Quemado for us to spend the night since it posed more options for us to get up and going the following day once the shops opened. We had an ADV member, Craig, on the way if needed from Gallup, NM and another from Albuquerque.

So we waited and were entertained by Valerie's pups. Yeah, apparently Davids's feet stink.



The place was littered with these bugs. What are these things?



and some flies or gnats or whatever the hell they were but I was getting bit.



Still more waiting.



slowing down time.



 After about what seemed like 6 hours (more like an hour) a sheriff from the next county over arrives.



He tells us that the towing company had called and told them to go out to where we were because they couldn't get in contact with us. The reason they needed to contact us was to tell us that they didn't accept credit cards and needed us to know that piece of information before dispatching a truck. Are you fucking kiddin' me?

So as the sheriff is talking to the towing company Valerie tells us that her boss, a local rancher, is also a rider and he may be able to help us out. She gives him a call and we speak to him. He tells us he's got a horse trailer and could bring us to Grants. Nice! Fuck you AAA! Take that tow truck and shove it. We'd rather give this guy the money. So kiss our sweat drenched ass.

Within half an hour Bill arrives with his rig.



Giddy up!





We strap it in as best we can. It's not like it's going anywhere if it gets knocked over anyway and head towards Grants. I follow along behind them.



As the sun drifted away.



Bill was at some points doing 90mph. Go bill Go!



He drops into Grants and we find a room at this place. $48 for the night.



Muy caliente.

We offer Bill some money for his help. He flatly refuses. Mind you, this was a 140 mile round trip from where we were for Bill. He simply said "Don't worry guys. It'll come around."

Fuckin' A man.

Thank you Bill and Valerie!
...

Welcome to the love shack.



We were up at 7am and started calling places. Everyone was closed so we headed to a restaurant down the street to wait for places to start opening up. We're getting used to this waiting thing. So we hoped we'd find at least one place open since it seems like every moto shop owner despises Mondays. To make matters worse as I'm inspecting the damage that the chain has caused I see this on the rear tire.



Shit.

I assume that the chain did this. Regardless, the tire needs to be replaced. We get in contact with Craig and he tells us that he found a place in Gallup that's open on Mondays and will be camping out at the place waiting for it to open. Craig buys two master links and is on his way down to Grants.

I call Cycle Gear in Albuquerque and they have a tire. Nice. But Albuquerque is a bit out of our way so we call around and find a place in Farmington that's open and is on route. They say they have a rear tire in stock and they'll hold it for us. Fantastic.

At the same time I get a call from George Trujillo which is the owner of one of the local shops. I had left him a message on their answering machine so I was glad he called me back. George's shop is small and is only one of two gigs in town. The other is a Harley shop so they probably wouldn't have the part we need. I talk to George and thank him but that we think we've got things under control. 

Craig arrives with the links and we get to work. The clip isn't quite falling in place so I inspect the chain and notice that the plate isn't seating enough. I tell David this and he instantly starts to push the clip down with the chain tool and then SNAP. No!!!!!

The clip snapped in half.


No worries. We've got two master links. We'll take the other clip. But of course, that master is a rivet link and has no clip. And we don't have a rivetting tool. Jesus H. Kick me in the fucking balls. Just go right ahead and sock it to me with a 2x4.

Sigh.

So David and Craig take off to local auto shops to see if they can find a clip. It's a 530 chain so it's not an uncommon link and is used for different applications. Off they go yet I don't have high hopes of them finding anything. I give George a call back but he's not answering. Now I'm starting to think that he may not be open on Mondays and his calling me the first time may have just been by chance from checking in on his messages. Damnit. I had him on the phone and I told him we had it covered.
 
Well, it turns out that David and Craig actually found George's place and got a link and clip from him! YES!

I waited for them to arrive outside since the manager had already kicked us out.



Nah. He was a pretty cool guy but hey, he's running a business so 10am checkout is 10am checkout.





They arrive and this time I take care of putting the link on myself.

Craig sees us off. Thank you for helping us out brutha! I'm sure it will come around.





We get going through the Indian reservation.

Sometimes I think living in the Res wouldn't be so bad.



Such beautiful landscapes but there's not much else out there. it's a harsh life for Native Americans in this country.





Trying to pick up the pace since we are FAR behind schedule.



Of course we get stuck behind this cop for miles.



He finally turns off and we've got clear roads ahead.



Then get stuck behind construction work.



mmm....fresh pavement.



We make it into Farmington, NM so David can get his rear tire changed out. After a night at the South West it was the right thing to do! LOL! Without the mighty GPS we'd have never found this place.



Tiny shop.



Great owner.



He could have very well stuck it to us being that at that point we would have dished out double the price of the tire to continue the trip but he was very accommodating going as far as letting us into the shop and work with his tools. Plus gifting us the mounted tire for only $167!

The place is called Speedin.
1826 East Mojave Street
Farmington, NM 87401
(505) 215-0985

I highly recommend doing business with this shop.

As David is adjusting the chain with the wheel off I take closer look.



No, not at his ass. At this below. What the hell is this?



Sonova! It's the half of the culprit link wedged under the chain guard.



David's new bestest friend.



I forgot the name of the owner of Speedin but here he is working on this gixxer's forks.



Good rates.



So we thank Speedin dude and are off again towards Durango, CO. It is now, um, late so we're probably not gonna make it to Windsor. It is about 500 miles away and we still have a lot of twisty road to go. It's not like we're going back away from our plan and take the interstate. That is NOT gonna happen.

So finally! Tadaaaa!





David agrees with this sentiment.



Then...







We're never gonna make it are we?

 Just turn your stupid sign to slow so we can get a move on this thing.



Damn it Colorado is so beautiful.



I'm beginning to think this is all worth it or something.





Hell yeah it is!







To Silverton...





...and beyond!







What more can you say about route 550?



This is the infamous Million Dollar Highway. 

Getting our move on through there was excellent.



David is beside himself.



Then of course.



Yay for chip seal!



David's second bestest friend on this trip.





At least we had a room with a view.

This is an absolutely stunning part of this country.



I didn't take many pictures riding through Ouray for some reason because we just rode on through it. I love that little town but we had to press on. We stopped at Montrose for gas and dinner.



Yes, that was our dinner.

It's 8pm and we still have over 300 miles left.



Move, move, move. As we approached Gunnison, CO we passed the Water Wheel Inn. I soooooo wanted to stay there but stupidity took over and we just continued on riding. So from Gunnison onward we were riding in the dark. This was the last bit of sunshine we would see. Hopefully there would be no rain.



Riding route 50 from Gunnison to Salida is always a hoot. It is all wide open high speed sweepers. However, doing it in the dark with as much sight line as your headlights can manage isn't as much fun.

Plus riding with this in your face just adds to the adventure.





We sat here for a while thinking about how stupid all this was that we were doing. A little bit of nervous laughter as we thought about all the twisty riding we still had to do. I guess it's just one of those times when one says screw it. Let's just do it.



So we did it.

Riding almost blindly through the twisties we took tons of chances. We didn't slow down much. Risking a lot and pushing on through. I bet you anything though, it's a night neither of us will soon forget.

Arrived at Windsor at a hair under 1am. The last stretch of I-25 was a bitch but we made it. I hate interstate roads. I hate them even more when it's dark and I'm tired. but David's grandma greeted us with open arms when we arrived. Getting a hug from a 91 year old sweet, sweet lady made the night worth while and warmed my heart. She even gave us ice cream and cookies at 1:30 am!



Isn't that what grandmas do?

I miss my abuelita very much. David is very lucky to have his alive and well. This lady is super sharp and full of love and life. She's living at an assisted living facility in Windsor. The place is like a Disney resort. We have breakfast with a room full of awesome old people. David even chats it up with a veteran from D day. Experiences like these are what make these trips memorable and stand out from others. I really wish I could have spent more time there with grandma and talking to all these fine folks. But I had a really long day ahead of me so I needed to get on the road.
But not on second before grandma packed a zip lock bag full of sugar cookies and an energy bar for the road.

I love this lady.



 I bid my farewell to Grandma and David. He has 2 - 500 mile days ahead of him to make it to Chicago. I'm headed southwest back to Arizona. Slabbing the first few miles I hit terrible traffic down the I-25. There was an over-turned vehicle that was blocking off traffic for miles on the northbound side. Everyone on the southbound side was just rolling by to check out the scene in typical curious fashion. So I really wanted to get the hell off of the slab. I looked for a crooked line on the GPS and tracked towards it. This is getting off of the interstate and riding on route 66 heading West.



I don't know how people can hate GPS'. I absolutely love, love, love mine
The crooked line was route 7 or St. Vrain Drive.
By accident, one of the best roads on the trip!



It followed the river like god intended a road to be built.



I hit route 72 and headed to Peak to Peak highway towards the 70. I've ridden all this before and it gets better every time. The only problem is that I am finding myself nodding off a bit while I'm leaned over mid turn. Ok. I've never had THAT happen before. I've sort of felt like dozing off when I'm on a long boring stretch of slab but never while I'm riding a beautiful twisty road. This is disconcerting. So I stop at the next  town over in Nederland. I'm only 70 or so miles into my 800+ day. Physically drained. I think maybe it had to do with not having anything for dinner the previous day. Maybe I'm just getting too old for these long ass days. Whatever the case, I was there in Nederland, far away from home and could not see myself making the rest of the trip in one piece.

I needed an exit from this plan so I made a call to my good friend Pat who lives in Alamosa, CO. He tells me that I'm more than welcome to stay at his place. So I call the wife and inform her of my plans. Let the "I told you so's" rain from her mouth! Whatever. I just wanted an additional day to play in the Rockies.

So I did.

With the heavy load of having to do 800 more miles off of my back that day I set off to just wander about. Peak to Peaks highway was first down to Central City. I really like this town. I don't know exactly why because it looks like a mini Vegas in the mountains but whatever it is it has its charm. Then Central City Parkway down to the 70 is a high speed hair-raiser.

What I did not like was getting down to I-70 and finding it completely blocked.



C'mon man. Haven't we had enough of this crap on this trip?

Sigh.

After sitting there for at least 20 minutes they finally let us through. I stopped at Idaho Springs for an early lunch. Maybe putting some food in my stomach will give me some energy to continue exploring. I still have a ton of miles left from here to Alamosa but I'm in no hurry since Pat is still working and I don't want to arrive at his house without him being there.

So after lunch I take a small detour over Loveland Pass.



I had to skip this loop on my previous two trips here due to time constraints. Boy, had I missed out.





Damn. looking at my maps now I missed riding Squaw Pass too. On my bucket list it goes.

I wanna say this is on Route 9? I don't exactly know where the hell I was. I was just looking down at the GPS and taking all the crooked roads I could as I made my way South.



What I do know is that I now know where I want a summer vacation home.



So I make it down to Salida to check if another of my internet moto buddies, Hayduke, is working.   Yeah right. Hayduke is never at the shop. He's always playing in the mountains. I don't blame him one bit.



Would you look at that. It's actually open.

But where is Hayduke?





Cheryl was there manning the ship while Hayduke pissed off the money she was making him doing some leisure things with some friends. Int the mountains. A sweat shop that guy is running, I tell ya. So she told me since he had ditched me once again that I could take anything I wanted from the shop. So I did.



 Now he will never be able to close his shop again. LOL!

From Salida down to Alamosa I don't have many pictures of. Probably because I was in a hurry to arrive since Pat was surely home by now. But more than likely it was because route 17 South towards Alamosa is pretty boring. I stopped at a tiny spec of a town called Moffat to catch a breather and call Pat to tell him I was close. Moffat is pretty remote and the only businesses I saw there were a Post office and a coffee shop. The coffee shop is pretty fancy. I wonder who the hell even goes there.





From Moffat I twisted the throttle pretty heavily. I was only about an hour away from Pat's place and it's a pretty straight shot to it so I was going at a decent clip when at the distance I see this giant cock! OOO...I've got to get a picture with this cock so I slam on the brakes to slow down for the picture. Then I start to giggle in my helmet. I hadn't even noticed what was parked next to it. So you could say that this big cock saved my day. I love me some big cock!





Pat has always told me he lives in the sticks. Well I don't see no damn sticks. All I see is dirt.



and more damn dirt.



Until finally I'm there. His garage is bigger than his house!



And his neighbors are pretty far.



There's the man chilin' in his back porch.



He's not the only one chillin'.





I finally get to meet Grub's family. What great kid's he's got. His son entertained us with magic tricks through the night even though he doesn't know Spanish. The joke was that after he showed me about 6 different magic tricks I ask him if he knows David Copperfield. He instantly tells me that no. That he doesn't know Spanish. LOL!

I even got to take a close look at the little critters around the house.



Pat's wife cooked up a fantastic stew that hit the spot just right. I've been trying to pull Pat down to Arizona. There was a position that he could have taken there with the city of Queen Creek but from speaking to him I get the feeling that he'll be in Alamosa for a while. He's got a lot of things tied up there and is trying real hard to do what's right for the city.He's a good man and I'm very honored to call him a friend.



I'd be sleeping in the garage for the night.



Suck it Marriott!



Grub makes me feel right at home.







....

Waking up early after a good night's sleep.



Pat's back yard is vast.



The kids had a sleepover and slept out on the trampoline.



I say my goodbyes to the fam and Pat escorts me towards town for breakfast.



I'm having trouble keeping up with the mighty KLR.



From Alamosa I take the long route out through South Fork and over Wolf Creek Pass. There was a cyclist even called Ride the Rockies. These cats are crazy. Wolf Creek Pass is over 10k feet in elevation. Screw that. I'm glad I had an engine.



From there instead of taking route 550 down I decide again to go check out some new roads and dip down into the Navajo Res through 151 at Chimney Rock. I should've taken better pics of Chimney Rock. Sorry, this is all I've got.



Going down the 151/511 through the res was fun but the road is bumpy. Where are the taxpayer dollars in New Mexico going? The roads from either Colorado or Arizona drastically deteriorate in quality once you cross the state line.

Some stretches are better than others.





House boats.



These look like fun. USS Tin Can.



I can see this being a big hit on spring break in Lake Havasu.





I dunno if I'm supposed to be on the Dam but the gate was open so...







Out of the Res headed to Farmington.



Heading out of Farmington down to Gallup the GPS finds me a new road. Through here I can bypass Shiprock. I don't like riding through Shiprock very much so finding this was very exciting.

And it was freshly paved I was told. BIA 5.



You can see Shiprock in the distance.



Not sure what this formation is. It's just south of Shiprock right on the 491. I like it.



I stopped someplace near Tohatchi to call Craig to see what he was up to. It was around lunch time so I wanted to treat him to lunch for coming out to rescue us a few days prior. I was able to reach him and we set out for lunch at the famous El Rancho.

Here's Craig navigating though Gallup traffic.



El Rancho was a cool place to eat. I'm glad I was able to hook up with Craig because otherwise I would've just stopped at a fast food joint and kept moving.



Inside El Rancho.



We had two Rita Morenos (of course). The meals were excellent but the service was kinda slow. No worries on my end as I'm in no rush to get home regardless of how many times the wife calls to tell me to get a move on it.
We wrapped up lunch and I went to take a shit. When I came back Craig had already paid for lunch. Hey! I was supposed to be getting the tab. Bastard.

Next time it's on me and I'm not taking no for an answer. So we're going to Burger King.

Thanks meng for all you did.



 A short stint on the I-40 put me back in AZ.





I'm running on fumes at this point so I get off for gas. Problem is that the gas station is on the other side of the interstate. How am I supposed to get over there?



Luckily there was another station 5 miles down the road.

Coming into Arizona I was mentally preparing myself for the heat. I knew it was gonna be hot but I wasn't expecting it to be cloudy.

That actually cooled things off quite a bit.



The moto gods were helping me move along.



Past Payson down the Beeline I was also surprised to see so much green on the mountains. By this time it's usually dry and brown.



Getting more brown.



Ah yes, I must be getting close to home.



I can see cacti.



Then the final pass through the Usery Pass with the Superstition mountains in the background.



I can never get enough of Bulldog Canyon.



So beautiful. Love it.




That's it,
for the clip trip.


:)