Palm Springs Road Trip

We left at 9:25 for the first time and had to turn around 5 minutes later when April called to ask, “did you forget the pizza?” Doh! My friend Ed loves Lou Malnati’s pizza so there was no option but to turn around for it. Luckily we wern’t far from home. After jamming the pizzas in the car we left for the second time at 9:38. We came very close to being forced to deploy the alternate transportation method (bikes) just north of Springfield after pushing the gas gauge to the red and beyond.

We arrived in Springfield, MO around 6:30 and were treated to a fabulous dinner at Ocean Zen restaurant. It was great to spend a few minutes with Ed and family.

Outside Tulsa

Somewhere around Tulsa we were nickle-and-dimed every few miles by tolls. Being from Chicago, this wasn’t really surprising. The real treat was that there weren’t attendants at many of the tolls. I ended up having to back up to change lanes to one which had a … wait for it … bill changer. That’s right, only some lanes had a bill changer followed by the coin basket for the toll. That was a laugh and a half :)

Amarillo Wal-Mart

We stopped for lunch in Amarillo, where they just had 3-4 inches of snow. At the Wal-Mart we ended up chatting with a kid and his mom for a few minutes. We sparked up a conversation after seeing the old Honda dirt-bike in the back of the mom’s pickup. The kid said it was going to be his summer project.

Dinner restaurant

8-4-2015 We spent the night in Mariarti at a Super 8. I was out after a few beers while Al played Chromecast.

It was 22 degrees the following morning so we decided to bypass riding in Albuquerque and head for Sedona, AZ. The drive thru western NM and Eastern AZ was beautiful. The morning was clear with mountains looming on the near horizon.

Standin’ on the corner in Winslow Arizona

Old Route 66, which was fairly close to our route.

Diner in Flagstaff for lunch

We arrived in Sedona to find snow on the ground. The temperature in the mid-afternoon was cool but comfortable in the high 50’s so we saddled up for a ride. Unfortunately the trails were an absolute mess, but the scenery was stunning. What a difference 40-50 degrees makes. When I was here a few summers ago it was bone dry and HOT.

Fortunately, Absolute Bikes let us hose down our bikes. I can’t seem to find a picture but let me tell you that they were CAKED with red mud!

Sedona sunset from Airport Rd.

Can’t pass up a IN-N-OUT burger on a road trip.

The place we stayed at in Cave Creek was beautiful and it was only a mile from the trail-head for the Spur Cross Trail, which as you can see had picturesque views of the desert landscape

We only had a few minor technical difficulties, which Al dutifully solved on the trail. Not bad for the maiden voyage of the fat bike on mountain bike trails.

Al hallin’ balls back to the house. He was running better than 25 mph.

We were roughin’ it!

Crocodile-dund-Al? Now that’s a knife! LOL!

Gotta be topless cruising around Scottsdale after our ride.

Mexican restaurant in Cave Creek for dinner

We saw a coyote just a few doors down from where we were staying on the way home from dinner.

The following day we rode the Pemberton loop at McDowell Mountain Regional Park. While not overly challenging, the vistas were great and temperature perfect. On return side of the loop, Al cracked a cactus wide open after running it down after he took a corner a bit to hot.

While we packed up the gear a wonderful lady who who was also a mountain biker curiously eyed Al’s electric fat bike. She recommended that we ride Brown’s Ranch Trails next time we roll thru Phoenix.

Since I took the pictures you can’t see how white I am. However, the lady in the photo quickly came to calling me “white boy.”

Lunch at Matt’s Big Breakfast in downtown Phoenix.

We finally arrived in Palm Springs around 5:30! 2268 miles

Bobbie, Al and I bicycle toured Palm Springs. This is just outside the bike shop where I located a box to ship my bike back. We returned later with the car to retrieve it.