Here it is about a year and half after the 2012 Cannonball and I am finally finishing the blog. Long story short...Driving in a van with no A/C across the American southwest in late April with temps in the 90's and occasional triple digits made the idea of sitting and collecting my thoughts at my laptop each night a no go.
I thought I would get to it soon after Cannonball but my busy work schedule gave me just enough excuse to put it off until...well, never.
But now I'n registered for the 2014 Cannonball I fell it remiss of me to leave 2012 hangin' on. So I will briefly try to hit the high lights.
DAY 6 - Roswell, NM to Show Low, AZThe word of the day was WINDY. An early portion of the day took us through Hondo, NM which is in Lincoln County. Better known as the setting of Young Guns. We encountered an insane amount of wind and sand that I can only imagine made any riding nearly impossible. We waited it out at a gas station and I got talked up by an interested biker who said he had lived off the grid for more than 30 years. He just criss-crossed on his motorcycle camping. He had interesting conspiracy theories. We crossed the Continental Divide and had some pie at a restaurant in the middle of nowhere. I had a slice of what was considered a local treat. It had peppers and pine nuts. Take my word for it when I say 'noooooooo'. Don't do it.
Scooray low ended pulling into a gravel parking lot for gas. A few bruised ribs but nothing that kept him out of the rest of the ride. That was good news because the trailer was loaded down with dead scoots.
Stu had a novice oil mishap and seized the engine on his brand new SYM RV250. He had changed the oil ridden a little while, realized the oil was over filled and let too much out. He wasn't sure if his oil dummy light was a pressure indicator or a level indicator. His scoot went on GeorgiaGirl's trailer and he rode with her support driver.
Nustar's luggage arrived via Fedex as expected and he was able to change clothes for the first time in days. Not that he wreaked. He was good about washing his clothes in the sink at night.
Kraken Master & ScooterChef had uneventful rides and got to enjoy some very beautiful southwest sights.
Sir Paul (gbanks66) had another long day in the saddle. Survived but you could tell he was tiring. Today had some serious elevation gains and his 4.3 hp engine struggled with every bit of it.
One good thing about the elevation was the cool dry air in the evening and morning. But this was the day I finally said bed trumps all and turned in early.
DAY 7 - Show Low, AZ to Parker, AZ (Ground Hogs Inferno)
The day started of so nice. Cool crisp morning with a drive through a National Forest. Many of the riders took advantage of the views and we passed them in the early hours of the day. We had an early lunch @ a McDonalds with Maria and her husband Stacey. They were riding a Majesty 400 and Burgman 650 respectively and were referred to dismissively as 'Tourists' on the Cannonball by some participants. Stacey had cancer and Cannonball was on his bucket list. They were always smiling and enjoying the ride and camaraderie. A few months later Stacey passed. Fuck Cancer and the crappy Chinese scooter it rode in on.
The route took us way up high to the mile high town of Jerome. Jerome is a favorite for bikers because of the view and steep, winding roads leading in and out of town. We had a nice lunch and found our way out the back road. Driving down the road we got the fragrant scent of burning metal. Our brakes were working so much overtime that they were heating up, really really heating up. But with no shoulder, no way to turn around and a line of vehicles behind us we just had to keep going. we finally get to the bottom and my leg is cramping from working the brake.
Just as we're about to head onward we check the location of our various riders and realize the Sir Paul is on the other side of Jerome, way the other side. We try calling him but fail. Kraken informs us that he passed him up an hour ago and that he was having problems. Somewhere in Arizona an Englishman on a very small scooter is lost and we must find him. BEGIN THE LOOP FROM HELL.
It's about 2pm and all we know through Pauls wife posting on ModernVespa.com is that he is broke down on the other side of the brake melting portion of the route near a Dairy Queen. We consult Google maps and decide to take the longer, less steep route around to a cross road we hope he his. our circuitous route takes much longer than we expected and are misled by some directions via 3rd and 4th party on ModernVespa that has us going back to Jerome.
This time Frank is driving. He is much more trusting in his driving on the curvy climb than I am and I am certain I will die. As this is not a posthumous post you can tell I didn't die but nonetheless I'm certain I had a small coronary.
We've now made the loop twice and we are tired, hot, hungry and feeling not unlike Bill Murray in Groundhogs Day when he first attempts suicide out of desperation. "PLEASE END THIS NOW"
Just before we decide throw in the towel Frank gets a call from Pauls wife. He had walked to a cell phone store and borrowed a charger for his phone and with the little bitty charge he has he calls his wife to pass on his location. I would've called the people in the van but hey that's me. I also grew up driving on the right side of the road.
It turned out that he was further back on the route than we had suspected and 20 miles outside the loop we were looking for him in. When we got to him the Dairy Queen was a combo restaurant that Google maps didn't list as a Dairy Queen. For Fuck's Sake!
It is now 6:30 pm and we are easily 4-5 hours from our hotel rooms in Parker AZ. Since every single other rider is already at the hotel we opt to take the highway to Parker saving us all of 45 minutes.
By the time we rolled in I was falling asleep at the wheel and 95% of the Cannonballers were all in bed. We agreed to sleep in and not worry about hitting the road before 9:30am. I ate from vending machine, passed out and had vivid nightmares of driving of the side of a cliff.
Day 8 - Final Day - Parker AZ to San Diego CA9:30 came way too early. The route took us though Joshua Tree National Park and around the Salton Sea. 2/3 of the day was driving through the fucking desert and I was tired, but the final 3rd of the day was worth it. The State parks had beautiful rolling green valleys that beckoned us to just chill out by a pond and forget the Hell of yesterday. We just took our time and enjoyed the last day. We got to the hotel around 5pm.
A group of us had a final dinner together at Mexican restaurant across the street and I paid the Mariachi band to play a few songs for us.
I sat up talking with Joe (Nustar), Sean (Kraken Master) and Paul (gbanks66) until close to midnight. Kraken is riding in 2014 but I haven't heard from Joe or Paul. I hope to see them but doubt they will make it. Frank, the cantankerous bastard, will definitely be there. It makes me extremely happy to know that. He'll be 64ish this go around.
Two Alumn from the 2012 Scooter Cannonball passed away after fighting their own battles with cancer:
Sergeant Major Stacey Lee Stapleton (Spiff717) &
Janice Ashrat (http://dsscgal.tripod.com/scootergal/id42.html)
There rider numbers have been retired in honor of them.
Keep the rubber side down & LFTO
Chuck
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