1009 Red Rock Ride

Boy we couldn't have asked for a better ride.

Thursday:

John, Donna, Richard, Cindy, Carl and I meet at the Wheel Inn and headed east. The weather was fantastic and traffic was light. Our first stop was in Quartzite for gas and a break. The weather was so clear you could see forever. Our second stop was at Congress for a stretch and drink. We meet a couple on there way to the rally there as well. Jeff and Linda were on a yellow wing and joined us for the ride into Prescott. Hwy 89 is a great motorcycle road and it was lot's of fun. We arrived in Prescott around 2:30. Joe, Donna, and Greg left early and were 2 hours ahead of us. They made a tour around to Baghdad and actually got there a little after us. Rob and Daryl were there to greet us as they arrived on Wednesday. The hotel arranged for a taxi company to give us good rates to any place we wanted to go in town. That worked out great as most all the restaurants were farther then we wanted to walk and after being on the bikes most the day it was nice not to gear up again. We ate dinner at a local steak house and after dinner we socialized in the lobby.

Friday:

The hotel had a great breakfast for the guests and after we made plans for the days ride. We decided to ride over to Montezuma's castle and Fort Verde. John took the lead for what was to be a great day of riding. Arizona has such a diverse country side is was wonderful to see. We stopped for lunch in Payson at this nice Mexican restaurant. From lunch we made our way south toward Scottsdale for the loop back to Prescott. We did hit some traffic in town but it wasn't to bad since we could ride in the HOV lane. It took us in the wrong direction though so we had to make a quick u turn to get back on track. Total miles for Friday was 288. After a quick freshening up we took a taxi into town to the Prescott Brewing Co. to eat. Wayne, Mike and his son Mike got into Prescott in time to join us for dinner as well.

Saturday:

Saturday we had made plans to meet up the a group from the Arizona. Ron, Barb, Mike, Dan, Tom, George and Helen meet us at the local Ihop for breakfast. Ron lead the group on his Goldwing trike for a nice tour to Jerome were we stopped for a bit to see the sites. From there we made our way to Sedona and up through Oak Creek Canyon. What a beautiful ride the canyon is with all the trees changing colors. We stopped at the top for a look at the view and stretch a bit once again. Flagstaff was our next stop for a quick fill up and then it was down Lake Mary road. It was about a 45 minute ride to our lunch stop. The restaurant was very accommodating and took good care of our large group. (I'm sorry I don't remember the name of it.) . With one more stop for gas at Camp Verde we said our good byes to the Arizona group with the exception of Ron and Barb and headed back to the hotel. The Red Rock Ride organizers made arrangements for us all to have dinner the Palace on Whiskey row. It was a great get together and Kevin gave away two sets of airline tickets to anywhere Southwest flies. No one from our group won but it was great fun.

Sunday:

Sunday morning was time to leave for home. While most left for home I went with Wayne and Mike to Vegas to spend the night. Carl went with us and rented a Goldwing for Monday morning to try one out. We rode around Mt. Charleston and then over to Lake Mead. It was around 170 miles before he turned it back in and we left for So.Cal.

Thanks to Ron and Tom for leading us on a great ride on Saturday. We will plan another ride with them next year. Also thanks to the organizers of the Red Rock Ride. It was a great time to meet up with other great riders on their Goldwings.

Be sure to check out the pictures from Rob, Daryl and Greg.

Pictures