Another Wonderful Ride

Saturday I set out for a nice motorcycle ride. It was a little breezy, but that's nothing new around here. I rode on Saturday instead of Sunday, my peferred weekend riding day, because I have a social engagement on Sunday.

I backed my bike out of my rented garage, then headed to the tiny town of Concho to see if the even tinier Post Office was open on Saturdays so I could retrieve my mail. The Post Office isn't open on Saturdays so I hopped back on my bike and continued north on HWY 61 towards St. Johns where I then turned south on HWY 191/180. This was all new, never before traveled territory for me. It's was not very scenic most of the way to Springerville, but I found Springerville to be a charming little town. I then continued on to Alpine. This part of the ride was definitely one of the highlights of the day. I climbed to the 8550' elevation of the pine covered "Alpine Divide." The clean, fresh, pine scented air always puts a smile on my face. The town of Alpine was even more charming than Springerville and hope to get back there someday.

At Alpine I left HWY 191 behind and continued east on HWY 180. Before long HWY 180 poured me right into New Mexico






where I found myself rising and descending through the beautiful San Francisco Mountains. Eventually I turned left onto HWY 12. About 20 miles later I had a choice of continuing on HWY 12 to where it meets up with HWY 60, or take a short cut, north up Rd 32, cutting about 100 miles off my route. Since I passed up my mid week ride because of wind (hahahahaha) I decided to go for the long ride today. I'll have to come back this way and take Road 32 some other day. I continued on HWY 12 for what seemed like an eternity. The scenery became pretty monotonous and the wind was very annoying. Just when I was sure this leg of my journey was never going to end, there it was - the town of Datil and the intersection of HWY 12 and HWY 60. I turned west onto HWY 60 for the last 125 mile sprint back to the garage. This made for 125 miles of very strong head winds. I would have easily traded the 2 miles of hail I rode through two weeks ago for these 125 miles of head winds.

I rode west for 20 miles to the second highlight of the ride. I stopped in Pie Town for a piece of pie and some coffee. This was my first stop, after riding for four hours, except for one gas stop in Springerville. My friends Barb and Ron stopped in Pie Town several weeks earlier and wrote on their BLOG about their pleasant experience in Pie Town. I stopped at the first restaurant, on my right - Pie-O-Neer.

(Notice the large dog sleeping by the door. There was another one inside)
I think it's the same one Barb and Ron stopped at. I gave my experience a 10 for atmosphere, service, quality of food and price. Price because that's what it cost me for a piece of cherry pie a-la-mode, a cup of coffee and a tip - $10. A little pricey I thought, but definitely a memorable experience. On my way out of town, which is about half a block long, I noticed another restaurant advertising pie. I decided I'd try that one next time I pass through Pie Town. I stopped at the first gas station I came to, filled up my tank and sprinted back to the garage.

At times I found myself crouching down behind my windshield to give my neck a rest. The wind blasting into my fat helmet head made it feel like my head was going to snap off my neck, or at least blow my helmet off.

Six hours and 315 miles later, I pulled back up to the garage.

I got my bike all covered up


and securely locked in


where she will patiently wait for our next adventurous ride in the White Mountains of Arizona.