100 Days 48 States - The Journey

"Somewhere on a desert highway
She rides a Harley-Davidson
Her long blonde hair flyin' in the wind
She's been runnin' half her life
The chrome and steel she rides
Collidin' with the very air she breathes
The air she breathes."
- Neil Young, Unknown Legend

TODAY’S ROUTE:
Tucson, AZ to Safford, AZ: Escalante Blvd. East to Saguaro National Park, Old Spanish Trail South through Vail to I-10 East past Benson to US-191 South through Cochise and Sunsites to SR-181 East to Chiricahua National Monument, SR-186 North to Willcox, to I-10 East to US-191 North to Safford. (MAP)

THE DETAILS:
Last night, after I got to Tucson and checked into a motel, I called up Jeffrey Cedar, an old family friend from Poughkeepsie. I grew up with Jeff, and his brother Sandy is my oldest and dearest friend. Only born nine days apart, Sandy and I have known each other our entire lives. Jeffrey and Sandy’s mother and father, Elaine and Morton, are like parents to me. Jeffrey just got married and moved back here less than a month ago. I came over to have a couple of beers last night and this morning I went back to meet Karen, Jeffrey’s bride who was at work last night. Together with their dog Luke (a very cool Min Pin), they’re enjoying a new life in Tucson. Jeffrey likes to ride Harleys, and he does it the real way, with tattoos, loud pipes, no helmet, etc. He’s also a computer wiz. To check out his handiwork, and perhaps order some luggage or gift items, go to http://www.cedarluggage.com, the web site for the Cederbaum’s store in Poughkeepsie. Tell them I sent you, and they’ll give you a great deal.

My first stamp of the day, The Saguaro National Park, is just a few miles from Jeff and Karen’s place. The park actually has two units on either side of Tucson, about 30 miles apart. I head over to Saguaro East, the Rincon Mountain District, and follow the Cactus Forest Loop Drive. The saguaro cactus, which can grow to heights of 50 feet over a 200-year lifespan, is the main reason for the existence of this park. Growing ever so slowly, the mature saguaro is the tallest thing in the desert, renowned for the variety of odd, all-too-human shapes it assumes. The park also is home to 1,000 other species of plant life, most of which I’ve never seen before. These plants are so strange looking, having to adapt to desert life, that it’ hard to even image these creatures. This must be where those Hollywood special-effects creature guys come to get their ideas for the next Alien movie.

The weather today is very warm. In the sun it’s actually quite hot, but what else would you expect in the desert, right? It’s dry heat, but it’s still heat. Definitely shorts and T-shirt weather, but on a motorcycle, for me, it is never shorts and T-shirt weather. Have you ever seen what happens to unprotected skin when it rubs against asphalt? It comes right off the flesh and makes you look like hamburger. No thanks. I’ll wear my protective riding suit no matter how hot it gets. Everyone here in Arizona drives white cars to help reflect the heat. I couldn’t figure that one out until Jeffrey told me why. I was just pissed because I thought every car coming over the hill or around the turn was a cop.

Past the interstate and heading southeast on US-191, the road turns empty again and I’m loving it. There’s nothing else that quite matches the feeling of riding a motorcycle on an open stretch of well-paved highway. I follow the route around, up into Chiricahua National Monument, a fantasy world of extraordinary rock formations. 27 million years ago, a volcanic eruption 1,000 times greater than Mount St. Helens laid down 2,000 feet of ash and pumice. It fused into rock and later eroded, forming the huge balanced rocks, towering spires, and massive stone columns that make up the monument. Set among the Chiricahua Mountains, the area is also one of the most diverse ecosystems in North America, with plants and animals of the Southwest mixing with those of the Mexican Sierra Madres.

By the time I leave the park, I’m running very low on gas. The reserve light went on at about 200 miles, and I passed a gas station near Sunsites about a mile later. But the reserve always goes on too early and I always think I’m going to run out of gas and never do. When I fill up I usually have over a gallon still left in the tank, enough to take me another 45 miles. So when I passed that Texaco in Sunsites I just kept going. But that was over 50 miles back now, and as I pass through Dos Cabezas there is no gas. The next town Willcox, is still another 15 miles away. I’ve been stretching out the tank, trying not to run up too many RPMs. When I make it to the Chevron in Willcox, the bike must be running on vapor. The 6.1-gallon tank takes on 6.012 gallons of fuel! That was a close one.

THE DAILY TAKE:
Miles Today: 239.1
Total Miles: 19,801
Time on Motorcycle: 4 Hours 15 Minutes
Average Speed: 56.3 MPH
States Visited today: 1 (AZ)
Total States Visited: 32
National Park Service Passport Stamps: 2
NPS Stamp Totals: 149 Stamps, 29 States
Weather: Sunny and Hot, turning to Sunny and Warm, turning to Sunny and Cool
Distance traveled on one tank of gas (a new record): 279.8 Miles (6.012 Gallons)

SEEN ON THE ROAD:
"The only difference between this place and the Titanic…they had a band." – sign on the wall at the Country Manor Restaurant in Safford, Arizona.

RANDOM PASSINGS:
Sometimes you meet interesting people on the road, and sometimes you actually meet them in the road. While I’m in Chircahua National Monument, I get off the bike to take some shots of the Organ Pipe Formation. I’m actually standing in the middle of the road, shooting the video, and there’s not a soul around. And then I hear something coming up behind me. I turn around and it’s a guy on a bicycle, waiting to ride by until I get the shot.

The guy’s name is Jim Mickelson, and he’s in the middle of a 45 day trip, driving his truck to Florida, or maybe just Atlanta, if that’s as far as he gets. He’s got no plan of where he’s going next, just the opposite of my trip. Jim’s from Park City, Utah, and every year he takes about 2 months off to travel around the country. Last year he went on a bus tour, where he traveled on Greyhound buses around the U.S.A. We just stand there in the middle of the road for about 30 minutes, taking about our trips and telling tales. And the entire time, not one single car drives by to move us from our spots. We’re standing there, in the middle of a beautiful wilderness, two strangers from different ends of the country, sharing stories from the road.

We could have talked till the sun went down, but I had to get up to Safford and get some gas for the bike. I’ll keep a look out for Jim’s Red Dodge Dakota truck, with his Utah plates. We’re headed in the same direction, and who knows, maybe we’ll bump into each other again.