Day Ten

Ten days on the road - really getting into the routine now. Have fully acclimated to the time zone change, just in time too as it changes again later today!

We did our usual routine and we off just a few minutes after 7:00 local time. It was just 66 when we left the hotel so we both had our jacket liners in. A one exit stint on the interstate brought us back to NM-117 which reminded me a lot of NM-107 which we ran the other day. he temp dropped another 2 degrees and then I realized that we are at 6000+ ft of elevation and will be climbing to as high as 9500 ft before the morning is out. 117 runs southwesterly along the Acoma Indian reservation and along the edge of the El Malpais National Monument. While not particularly twisty, the views along the road are quite striking. Towering rock formations all along the way coupled with fields of amber grass made for a very scenic ride. We weren't on this road 10 minutes when we encountered a family of Elk crossing the road. Larry was leading and I saw his brakes lights light at the same time as I spotted the 3 elk which had just crossed the road and were now jumping the fence on our left. I looked back at Larry and saw he was braking even harder and only then saw the mother elk who had just jumped the fence on the right side of the road and was now jumping back over to her two waiting calves. This would turn out to set the stage for a day full of animal sightings.

Day 10 Track

From there we turns south on NM-36 for a short hop to Quemado where we got on US-60 which would brings us southwest and across the border to AZ and Springerville. Not far on 36 I spot a tiny little rabbit run out from the left side of the road and right in front of Larry who somehow managed to miss the little guy as I saw him the continue off the the right side of the road and disappear in to the scrub. One lucky little rabbit!
Now on US-60, Larry radios did I see the grey fox on the left. I missed him as I was focused further on up the road,but apparently he crossed the road from right to left. Shortly after we crossed the border into Arizona. Since Arizona doesn't observe Daylight Savings time, it is now 8:10 AM - or the same time it was when we left the hotel 118 miles ago! Just a few miles after crossing the border we spot our first State Highway patrol car of the day - the first of several for the day which is more that we've seen on the entire trip so far. We rode into Springerville AZ at 8:24 AM local time having ridden 132 miles so we are ready for a break. We grab some coffee at the MickeyD's and 40 minutes later we are heading out again.

From there we turn onto AZ-260 which will bring us across the Apache National Forest. It also brings us across our highest elevation of the day at 9182 ft. This is another beautiful stretch of road with little or no traffic. It is still comfortable at 70 degrees, due to the elevation. This road is mostly winding through the Ft Apache Indian Reservation. This brings us up to our scheduled fuel stop at the Hon-Dah Casino Convenience store. This is an Indian run casino/gas station/convenience store that is a bustling place. When we pull in there is a group of cruiser riders there and when they spot us they immediately come over and are admiring the bikes. A nice group, they introduce themselves and chat us up for a bit.

From here we turn off 260 and head south on AZ-73. We are starting a steady descent of altitude now, sometimes as much a 7% grades. We drop 4000 feet in less than 20 miles. As we descend the temps start rising and we hit 80 for the first time of the day. Then we come through a rather large community named Whiteriver which is a sprawling Indian community spread out along the White River. Here, in the middle of town, we come up on a group of 7 horses, just grazing by the side if the road, not in any one's yard - like right on a corner of a street like they were waiting for the bus or something. Not something you see everyday. We continue on until we back onto US-60 again where we turn southwest headed for Globe AZ. This stretch of road turns out the be the most fun of the day, a real motorcyclists road with lots of twists and turns and elevation changes. The only limiting factors are the low mostly 55 MPH speed limit, and moderate traffic with fewer opportunities for passing. Oh, and some tar snakes too. But even with all that we manage to have our fun and we stopped for  couple of photos showing some of the scenery.

Deep River Gorge view from turnout 

If you look closely you can see three tiers for the road we are riding on

Eventually we work our way into Globe AZ. There has been NOTHING for services since we left the Hon-Dah Casino, and unlike Larry I neglected to eat anything at our coffee break so I am famished. We find a local cafe and get some really good tasting reuben sandwiches for lunch. When we leave the restaurant the temp is not well into the 90's. We don our wet shirts under our mesh jackets and head off on our final leg for the day. 90 miles to Oro Valley (just north of Tuscon). This will be more twisty winding route, but now our elevation is low and getting lower. It is getting rally hot, as we bottom out at 2000 ft elevation, the temperature jumps to 109 degrees! That lasted some 15 miles or so and then we climb a bit and the temps drop to a bearable 99 or so. We still have another 50 miles to go

We make our only waypoint of the day, Catalina just 7 miles before the end of the day. The post office, as it turns out, is a contract post and has NO signage signifying the city so we loop back to the city limit sign and get what we need there.

Catalina city limit

We get into our hotel, unload the bikes, take showers to cool off and make phone calls. Then we head out to get dinner and as we walk out of the hotel lobby, there on the driveway, not 10 feet in front of us is a roadrunner. just walking calmly across the parking lot, he spots us and nonchalantly continues at a sauntering pace until he disappears into the brush at the edge of the parking lot.

Stats for the day: 374.7 miles in 8:31 elapsed time, 6:34 saddle time.