my first long ride (2k), and suzi's last

[davewallen]

Actually thats wrong. Any alcohol easily accessable inside the car is against the law here. And a keg qualifies as an open container. Also the driver doesn't have to be drinking for the cop to start arresting people. Open containers and for that matter closed containers aren't allowed at all anywhere inside a vehicle. You have to put it in your trunk or bed

WI has the same law. I ended up having to buy a datsun 280z, since there is no trunk, the law says "in an area not normally used by passengers", all I "theroretically" had to do was have the container in the back.

[davewallen]

That brought back some memories! As a young Marine (77-81) we had numerous adventures that were similiar, but instead of the trunk, once we actually used a steel 35 gallon trash can in the back seat between the two passengers, that we had punched a hole on the bottom of the can and ran a ice-packed beer keg, gravity style! No empties to deal with either!

You never finished the first keg?

[Ironriot]

I hope this guy comes back. Come on man, we need to hear the end of the journey

[Pillage]

I couldn't wait so I PM'd him.
He's hesitating to post because nothing special happened on Day 4...


only kidding. :twisted:
I'm on the edge of my seat & hope he posts more soon!

[wharrah]

Hey Mordantmonkey Dude,

Don't keep us in suspense... even if nothing awesome happened, we all love HAPPY endings... I mean, did the oil pan hold out? Was the view worth the risk? Did you have any other close calls? Were there any hot babes at the finish to kiss you 'welcome'?

dont leave us hangin', dude...

We do'nt need any cliffhangars like "Who shot J.R.?" (oh, some of you youngsters may not know what that was all about...)

:-D

[snowbeard]

nice, I love hearing good things about the state I live in. \\/

[DanTheMan]

nice, I love hearing good things about the state I live in. \\/

Hey, I'm hurt.....:sad: Ya didn't say any of those nice things when I was documenting my ride.............. (that I haven't added to forever..............)

[mordantmonkey]

time

wow, thanks for all of the positive feedback. and the concern. yes,i'm still alive.
sorry to keep you hanging for so long. and sorry that it's going to be a bit longer. i'm currently in an intensive six week training course for my new job. i'm actually studying right now, but taking a break. i promise i'll try to come back and finish up by this weekend.

oh and hey tconroy! too bad we couldn't meet and ride before i left KC, but i was just itching to get out of there. thanks for getting me in touch with Robin. real nice guy. i have a feeling the rest of the KCGSer's are just as great.

[mordantmonkey]

ok i felt guilty and wrote it tonight

day 4

Just as the previous sunrise revealed a lush forest and misty mountains, this sunrise revealed a landscape of smoldering ruddy clay interrupted by towering juts of similarly colored rocks-- like downtown skyscrapers hiding out in the desert. Several of these giants were shading me from the direct light of the sunrise as I packed up my tent and gear. A quick breakfast of granola and condensed milk and i was off again, tear-assing through the arizona highways. Which, as you might imagine, offers long straightaways with nowhere for a cop a to hide. But i was in no rush and everyone seemed to be going about 80 anyway. so i just cruised along and enjoyed the newly paved highway and the scenery as I made my way towards the grand canyon.
Again here i must stress the praises deserved of my perforated leather jacket. Even in jet black, i was kept quite comfortable while cruising down the road. Stop and go traffic would have been a different story, but then i'm more inclined to be irritated by traffic than temperature.

I was making my way to the north rim but, learning that it would cost around $30+ to see the canyon (and it was another 50 mi out of my way), i decided to ditch the idea. I'm sure i'll regret it, but for now it will remain on my "to-see" list. Besides it will give me an excuse for a future road trip through AZ.
Instead, I set my sites on Sedona, AZ which, i had been told, was breathtakingly beautiful and would afford some great camping.
I stopped in flagstaff to grab some lunch and maybe a beer. But first I needed to contact my friend in Phoenix, whose house i would be staying at the next day. My phone had lost all of it's charge, so I headed towards the visitors center to see if i could find some juice.
Outside the visitors center was a crusty old bum, and i decided to take a friend's sage advice:
"Whenever you're in a strange town and you want to know what's going on: talk to a bum."
With all that time it's what they do best. get drunk and observe.
The bum seemed flattered that i'd ask his advice, and he gave me directions to the library where i could not only charge my phone but check my email as well. He also gave me some recommendations on where to get some food and booze. I gave him a tip and, deciding my belly was more needy than my phone, head to one of the most ingenious bars i had seen in a while.
It doubled as a bar and liquor store in one. On one side, a long bar with only 3 beers on tap and a small selection of mixed drinks, the other, an entire wall of drink cases housing about 60 different labels of beer. For a small corking fee ($3-4) plus the price of the beer, you could grab a six-pack, hand it to the bar tender, and drink away. Had I the time, i certainly would have taken the offer. As it was I only had time for a couple wheats and a sandwich. Then it was to the library where I avoided a light rainstorm for about an hour as my phone charged.
My friend didn't answer, so i left a message. The rain had stopped and I headed off under the quickly clearing skies. Rain in AZ is weird like that, it leaves as quickly as it comes.

I approached Sedona in the late afternoon, apparently just beating the friday-rush-hour-weekend-getaway drivers coming from flagstaff. After about 10 miles of twisting road carving down, down, down into the dusty red rock I had been driving on top of all day, I came upon the first group of camp sites outside of the town.
"CAMPSITE FULL" read the first and the second, which hardly mattered since I could tell just by seeing all of the tents crammed in like sardines. not exactly idyllic camping conditions, especially considering the last two nights. I drove on to Sedona and found an overgrown tourist trap. While the scenery and surrounding areas were quite gorgeous, the town was at the height of tourist season and it showed. What i was told had once been a haven of bohemian art and spirituality, had now become the commercialized bastardization of itself. The shops felt desperate in their need to sell all manner of "spiritual" merchandise, and i could hardly blame them. judging by the houses in the surrounding area, property taxes were not cheap.
perhaps i'm being too harsh. it was tourist season, and I was only there for a few hours. maybe i'll go back to reassess it some day.

As i was squeezing my way out of the claustrophobic town, and trying to decide on another possible camping area, I recieved a call from my friend in phoenix. only, she wasn't actually in phoenix. she was in wyoming. she wouldn't be in phoenix until sunday, the day after tomorrow. hmmm
she quickly offered her garage code, and invited me to stay at the house till she and her husband got back. hmmm, rough it for another night without an empty campground anywhere to be found? or drive like hell down I-14 to a clean guest bedroom, hot-tub, and cable tv?
**** sedona, let's ride!
by this time the sun was rapidly setting, and above the distant mesas I could detect the distinct flash of lightning. No matter. i got closer and closer as the sunlight got dimmer and dimmer. It began to sprinkle, but the rain didn't look too serious. In any event I stopped at a rest-stop, covered my bags and donned a rain-suit over my leather. Now impervious to the rain I head off down the highway to an evening of rest and relaxation.

As I sped toward phoenix in the rapidly gathering darkness, the road began to take some fairly steep downgrades, in addition to twisting around and between the mesas. This would have been much less of a problem had it not been for the increasing rainfall.
Soon it was dark: dark-chocolate dark, dark-new-moon dark, dark-in-the-desert-in-heavy-rain-at-night dark.
I didn't know if the turns were getting tighter, or the grade was getting steeper or both. Or maybe it was that the rain was now a full-on Bombay monsoon! I was no longer relying on any real sense of perception, so much as I was following a fuzzy wet red glow about 30yds ahead of me. A 30 yards that was, to the drivers behind me, apparently 29 yards too far, despite my speedo reading that I was going 70 (5mph over). But apparently rain doesn't effect road friction or physics in arizona, as cars would periodically race around me spraying even more water over my already submerged helmet, resulting in the fuzzy red tail-light ahead of me to disappear for a second. Also resulting in my knuckles turning turnip white, my legs giving the tank a death-grip, and a wet spot forming in the crotch of my underwear.
Oh and did I mention the wind? Not only the wind that accompanied the spray from the passing cars, but also the storm gusts that, half way through a turn, would give you a pleasant every time you rounded the
edge of a mesa.
you would think after a couple of minutes of actually surviving this, i would simply pull over and wait it out. but no, that would be rational and logical. and besides, there was something about skating the fine line of my abilities. that and i couldn't see any exits until i was already passing them, and i was unsure of any shoulder.
whatever the reason, i rode on, gritted my teeth, and let my lips form a little prayer through every turn.

After about 45 minutes, and with great relief, the road began to resemble something more of a straight line, and the rain quickly slowed, then stopped altogether. I was now just a few miles from phoenix and... good god man! it was hot! I quickly realized i was still wearing the rain suit. I couldn't find the next exit fast enough. I pulled the bike into a car lot and yanked off a smothering helmet that felt like a lead gasmask full of hot farts. Jumping around the parking lot possessed, I ripped off the rainsuit as if it had been filled with fire ants. then i lay down to feel the refreshing cool air again. only it didn't come. in spite of being soaked like a wet-t-shirt contestant, the air was simply too hot and heavy to be any relief. so i piled back on my bike and wearily made my way to my friends house. I parked the bike, then parked my ass in a nice, hot bath. I slept the kind of dead sleep that only an adrenaline crash can bring.

end of day 4
1 1/2 more to go...

[dwvoss]

Thanks for the new installment. Am looking forward to the rest of the story!

[spyug]

Man, you need to write a book.

You can definitely paint a picture and I'm right there with you.

Keep it coming. We need to hear how this all turns out. Hope its not a "Sopranos" ending.....no letdowns please!

Cheers,
spyug.

[Regis]

We know you're busy, but believe me, we appreciate you taking the time to write out the rest of the adventure for us (when you can! Training for your new job, should be your #1 priority!). The raining part of the ride sounded quite intense! Talk about taking it out to the edge!

[MelodicMetalGod]

mordantmonkey,

Welcome back! As has been noted by others, excellent recount of your adventure. Your literary prose is very entertaining and I look forward to the next installments. Don't feel rushed to complete this tale, just know that you do have an audience that is enjoying the story.

Best of luck with the job training!

[Muser3]

Your story

Mordantmonkey you write one helluva story. Bike touring is my thing and I can relate to almost every situation you've recalled. Keep it coming and good luck with your work.
Lee

[tconroy]

wow, thanks for all of the positive feedback. and the concern. yes,i'm still alive.
sorry to keep you hanging for so long. and sorry that it's going to be a bit longer. i'm currently in an intensive six week training course for my new job. i'm actually studying right now, but taking a break. i promise i'll try to come back and finish up by this weekend.

oh and hey tconroy! too bad we couldn't meet and ride before i left KC, but i was just itching to get out of there. thanks for getting me in touch with Robin. real nice guy. i have a feeling the rest of the KCGSer's are just as great.

Yeah. Im sorry too.These kc guy's are a great bunch and Robin is an awesome person.Maybe we will cross paths in the future.Thanks for getting back to us and glad you made it alright.