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We left
about 10:30 a.m….that gave us a good 7 to 8 hours of road time before
dusk. We’d decided to take advantage of and planned
a big ride. Head up to Globe on 60, then
pick up 70 to Safford where we’d ride 191 back to I-10…then it was a matter of
heading through Tucson back to Picacho.
A big loop…a 335 mile loop. Ambitious
ride for sure but we had the day ahead of us...it was doable. I wanted to reverse our route…start by
heading east on I-10 to get the Tucson traffic out of the way early. Figured we’d hit rush hour if we came through
Tucson on the back end of the trip.
Traffic through Tucson wasn’t crazy and we were cruising along pretty
good. Until we got to the Texas Canyon…a
section of I-10 up through a mountain.
There was a traffic back up…took us about 20 minutes to get beyond the
issue and then we stopped at a rest area for a much needed break. It’s tough on the hands to be in stop and go
traffic…cramping hands added to the heat of the midday sun mixed with engine
heat. Yep, it was time for a break…and
lunch. Rode up to Willcox for lunch and
to reassess our ride. We were nearing the point of total commitment to the loop…once
we headed up 191 we had to keep going because there were no shortcuts. And we’d lost time due to the traffic slow
down and stopping for lunch, so we’d be pushing the limit with regard to
dusk/dark. We’d already ridden 130 miles
to get to Willcox…we could head back from there and still have a full day’s
ride in. That was the realistic choice. But take the scenic route back or stick to
the highway? The pros and cons were discussed and we decided to stick to the
highway. Of course, with the time and
distance being what it was at that point, we stood a good chance of hitting
Tucson at rush hour. Oh, ding dang! But a mistake needed fixing and getting back
to Tucson in a timely manner would facilitate that. I’d just have to deal with rush hour. All highway driving today.
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Last
night Kim came in and mentioned that he thought Frank had either given him a
heck of a deal or mistakenly undercharged him for the new lens filter. He’d checked online several times and couldn’t
find the specific size he bought for the price that Frank had charged him;
however, he did find a smaller size for that price. It was a significant amount and we agreed
that Kim should call Frank to find out if undercharging for the filter was
intentional or a mistake. That
conversation revealed that it was indeed a mistake on Frank’s part; we wanted
to swing by and make it right. It was simply
the right thing to do. With Frank’s
strange hours it was probably our only opportunity before we left. So turning around at Willcox made sense on
several levels.
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The
traffic slowdown was due to an accident.
I’m not an ‘ambulance chaser’… I don’t like driving by the scene of an accident…I
avert my eyes if possible so I don’t have to see things that can’t be unseen. I
had no choice today…I had to drive by the scene of the accident…I was on my
bike, I had to be aware of my surroundings.
My heart absolutely hit the pit of my stomach when I saw the front end
of the semi up on top of a car. Shit!! I
knew that there would be no surviving that impact. However, up ahead there were two vehicles on
the shoulder of the road…an RV in front and a car in back. As I came alongside the RV, I could see the
damage to the back end and quickly realized that the car under the semi tire
was being towed by the RV and as such, there was no one in the vehicle. I said a prayer of thanks for that. The driver was walking back toward the
semi/car and he appeared to be physically okay.
Don’t know about the semi driver….but the absence of an ambulance gave me
cause to be hopeful. There are
definitely some big insurance issues to work out. I haven’t been able to find a news source
that tells what happened. The scene was
cleared up and traffic was moving normally by the time we were heading back
through the area.
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Texas
Canyon runs through a mountain or big hill, I’m not sure of the
terminology. It has gigantic boulders propped
up by smaller boulders…it has gigantic boulders off by themselves…it has mounds
of gigantic boulders. Did I mention that
these boulders were huge? I wonder if it’s called Texas Canyon because Texas is known as the Land of Oversized
Everything and these were oversized rocks/boulders for sure.
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So we
got in a good ride…not exactly as we had originally planned but that’s
okay. We got things squared away with
Frank and all feel better for that. We
caught just the leading edge of the Tucson rush hour and that was much better than it
could have been. So all in all it was a
good day…
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It was
a slow picture day because we rode the highway…all day we rode the
highway. Not much opportunity to take
pictures when cruising at 70 mph.
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We
went out scorpion hunting tonight. No luck
in the first location. I suggested we
stop at the tire in the ground…looking around a pile of wood, Kim turned over a
board and voila! there was a scorpion!
Kim saw a scorpion and I got a picture…it was a good end to a good
day. 😊
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Bike miles today: 274
