Salt River Canyon ride

[flynrider]

After a few hectic weeks (and weekends) at work, I decided to take the day off. Most of it was spent catching up on backed up chores and errands. About 2:00 PM, I was all done. I had time on my hands, great weather (about 80F) and a CB1100. All the ingredients required for an impromptu road trip.

I didn't have any particular place I wanted to go. I just wanted to spend some quality time on the CB11, preferably in the mountains. I decided to ride out to Salt River Canyon. A nice ride through the mountains, about 125 miles each way.

I left early enough to beat the Friday afternoon traffic jams and was in the foothills by 2:45. I just followed U.S. 60 east out of town and kept on going. It started getting a bit chilly as I approached 4,000 ft. Luckily, had a heavy flannel shirt in my backpack and some warmer gloves.

Stopped in Queen Creek Canyon between Superior and Globe to snap a pic of the Queen Creek tunnel. One of only two highway tunnels in AZ.


After a few hours on the road I descended down the winding road to the bottom of the canyon.


Spent a little time wandering around the river before hopping back on the bike and heading home.


Overall, it was a great way to waste an afternoon and about $15 bucks in gas.

The only real excitement came as I was riding the last 30 miles down the freeway, directly into the setting sun. Visibility was rough, especially with plenty of bugs on my visor. I had just moved left to pass a pickup truck that was hauling a 9 ft. couch. The couch was too long for the bed, so one end was propped on top of the cab. Just as I moved left to pass, the forward end of the couch lifted up off the cab. One of the large cushions flew off and missed my head by about a foot (at 75mph). As I watched from a few feet away, the whole couch caught the wind and flipped right out of the bed of the truck. The moron hadn't used a single rope or strap to tie it down.

I'm not sure what happened after that. There was fairly heavy traffic behind moving at 75 mph, with poor forward visibility. I'd be amazed if it didn't cause a minor pileup. All I could tell for sure was that most of the traffic behind me wasn't there anymore. How do people this dumb manage to get a license to drive? Sheesh!

Anyway, fun was had, gas was burned and I still have two more days off

Ride Safe!