Day 21: We've got Mingus.

Sedona, Arizona

Distance for the day: 111.5 km

Cumulative distance: 4,583.8 km

Top speed: 114 kph

Moving average: 54 kph

Temperature: 30.8 - 40.6

Prescott's finest.

Er, maybe second best.

Pretty short day, which was good because we had a lot of stop and go traffic and despite it only being 40 degrees, we were warm pretty fast. 
We did have a couple of real treats on the way, though. The first is that we rode over Mingus Pass on the Mingus Scenic Byway, near Mingus Mountain just before we came to Mingus Road. We debated about the origin of the name "Mingus" and we eventually concluded it must be a terrible disease to have all these place names with "Mingus". In any event, we got it in

spades.  The Mingus Scenic Byway is a short but fun twisty ride over a pass between Prescott Valley (not to be confused with Prescott, a separately incorporated city, where we stayed last night) and Sedona. Once we were over the pass, we were greeted by the beginning of the red rock formations predominant in the area. Spectacularly beautiful, the red rock here is not a subtle shade of red but rather, full on beet. Even some of the roads here incorporate the redness and it is quite dramatic. The red colour is

The closer we get to Sedona,
the redder the rocks

Old mining (?) buildings.

largely from a mineral called hematite and the red is highly evident entering the valley. Also  on the pass, there were signs of some long ago dwellings and I am guessing, small mining operations. This was once a rabid copper mining area and, to a lesser degree, silver. There was a large build up of mining activity starting in the late 1800s however, in the aftermath of WWII, the diminished demand for copper killed the mining economy here and the big copper mine that sustained the area closed in 1953.

After the Mingus Pass and Mingus mining area, we passed through the ghost town of Ming Jerome. Hard to call this a "ghost town" given that it was jam packed with people. It must be America's busiest ghost town. People were driving at 2 miles per hour ready to kill for a parking spot. This may in fact be why it is called a "ghost town". The heat made me want to kill the guy in the car ahead of us.

We passed by Red Rock State Park and made mental note of it, then into Sedona. We were at The Star Motel about 12:30 but our messaging clearly states that check-in is after 3:00 pm so we go across the street and have lunch, during which I received a text message indicating the room was ready and the code to enter the room. This is a new fangled motel with no resident manager. Everything is done via internet - reservations, payment, check-in and just leave when the reservation is up. There is even a concierge service to leave beverages in the room for arrival.  The motel has 10 rooms so hard to pay for a duty manager. As an alternative, they provide a phone number. I actually think it is run by A.I. the T1000, in fact. 

I've heard so much about Sedona. Mostly about the beauty and the spiritualness. Well here we are, witnessing the best Sedona has to offer.

This store is called "Indian Touch of Sedona".
Of course, not a single Indigenous person was
working in there. And check out those figures outside the store!

I actually thought this sculpture was kind of cute.

I didn't know this is what they meant by "vortex".

Glad to be able to see the mountains. 

Day 20: Let's Talk About the Weather

Prescott, Arizona

Distance for the day: 462.5 km

Cumulative distance: 4,472.3 km

Top speed: 131 kph

Moving average: 90 kph

Temperature: 30.0 - 46.6 (that is 115 Fahrenheit, for our American cuzzins.)

There is just no other way to describe it: it's hot. Not like, "she's smokin' hot", even though she is, but this is insane. We see few motorcycles on the road but occasionally, we have seen some groups go by the other way.  I think this is a lot for motorcyclers. Here in Arizona, motorcyclers escape some of the heat by not wearing helmets. Occasionally, those motorcyclers wear their brains outside of their skulls.  Just sayin'. We have the good fortune of having motorcycle clothing that allows the air to flow through; I am pretty much convinced that we would be dying with our old gear and I don't think I could ride with it. I guess we all have our limits.

The "oasis" at 29 Palms Inn.

The garden, where they grow many
of their own vegetables and herbs.

Nan's new best friend, in the oasis.

We were up early with a view to being organized and ready to go before the heat. That didn't work so well, in part because the heat doesn't wait, it just comes before you are ready.  I had the bike all packed with panniers attached and extraneous stuff sacks strapped onto the bike by 6:30 am. All that was left to do was to drink some coffee, eat a little breakfast and go. The dining room at the 29 Palms Inn opens at 7:00 so we actually waited around for a half hour before we could go in for something and I was wondering whether it might have made more sense to just go as soon as we were ready, catch breakfast further down the road and beat at least another hour of the heat.  It was 30 degrees by 7:00 am. 

Well, we ate breakfast, drank coffee and then visited with people we had met at the hotel. Once couple from Atlanta were riding their Gold Wing across the US and up the coast to Canada before going to Utah to visit their kids and grandkids. They expected to be on the road until mid-July. Another couple were hiking in Joshua Tree yesterday and had packed a lunch in the hotel - supplied cooler... around midday. They survived. We had to have all these visits as we were trying to get out the door and on our way but that road to hell... well, you know, paved with all kind of things. 

We were wondering where
the lake was located.

We see Westjet is now flying into Twentynine Palms.
They are offering a huge summer discount. Seat
selection, wings, tail and engine are all available,
for an additional fee.

It really was 100 miles. We might not have made it.

It ended up being 8:00 am and no sooner that we are on our way out of Twentynine Palms that we are turning around: we see the sign that says "next services 100 miles". Nan immediately said "we need gas", which was quite the understatement because to run out of gas in this heat would be a death sentence. I still had 2/5ths of a tank of gas, which, under other circumstances, would have been enough but it would have been cutting it too fine and I would have had anxiety in a bad way for a long time. Which would have resulted in Nan having anxiety. And a big settlement.

We fill with gas and get going again. 8:15 now and we ride to Vidal (Sasson) at the California/Arizona border, two hours away from Twentynine Palms. There is a gas station at the intersection, and a California produce inspection station. The pumps at the gas station are working but the store is closed  due to the power being out. Maybe they had just used up all the power trying to keep the store cool in this heat. I'm not sure how the pumps were still operating if the store was out of power. But that would have been the best option for breakfast if we had decided to "just go and beat the heat". As it turned out, it would have resulted in heat-induced hanger and a pretty hot-under-the-collar pillion as the next town with a place to eat breakfast was still a ways off. 

Mind you, we did see a prospective breakfast town from two counties away because there were no curves in the road today. Or at least very little in the way of curves. Pretty flat and pretty straight, I think there were six curves until we got to the last bof road into Prescott.

We ride to Wickenburg, which had seemed like a reasonable destination in the heat. However, considering the circumstances, which were that we were hot, already sweaty and in need of a cool drink, we opt for a bite of lunch at the Spurs Cafe and to then keep going to the next town. That way, we could shave an hour off tomorrow's ride and maybe not be over heated. 

We opt for Spurs Cafe, which is a surprising place. It is definitely "cowboy themed" and the menu promises a 10% discount if patrons wear their spurs in for a meal. We didn't see any but the food was outstanding. We each had a turkey-avocado sandwhich, which somehow seemed out of place but was surprisingly good. They roast turkeys there every day for the turkey sandwiches, turkey pie, turkey TV dinners, turkey open faced sandwiches, so it wasn't just sliced turkey peeled out of a cellophane package and slapped onto a piece of bread. I'm sure they must grow their own avocados, too. 

It was also ironic that we had spent the entire day riding straight lines until we were trying to get out of Wickenburg and, due to a new road having been built and NOT on Garmin Maps, rode all over the north end of town trying to get onto the right road. 

Welcome to Vidal.

A rare Biden supporter lives here.

It is ironic that we would choose the record hottest day for our longest ride on this trip.We get to Prescott in Arizona and that is going to be good enough. We check into The Motor Lodge, which is the fancy name for "motel" but they couldn't just call the place "Motel" as that may have led to some confusion. But wow, they could have had a lot of bookings. It's super cute again - totally retro and looks like a 50s apartment that has been tricked out and turned into a motel. Give somebody credit, they have taken a non-performing asset and done something good wih it and turned it into a money maker. 

Wow, a portable TV!

A greeting written into the comforter.

Kitchen. Ette.

The doors are all sanded but not
finished all the way. We liked it.

In Wickenburg, the theatre had a
creepy manequin selling tickets.

Rural orchard in Arizona can't beat the heat.

We decide to go for dinner down the street to the Bear and Dragon. A quick perusal online of the fare that is offered within walking distance gives the impression that it is mostly bar-styled food but the Bear and Dragon has the best rating around here of 4.8 so seems worth a risk. it is not bar-styled food. It is full up but there are two seats at the two-seat bar and we indicate we would be happy to sit there. We often like to sit at the bar and have the bartender entertain us. However, the bulk of the entertainment was watching her keep up with the drink orders for the waitresses. (There was no counter service for customers in any way.) Multiple fancy cocktails and wine were enough to keep her hopping. We were able to see right in the kitchen and we saw our own meals prepared. The food is outstanding and as good as you would find in any large city, not just a city like Prescott with 55,000 people.

After dinner, we conversed with an "authoritative" individual, Chris, who happened to be the owner. We had seen him run food out to tables, run drinks out but

as the dinner rush subsided, he was hanging around the bar making sure everything was finishing off nicely from what appeared to be a very successful evening. We regaled him with stories about our travels and he told us stories about his history and going from being a Marine to a restaurant owner. His wife may have had some bearing on the matter. Then he tells us his dad lives in EDMONTON and so we are very excited to tell him our history and that we are OILERS fans and that they are in the Stanley Cup! And related, etc.