Jerome, Arizona

Sat 21 Aug

Day 34, 11,479 km

Party-time, at this little old mining town, stuck halfway up the side of a mountain range

cooler too, after a hot afternoons ride.

But there's a tension in the air...

We're quartered round town in 3 different accommodations

I'm in one called 'The Mile High'........., yep, 5200' asl

Its a rename from the gay bar it was last year

It still is.....

At the bar, the police chief comes in, glock strapped low, humourless

motions the owner out back, and they both return serious

and I think, uh oh, kiwi bikers, and the other weekender bikers that popularise this place

must be going to be a headache.

Actually I'm writing this the next morning with the benefit of new information.

The Hell's Angels and the Vaquero's had a major shootout about 20 miles away

and there was concern the action would spill this way

so thats why the bars got shut down at 10pm

and not just to save us from margarita induced hangovers.

But we did have a great time...

while the town's bar staff angsted around trying to stop us walking onto the street with glasses in hand,

or stopping one of our girls from doing "thet shet in here", (downing a shooter from some sort of handstand position).

I wasnt in too much of a useful state to actually record the act to memory, but it was an impressive party trick.

I think my mate and I got 3rd in the pool stakes,

and later the contortionist girl and her mate had to hide and seek from the policeman their way back to their digs.

Bit of a funny irony here in US...

they want your tourist dollar, but its on old-fashioned religious value terms

so Ive decided my reciprocative term is, stuff you, no tip,

and if service slows, oh well......

guess I'll jes mosey on down to the bar next door.

Last year I dozed off in a bar here, and was rudely brought to by a whack in the shoulder from a barmaid,

'You kent do thet in here.... vaygrint', or words to that effect.

For the greatest nation in the world there are a few anomolies alright...

like these ridiculous coffee-makers EVERY motel has.

You stick your water in the top, and a bag of coffee grinds in the front through a gap that never opens without threat of smashing the thing, let alone staying upright.

Then you turn on a switch, if you can find it, then a few gurgles later your coffee drips out into a container beneath, or your cup, if youve put it in the right place,

or if you havent, it drips all over,

and to top it all off, the coffee is as awful as you get anywhere else

and if the jar underneath says it holds 4 cups, and you keep dripping in hope of getting 2 cups worth out of whats actually a one-cup bag

the coffee is awfuller still.

Mind you, I have to say, the number of places, cafes etc, with proper espresso machines has increased since last year.

But someone could still cause a major revolution by introducing the electric jug

.............. and tertiary courses for barista's.

Pueblo at Mesa Verde

So, from last letter at Durango.....

the bagel shop next to the motel served as well for breakfast as it did last year

then off to Mesa Verde, another natl park, and the same ranger at the entry box as last year too!

A high promontory not far south of town

populated up till 1300AD by cliff-dwelling indian

an advanced people with pottery and weaving, and trade with distant tribes, even to the coast

who nutted out the natural air-conditioning of building adobe communities in cliff-side shade

but mysteriously, to our comprehension, vacated as said, about year 1300.

The mayan calendar doom preachers fancy to say it was the end of one of the 5000 year cycles

which puts 21/12/2012 somewhere out in mathematical no-mans land

but hey, the tree-ring counters reckon several years of drought was probably the major reason they upped hooks

global warming sans anthropogenics

and moved south to join the puebloans in New Mexico

which move is recorded in tribal tradition down there

a sort of Hawaiki type legend.

Then on to Four Corners, where Colorado/Utah/Arizona/NewMexico intersect.

You can do all sorts of funny contortions like down on all fours where 'x' marks the spot.

Someone came up with another of those bullswool housewives tales that the real spot was some distance away

and the elaborate bronze circle was only located there for convenience sake

those pesky injuns again, as this is reservation land, 3 bucks to get in

but my GPS had its little indicator car bang-on the 'x'

and so were the indian fry bread burgers bang-on, had two...

There's been quite a tidy up round here, amenities, masonry round the 'x' spot etc.

A bloke came up to chat about the CB

from Illinois, been on the road 3 days and hardly seen another American

at least I spoke english, he accorded

french mostly he reckoned, and now he mentioned it, riyght, fair bit of german too.

Long haul from here to Mexican Hat on way to Monument Valley

everyone breathing a sigh of relief as fuel low.

This place much tidier than last time too

didnt go right through the monuments, just stood off some miles

to pay homage at least, to these ancient rock monoliths rising ghostly out of the desert plain evening.

We've seen a lot of rocks, and getting rather an immunity to them

but these ones still inspire me somehow

worth the miles.

Highway 261

Then back to Mexican Hat and up the doozey H261

3 miles of gravel up a 2000' escarpment where, from the bottom, you cant make out the road up.

Nearer the top a couple of wrecked cars, that never made it down

but we watched in awe as an 18 wheeler made a hairpin into a one point turn

but, jees, I wouldnt want to be passenger side in there.

Up on top, a 10deg drop in temp down to Fry Canyon, more rocks

but we're late now

partly my fault for being hard to get out on the road early in the mornings.

I'm feeling for the others as night falls, and we've still got 50km in the dark

through a wildlife rife valley to the overnight in Torrey

but I'm pleased I did it, another test of a man's ability to do the unthinkable and dangerous...

a rabbit ran across the road

and we did spot a stag up in the scrub to our left.

Maybe the lights provide a bit of warning to the wildlife.

Not so early morning...

in one place we saw 3 deer within a single mile, lying dead, broken, left to rot.

Sometimes you see deer-strike vehicles dead and broken too, radiators or mudguards mangled.

Escalante Country

So that was Torrey, next stop Kanab, another small town, over the Devil's Highway.

Amazing vocab resource, these American pioneers had

anything a bit odd, its devil this, devil that...

this road perched on a ridge, barely the road width wide, couple of hundred feet off each side.

Sunny morning this time, last year there was a thunder storm chasing us across to add to the fun.

At Escalante there was no sign of the Motorbike Doctor, an eccentric who canvasses work by riding an ancient Harley round looking for it.

To eat we decided to dodge the funny little open and shut slide takeaway place that didnt have any coffee last year on account of this being mormon territory and it was saturday

opting for a place across the street, which in retrospect wouldnt get a health cert in NZ.

I dunno about the food either, or was it just we're getting too many peppers in our tucker

but was made up for later in the day at a place called Orderville, in the Soup Shop

where, beside a copy of the book of mormon, you can get huge ice-cream, nice, maybe home-made

served politely, no fuss.

Bryce Canyon

Before that we'd detoured into Bryce Canyon Natl Park, more canyon walls, candy pink this time.

deciding not to tarry, going straight to the first 2 view-points where you can see the best of it.

Highlight of the day came next, Zion Natl Park, a 60 mile return trip into the canyon and back.

Half of it was under road-work, including the mile-long tunnel along the rock cliff-face

but all made up for by the free shuttle bus trip up Virgin Creek side canyon we get as part of our annual pass.

Zion Natl Park

America is so well served by its natl park system.

You see a whole side of fit america tackling walking trails, climbs of 2000', at this high altitude

families out teaching their kids appreciation of nature and natural values

and no doubt shoring up patriotic ones as well.

From Kanab on to Grand Canyon, the greatest earth on show...

first the North Rim, where you look across 12 miles to the nights stopover at South Rim

then ride 90 odd miles round to the next bridge to get there by road.

Grand Canyon

One of the Harley boys had a breakdown on this section

and it emphasised how this place cant be taken lightly

90 plus degF, no shade for miles any direction, no global roam cell coverage.

The buddy system's important, get a pillion ride to the next town, in this case for a new battery.

The Harley dealership system's right on to it, pickup truck the bike back into town, problem fixed.

Not quite so malifluous for us japper bikers, so more care for the machinery under you

although Mike said, an American motorist pulled up and stayed with his pillion till resolution arrived.

Have just bought a good book

'The Secret Knowledge of Water: two easy ways to die in the desert, thirst and drowning'

written by a bloke whose life's work is finding and mapping water sources in dry places,

a fascinating read about a sort of country alien to us kiwis, what lives in it and how,

and a resource we take for granted, but is the essential key to all of life as we know it

Grand Canyon.....

well, hard to describe, some hole in the ground alright.

Some of the group took the plane ($150) or the helicopter ($400) rides

but Rona's got it nutted, buy the DVD, $20!

only it was a bit miffing to later come across another DVD that had The Arches, Zion, and Grand Canyon, all on one.

So here we are in Jerome...

today, through the town of Williams, which promised to have a classic car show

but not to be, wrong day perhaps, visited Bearizona instead, wildlife park

then down through Oak Creek Canyon to Sedona for an ice cream

catch up at the movie museum

Commanche Territory, Broken Arrow, Shotgun, Cimmaron Strip, Cheyenne, and the original 3.10 to Yuma, all shot here.

Hot here too, upper 90's

but we've been extraordinarily lucky so far, not too much over 80deg.

Great thing this global warming...

more evaporation, more precipitation, more green growth, more cooling

everywhere we've been so much greener than last year.

Bearizona

Sheep in Arizona