Last summer I was fortunate to have time to ride some incredible places. A bit down into Mexico, up into Canada, down the gorgeous Pacific coast and back home.
(Here are some links to highlights of that trip)
One of these days I’ll make it East of the Rockies, but the Southwest has a lot to offer so I was happy to return for further exploration. Only having about a month, I packed up my SV650 and blazed up the interstate at the crack of dawn.
His name is Binky.
Even leaving at 6am wasn’t enough, it was BLAZING HOT by the time I reached Phoenix. I stayed with my friend Jim and played silly video games (you know that dancing one for the Kinect? Yeah…)
Then we went to the Phoenix Art Museum, because we are cultured.
Jim leading the zombie ballet
And then we went to Ape Index to climb. It’s a pretty awesome rock gym. There is a giant globe and a stalagtite.
One day I will ride to Argentina!
Stalagtite, you kind of hug it and shimmy up like a palm tree.
After that I blazed up to Flagstaff where the weather was more pleasant. Because I am a dork and haven’t owned this bike long, I failed to bring tools. My chain was slapping like crazy and I had to go to a shop to get it adjusted.
I went to Euro Geek Motorsports and they were super helpful and friendly. They showed me how to do it and even gave me some tools to take care of it on my own next time. 
By the end of this trip I was a freaking PRO at chain adjustment.
I only scheduled one night in Flagg, because Consuela brings out the partier in me and despite her being very petite, I can never keep up with her drinking. I really should stop trying.
Here she is in front of the Speak Easy, where we had absinthe cocktails.
After that things get hazy, we woke up in the late morning and put clues together like detectives. Somewhere she has a video of a friend of hers drinking a half dozen eggs…
I woke up with a mad hangover just before my longest ride of the trip thus far, 6 hours to Durango.
Oh yeah, this is about riding. Here’s a picture of my bike and some nice scenery:
The guy in the Phoenix Art Museum photo looks vaguely familiar. I think we slept together a few times. Oh, and dated for almost 11 months before he moved to St. Louis for grad school. Yeah, that’s why he looks familiar.