Event Coverage B-bop's Laid off, make the most of it Solo road trip

No new one for me but rode my old piece o junk through ZION NP today . Keep the pictures coming . Blue (not a new pict .)

 

Nice Bike Blue, funny you should be in Zion, that is an up and coming chapter in my adventure......stay tuned

 

this has been great! Thanks for sharing. Glad your enjoying your trip. Jealous

 

After having a great conversation with the boys from Sweden, I headed north east on Hwy 60 through Aguila, then Hwy 71 north to Congress. From there I took Hwy 89 to Prescott. Hwy 89 is a beautiful piece of highway winding up into the mountains off the desert floor. It is amazing how altitude changes the landscape in a very short time in this area. You go from dusty dry desert with very little vegetation to lush pine forests with big open fields. There are a bunch of really cool little towns along this route. Not sure why I did not stop at more of them. I also took more pictures in this area, but have no idea what happened to them. I know for sure I took pictures at a couple antique stores that I stopped at but who knows what happened, maybe I am just dreaming.

When I got close to Prescott, I keyed in antiques to my GPS. This is always a hit and miss adventure, but always leads to seeing stuff you never set out to see. When I got to the destination, there was nothing but a residential neighborhood. When I looked up, I laughed out loud at the street sign next to my car. Looks like I hit a wormhole and was now home. See pics below.

Heading north on Hwy 89, you can see where the highway is cut into the side of the mountains in the right center of the pic.


Looking back at the desert floor. Pic taken freehand out the passenger window.


The grade is pretty steep in places but makes for a fun drive.


Very unique boulder formations. Similar to what I remember from driving Hwy 8 east of San Diego.


Maybe you are getting sick of these GPS shots, but they are kinda like car porn for me.


Part way up the hill, taking a break and breathing in all that fresh mountain air spiced with fresh pine scent. Not the pine scent that comes from that little piece of cardboard that hangs from your dash.


The famous street sign from the time warp.

Close up.

 

really enjoying you adventure , keep it coming

just curious....how many miles do you have on that car?

 

I really don't know for sure. Off the top of my head, probably around 60k. I never could get my speedometer to work, and then when I got my GPS it had a speedo, so never really cared about too much about fixing it. If I added up all my big road trips, and factored in the daily driving it would be around that 60k mark.

 

I spent half a day wandering around Prescott and filling up the cooler with ice and groceries and then headed off to Flagstaff. I had some trouble with the automatic choke in Williams which is more or less the gateway to the south rim of the Grand Canyon. After sorting out those troubles, which believe it or not, was the only problem I had with my car this entire trip, I decided that I would skip the south rim and head for the north rim. This would lead to later disappointment, but you have to read the rest of the story to find out why. I had been to the south rim of the Grand Canyon on two other trips so looking for something new, I headed for Flagstaff.

Spent part of the night at Barnes and Noble catching up on FB and updating home base on where I was. Found a great spot for boondocking right in town. GPS co-ordinates if you want to use them 35.206590, -111.639285.

Got up early and went for a SSS&HT at the Flagstaff Aquiplex. All for $6.50. Very nice facility, friendly people. Came in looking like a homeless guy, left clean shaven, and sparkling clean, looking like........well a chubby old hot rodder. Just in case you didn't get it SSS&HT= Shit Shave Shower & Hot Tub......in that order.

No pics from this section of the trip except this one. No its not a plug for Sizzler. We don't have Sizzler on the north side of the border, so every once in a while I have to stop in for their salad bar. I sent an email to my wife telling her I broke my budget both on $ spent for a meal and calories taken in. She laughed when she opened the pic to see this................

 

Really been enjoying this thread. Great to see you out driving your hotrod and exploring our great world. Can't wait to do the same once I get mine on the road.

 

When you are on the road for too long, you start to have too many conversations in your head. After leaving the Aquiplex, I had a little chuckle with myself and the awesome tan lines on my feet.

 

Heading north on Hwy 89 the landscape changes a bunch of time. Leaving Flagstaff, you leave the pine forests behind and the world is flat and mostly featureless. Then as you take 89A the Vermillion Cliffs come into view. The color on these cliffs are beautiful. The reds, and oranges are something that we do not see in Canada. I don't take many selfies, but had to take one while driving here.

There are lots of Native Jewelry huts all over this area as you are driving through a reserve. I stopped at one on the east side of the Colorado. Very friendly people, nice stuff, but I am not a jewelry weary kind of guy and don't seem to be able to pick anything correctly for the wife, so never bought anything. I am sure if you were a girl, there would be stuff coming home with you.

Stopped for lunch at the visitor center on the west side of the Colorado. This is the start of the Grand Canyon, and it is already dramatically deep. The sign in the picture below says its 467 feet if you want to do a swan dive from the bridge deck........highly not recommended. I thought it was kinda neat that this bridge was built the year before Henry put my Model A together. There are two bridges now, the old one is for pedestrians, and the new one was built to resemble the old one, but can carry heavier loads.

I was a little disappointed that the visitor center was closed, but there was lots of signage around the parking lot and building so you could learn some of the history about the local area.


Got a kick out of the "Do Not Pass" sign, why because I can't see the guy 7 miles down the road?


Love this view. can't image what it was like for early pioneers to be crossing this area in a wagon train.


Selfie with Vermilion Cliffs in the background

Heading towards the Vermilion Cliffs and the Colorado River


The sign for the Navajo Bridge.


The view looking North from the bridge


The new bridge as seen from the deck of the old bridge.


Looking east, new to the right, old to the left. They did a great job, recreating the bridge to carry heavier loads without losing the character of the original.



Look closely at the little white rafts floating down the Colorado. They are about 20 feet long.



The visitor center on the west side of the gorge.



A picture that I posted on Facebook for my wife to prove I was not just eating burgers every day. Funny most of the comments on FB were about how unhealthy my choice of Diet Pepsi was. Haters..........

 

These road trip recaps are some of the coolest on the H.A.M.B and this one ranks right up there. But it's not really a "solo" run - we're ALL riding along!
I'm surprised that the Goodguys' "Goodtimes Gazette" didn't have someone snapping pics during the awards. Have you checked with them?
Thanks for a great thread.

 

Love your posting, makes me want to get back on the road. Thanks for the inspiration to wonder, explore and learn. Dick M

 

I'm really enjoying this. Thanks for taking us along vicariously. Many of us have the dream of doing something similar at some point. I'd like to, pulling a 1947 Kit Kamper when I get my current build finished. Maybe it will happen, maybe not. But in the meantime, we're all enjoying sharing your trip with you.

 

Said it before, i'll say it again, RULER!!!

 

Great read following along on your adventures. Would love to know a little about the powerplant and drivetrain on your ride.

 

Power plant is a Chevy 350, very mild build, 700r4 behind that and an 8in Ford in the back. All built with maximum reliability in mind. I would rather have reliability that a drag race winner.

 

Thanks for the compliments guys, glad you are all along for the ride. Got a wedding to go to today, Updates and hopefully finish these tales tomorrow.

 

But we don't want it finished!!!!

Ben

 

B-BOP , just came over that Navajo bridge today . Made it to Pie Town , NM for tonight , free camp ground , and great pie .
Zion was great but will never go again after Memorial Day again . They closed it off to traffic for 4 hours , to many cars . Waiting for more photos . Blue

 

Really, we don't want it to end! Make some shit up if you have to!

 

I think he just drove by my house.

 

What a great trip, thanks for the ride!

 

This is fun. I love the Prescott Arizona area.
I think I could live in that part of the state and be quite happy.

 

Cool. Thanks for taking us along.

 

OahuEli, If I could figure out a way to add some pontoons to the A, I would cruise out past your house this winter.

 

Driving west on Hwy 89a there are a couple places that I just had to stop. The first was where a big boulder had rolled down off the Vermilion Cliffs. I am absolutely positive that this was the aftermath of a Wylie Coyote vs Road Runner incident.

Throughout this tale, you have seen pictures taken through my front window. I do my best to avoid taking them through the rock chipped sections, but there are getting to be so many, some times it just point and click, only to have a big crack in the photo. I am sure if this rock had hit my windshield, there would be no more photo's

 

Further west on 89a as you start climbing out of the valley and up towards Jacob Lake, there is a viewpoint where you can look back across the valley that you just drove across. The vista is amazing, and I could only imagine that you could have seen my bright yellow A coming across that desert floor for 1/2 hour or more.
Met a couple guys at the rest stop and we yapped for hours about different places that we had been. I don't often run into many Americans that had traveled extensively in Canada and the Pacific North West. This guy had stayed with friends about 2 miles from my house on a recent excursion to the GWN........Great White North.

The dark line that you see going from the left side of the pic, to the upper center of the picture is Hwy 89a which I had just come accross. The boulders in the previous post were where the road disappears and goes around the corner.

 

When I got to Jacob Lake, there were signs everywhere saying Hwy 67 (only road to the north rim) was closed for the season. WTF? For what season? Kinda pissed me off, but there was snow here and there and I guess with all the "fair" weather tourists that they get in this area, that have never seen accumulations of the white stuff, they keep the road closed until there is little chance of seeing snow and cars going over the edge. I was kinda bummed because I was really looking forward to seeing the "big ditch" from the north side. Oh well, guess I will have to come back another day.

Another scenic view looking west towards Fredonia before dropping back down into the treeless landscape.

 

Driving through Fredonia, my tin radar goes off and I see a couple pieces of rusty gold, so I get hot on the binders and pull in to have a look. Nobody was around, so I took a couple pics and hit the road.

 

I headed on up to Kanab, and found a McDonald's, not for the food, but for the free Wi-fi. Grabbed a cold drink, and had a chat with daughter number 1 in Vegas. Tried to convince her to come up to St. George with the boys, so I could see them one more time. No go, she had too many other things on the go. I got in touch with Daddio211 otherwise AKA Eric, and made plans to meet for lunch the following day. So I headed back south to Fredonia and then west on Hwy 389.
Arizona has some of the best sunsets. I found a great little boondocking site off of what they call Hwy 389 or maybe its just road 389. It is just a dirt road that goes north and south off Hwy 89a. If you are traveling through and want a nice place to call it a night, these are the GPS co-ordinates. 36.906111, -112.917848.
The sky was absolutely clear and littered with stars, so after reading a chapter in my book, I shut off the lights, put my pillow in the edge of the door and fell asleep looking up at the stars, with the song "Somewhere out there" , from the movie, "An American Tale" ringing in my head. If you don't get the reference, gather your kids, or grandkids and go rent the movie and watch it with them.

Bombing down the highway towards another AZ sunset.


Another awesome free campsite. I was not the first to camp there, as other morons had left the typical mark of ignorance. There were plenty of empty beer cans and bottles to mark the site.


Fat guy having a tasty Cinnamon bun for breakfast. mmmmmm, now I am hungry.