I See My Wife For The First Time in 3 Months

I left the town of Thatcher on day 96 feeling excited, as after 3 months, I would be seeing my lovely wife today! I headed towards Phoenix with a good feeling.

The journey today was about me seeing things I have never seen before. Cactus for example. When I was a boy I liked to grow miniature cacti but nothing like this.... this cactus was maybe 15 feet (5m) tall....

Then I saw a hill covered in these cacti....

A short while later, I saw flowering palm trees at the side of the road. I have never seen this before either....

Than another first – cotton fields....

The land as I rode towards Phoenix was what I would call a desert – not the classic sand dunes type desert, but so hot and arid that very little grows....

The ride on US 70 was unexciting and hot. The road only got interesting around the town of Superior as it followed Queen Creek Canyon and went through a short tunnel, but to be honest, it was nothing to write home about. This was part of the canyon....

I reached Phoenix in the late afternoon and it was fantastic to see Jackie again! We spent a great evening together talking about what we would see and do over the next two weeks.

One of the guys I met in Sturgis, Wayne, lives in Phoenix and he suggested a visit to see the Saxon Motorcycle manufacturing facility....

So, the next day Jackie and I met Wayne at Saxon and Peter Morris, Saxons Chief Business Development Officer, showed us around and told us about the organisation, the manufacturing process and of course the bikes....

Saxon change their bikes each year and they currently have 8 models for 2010. These can be seen on the Saxon Motorcycles website, but here are a few that I took pictures of....

Their bikes did seem remarkably good value, especially when taking into account the favourable Dollar to Pound exchange rate!

The day just got hotter and hotter and both Jackie and I were suffering with the heat.... okay, the thermometer on my bike was in the direct sunlight, but this was HOT....

In the afternoon I went to meet Lucky of the Great Motorcycle Pizza Tour blog....

Lucky lives in Phoenix and was working this day just a few miles from the hotel Jackie and I were staying at, so it was a great opportunity to meet another blogger....

Of course, we talked about bikes, travelling, work and of course Pizza! It was great to meet with Lucky even if we didn’t have much time.

That evening Wayne had organised a dinner for him and a lot of his friends, plus Jackie and I. We went to the Rustler’s Rooste, a western steakhouse. We were all on bikes except Pam who I also met in Sturgis. We entered the restaurant on the upper level and to get to the main restaurant floor, there is a slide which most of us chose to use. The option of using the stairs just seemed too boring to take!

I am trying as many new things as possible on this tour, so when I saw Rattlesnake on the menu, well I just has to try it.... Yes, it was okay and yes, it did taste just like chicken!

Jackie and I were having such a good time, I completely forgot to take any pictures of the group! Wayne however did take one of Jackie and I....

Thanks to Wayne for arranging such a good dinner with great people in such an interesting place!

On day 98 Jackie and I rode to Flagstaff which we will be using as our base for the next 12 days or so.

I forgot to include a couple of pictures previously from when I went to the H-D dealer on the west side of Flagstaff, so here they are.... both were taken in their parking lot and the first shows a statue made from exhaust pipes / mufflers....

The second is a railroad car and yes, it is parked outside the dealership....

Lucky told me some strange things happen in Arizona and he was right! Perhaps it is the heat that causes it!