About two weeks ago my wife and I were having dinner with our close friend Tuyen. Somehow the conversation turned to the Arizona Renaissance Festival, how we had gone to past shows and really enjoyed it. Turns out Tuyen had never been! Right away I'm thinking motorcycle road trip. The show usually runs from mid-February to late March. So we had a large window of opportunity, but I wanted to go earlier rather then later. You risk running into some hot weather in March. We finally settled on the 19th, which was last Sunday. Tuyen decided he'd bring his son, Nicholas, which meant they'd drive up in their car. The wife and I would take the Bonnie. The beauty of this plan is that Nicholas could take some action shots of the wife and I driving down the road. Woohoo!
So last Sunday morning Tuyen and Nicholas arrived around 9:30am and after a staged photo op, we were off!
The Arizona Renaissance Festival is held every year just to the southeast of Apache Junction, which is the same as saying it's to the southeast of Phoenix. We decided to take the Pinal Pioneer Parkway (Hwy 79) up to Highway 60. Roughly 90 miles one way. It would be the longest trip they wife and I have taken together on the bike.
Nicholas did a great job taking pictures while his dad drove around us. This is the first time the wife and I get to see what we look like going down the road.
I assumed the wife would wave at the camera while I stayed focused on the road. But the wife assumed that I wanted her to stay still and not ruin the pictures...so we ended up looking very serious while traveling:) I don't have any communication gear in the helmets so once we're in motion there's not much talking unless we're stopped at a light.
I included this one because of the bikers going the other direction. Nicholas didn't know he had captured them until have we looked at the photos. We saw quite a few bikes out on the road as the temperature was perfect for riding, upper 60's.
Nicholas even captured some movies. Nothing too exciting, so you may want to skip them but what do I know...maybe you're really really bored and want to imagine what it's like with the wind racing over your helmet:) Enjoy!
Woah! Pace yourselves. Maybe take a breather before you watch the next one:)
And the miles quickly passed by. I always find the "going there" portion of the trip seems to speed by. While the "coming back" portion of the trip always takes longer. I think it's because of anticipation of the destination.
One of my favorite pictures this trip.
We made a quick stop in Florence to top off the tank. We could have made it to the festival with no problem. The Bonnie has a 130 mile range before I hit reserve. But it was either fill up before or after, and I decided before. We noticed this poor fellow as we all stood around stretching our legs.
The fair has a rather large parking lot for cars. They do a great job directing people down the proper paths to fit in as many cars as possible. I was surprised when Kiri and I were directed to the "VIP" parking area, right next to the fair entrance. They had an area setup just for motorcycles! This included wood squares for kickstand support. My view of the Renaissance fair folk went up quite a few notches! Only way to travel to the fair in my opinion now.
Check out this beast! I'm not positive, is this the CVO Ultra Classic Electra Glide?? Someone put a lot of money into this baby.
Welcome to the Renaissance Festival!
This next picture takes a little bit of explanation. We all purchased our tickets online and had printed them out the night before. Tuyen had stuffed his ticket into his back pocket. Somewhere between putting our riding gear into his car, and walking to the entrance, it had fallen out and Tuyen started to get frustrated that he couldn't find it. After a frantic few minutes searching his car, and clothes, I was lucky enough to run into a parking officer who found the ticket and had turned it into Will Call. So after all the pre-planning it was pretty funny Tuyen still had to wait in line to get a ticket.
Woot! we finally made it into the park! What to do first?
Since they hold the fair in the same place each year, they keep adding on new sections during the off season. Every time the wife and I visit there is something new to see and do.
We stopped to watch a fire juggler.
After a brief discussion between the Dead Bob Show and catching the Jousting now, or later that afternoon, we decided we'd take a break and watch Dead Bob, who was just starting. Snapped this picture of the lady with the umbrella as she was sitting down. Normal attire for the Renaissance Festival.
The Dead Bob Show is a Renaissance Fair cornerstone. He's been there from the beginning and the show never gets old. But beware, some of the jokes are pretty raunchy so they warn parents to get the kids out. No one listens though, and I can only imagine what the kids ask their parents after the show.
Dead Bob has a thing for the ladies. And he'll often pull _fair_ maidens from the audience to help him tell a tale of intrigue and suspense.
A little blurry, but this kid was just too cute for Bob not bring up on stage and try to embarrass her.
The show was funny as we remembered and after it was over we were starving. So we decided to stop by my favorite food shoppe, Roasted Turkey LEGS!!! I'm aware I have a few vegan viewers out there, so you may want to look away from the next four photos. It gets ugly:)
Ma'am, you have something on your cheek there. Oh it's a huge turkey leg...nom nom nom.
Tuyen thought we should do the wedding cake pose.
And of course the "share a leg" pose. It was at this point that the wife got turkey grease stains all over her jacket and my name was mud for the rest of the day:)
After lunch Tuyen spotted a feat of strength booth and had to show us how it's done. I'm not sure, but I think he was trying to impress the ladies.
Tuyen would like me to tell you that the peg went all the way up and rang the bell from this swing. I was still feeling the effects of the turkey leg tryptophan rush and can't remember exactly what happened, but I'm sure what he says is true.
We had some time to kill so we started wandering the festival and checking out the shops.
Tuyen chatted up the blacksmith as he crafted the next One Ring. Something about bringing Sauron back into the world. We left before the hobbits showed up.
Just a quick post with some pictures over the last couple of weeks. I'm still riding with my friend Tuyen each weekend. Just no major rides. I'm hoping to change that tomorrow. The wife and I have a fun trip planned! Until then, enjoy these grainy iPhone shots.
Three weeks ago Tuyen and I decided to ride to Madera Canyon, south of town. We got there just as the sun was setting and we didn't see many people in the park. You can just make out the town of Sahuarita down in the valley.
Neat shot of snow up on the hilltops.
As we were heading back down the road I spotted these wild turkeys by the side of the road. Since there wasn't any traffic I pulled over to snap a few shots. At first the birds just kept an eye on me, but once they figured out I wasn't a threat they moved back towards the road to feed on whatever wild turkeys feed on.
Last weekend Tuyen and I headed northwest of town to the Ironwood Forest national monument. I didn't even know this place existed until I stumbled upon it just driving out in the desert.
Handsome looking fellows!!! The mountain pictured on the sign is called Ragged Top Mountain and you can just make out the actual mountain just to the right of the sign.
At this point we were supposed to head back home as I had a Disc golf game, but it got cancelled. So Tuyen and I decided to drive out to Kitt's Peak. I'm posted on this ride before. I'll just mention that the wind really started blowing halfway out. Tuyen felt like he could have been blow off the mountain if the right gust had come along. Luckily we avoided death this time:) There was a lone Kawasaki Concours 14 in the parking lot. As this is a bike I wouldn't mind owning I snapped a picture. The owner had a neat luggage bag on the back with a curved back rest for the pillion rider.
This weekend the wife and I met Tuyen for lunch and then headed out to the Harley dealership to check out bikes. Not that we're looking to buy. We just like looking at the eye candy:)
The wife on a snazzy looking Blackline, if I'm not mistaken.
I like the Forty-Eight's just because they have beefy looking front wheels. It's a good looking bike with a yellow tank and black fenders.
Tuyen on the new 2012 Softail Slim. This is a nice looking bike!
And of course one picture of food porn. These are called Toritos. Chile's filled with shrimp and cheese and then wrapped in bacon and grilled to perfection. Holy mackerel! it's so bad..and yet so good.
I hope to have some nice pictures later in the week. Until then, stay safe out there!
My dad called me up and wanted to do a ride last Sunday. So he came over around 10am and we decided to head south towards the boarder town of Nogales. Then we'd head northeast through Patagonia and Sonoita and then back home through the town of Sahuarita.
The pre-ride photo op. My dad recently purchased a Joe Rocket Mesh Jacket, I believe it's the Phoenix 5.0. He seems to like it. The only complaint I can observe is that the sleeves have a zipper ,near the wrist, that really needs an additional button snap to keep the zipper from riding up during use.
We stopped for gas near Nogales and then headed northeast to Patagonia. I visited Patagonia on one of my earlier rides and knew the location of a coffee shop with some pretty good food. The sun was out but the temperatures were only in the mid-sixties so it was still a bit nippy on the bikes. Hot coffee sounded really really good.
We ordered a couple of hamburgers and lattes with sides of vegetable soup.
I felt much better after getting some food in me. My dad and I headed back to town through Sonoita and Sahuarita. While it was a great trip overall (~167miles), I didn't have a chance to take many photos. I've decided I need to hire my own personal photographer to sit on the back of the bike and snap pics as I go down the road.
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Since I didn't take a lot of photos of the ride I thought I'd include some pictures I took in the summer of 2010. I wanted to share them to cheer up people who are dealing with the winter doldrums. I often find myself looking at these pictures as I really like the lush farm land of the midwest. It sounds funny, but living in the Sonoran desert I often get tired of the brown landscape and wish I lived somewhere where it was vibrant green. These were taken in and around the town of Newman, Ill. It's a small farming community on the eastern side of the state. According to Wikipedia Newman had a population of around 865 people at the time I was there. Unfortunately the reason for the visit was to attend the funeral of my grandmother. I imagine she would have liked looking at these photos so I hope you enjoy them as well.
Some of my family stayed at a bed and breakfast outside of town. I felt like this was the place to go if you wanted to lose yourself and write a novel away from the interruptions of cell phones and internet. According to their facebook page it appears that the owners sold this property in March of last year. I don't know if it's still being used as a bed and breakfast.
The road out in front of the house. Talk about a country lane.
There was a pasture with horses nearby. I remember the horses being pestered to death with flies. Their tails were constantly swishing back and forth trying to beat away the onslaught of insects.
My nephew tried to call them over with no luck.
Corn seems to cover every square inch of land in this part of the country. I had to take the opportunity to replay the scene in "Field of Dreams" of coming out of the corn. Things to note: 1) I made sure no one was coming down the road. Farmers take their corn very seriously around here and I didn't want to get arrested, or worse, beat up. 2) Once I got into the corn I thought I saw bugs and started to panic. Luckily I drew upon my inner man and toughed it out. That, and I realized it wasn't bugs afterall so I could stop my urge to run out of the corn slapping at my hair and screaming like a 12 year old girl. 3) I'd like to point out that I'm about 6' tall and the corn was much taller then I was...amazing. 4) Who would have known that corn leaves are like razor blades and will cut you without a second thought.
No corn was harmed in the taking of these pictures.
My Aunt lives in Newman, and I captured my dad and nephew lighting off some firecrackers on her property later that day. You'll notice the puff of smoke to the right. When I was a kid we'd visit Illinois during summer vacation and it was always a treat to get our hands on firecrackers. Firecrackers used to be illegal in Arizona until recently.
I borrowed my cousins bicycle and decided to ride around town and snap some photos.
An old church that seemed to be abandoned.
The Red and White stores used to be small food stores that have been taken over by larger supermarket chains.
The town's water tower.
Neat looking grain silos.
Outside of town I found a road surrounded by corn. It was very surreal. I just stood there. No traffic, no people, just corn.
and looking back towards town.
Well that's all I have. Hope it felt like it was July for a second and you could forget about any snow, rain or ice you may be experiencing in your neck of the woods. Until next time!
