MyIronHorseJourney

I decided I needed to keep heading north and go to Flagstaff and the Grand Canyon.  I rode up through Sedona on Route 89A.  This follows a creek (Oak Canyon Creek) all the way up through to Flagstaff.  Beautiful ride with trees canopying the road as you twist and turn up through the mountains.  I stopped at a rest area and took these pictures.  On one of them I marked with red arrows the road up through just before the rest area.

I followed Route 89A up to Flagstaff, then went over to the Harley shop before getting a room for the night.  The next morning it was 16 degrees out at 7 a.m. – brrrrr!  Thank goodness it warms up pretty fast.  When I left the hotel at about 9:45 it had warmed up to  44 degrees – heat wave!  I took Route 89 up to Route 64 into the Desert View enterence of the Canyon.  When I first turned onto Route 64, I could see in the distance a fire.  They had signs saying smoke, but that was all I saw.  I think I stopped at every turnoff along the way.  Enjoy the pictures I took!

Just before I got over to the South rim entrance I notice some Elk just off the road.  I pulled over and parked my bike.  I stayed on the opposite side of the road, but a car pulled up right after me and a woman jumped out.  The lady ran across the road and down next to these Elks.  A Ranger came by and told her to move away.  Shortly after the Ranger left they went right back.  This is one of those times I kind of wished the Elk would charge.  (Remember I said kind of…. I don’t want anyone to get hurt). Seriously people, these are wild animals, give them space and respect!

As I was leaving the park out Route 64 (South entrance) I found out where the smoke was coming from that I saw earlier in the day.  There was a fire in the woods that was still smoldering.  It was about a mile long, and I was surprised no one was around.  I guess smoldering they don’t worry about it spreading.

It was getting late, later than I usually like being out.  The temps were starting to drop and dusk.  I was about 20 miles out from my hotel when I noticed another hawk sitting watching me drive by.  The hawk is the messenger, he usually shows up for me when I’m getting tired.  My sign to stay alert!

I’m glad I made it up to the canyon, but I still want to plan to do the whole loop and hit the north rim.

Love and Light to you all!

I am so thankful for my life and to be able to travel and blog my journey to all of you.  I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving with friends and family.

I’ve had internet issues so I’m behind on a few posts.  I’m hoping to get them up soon.  Enjoy your day!

Love and Light to you all!

Over the past week I’ve covered a lot of ground.  Sunday I left Thatcher, Arizona and headed toward Phoenix.  Between Miami and Surperior, Arizona the highway is know as Devil’s Canyon and Queen Creek Tunnel.  It’s twists and turns up over the mountain.  At one point I looked to my right down over a steep banking (holy dropoff Batman).  Just as I got to the top before heading back down the other side an 18-Wheeler was just pulling out from a rest area – ugh, I always try and have the big truckers in front of me going down over steep hills.  I come around one of the turns and there is a truck runaway ramp – yikes!  I kept an eye on my rear view mirror to make sure he didn’t catch up with me.  At the bottom of the mountain there was a short tunnel – was a nice ride!  I went into Apache Junction then onto the highway over to Surprise, Arizona for the night.  That night I looked over the map and then checked weather in different areas to make a decision on where to go next.  I decided to head north.  The weather was showing sunny just cooler temperatures.  I really want to see the northern parts of Arizona.

The next morning I headed out Route 60 and then hooked onto Route 89 through Prescott, Where I stopped on Whiskey Row to have lunch and stop at the Harley shop for poker chips!  Cute town!

I then continued out route 89 to route 89A which took me up over a mountain with twists and turns and a few switchbacks.  This took me down through the town of Jerome.  This town is built right on the mountain side with a couple switchback turns right in the middle of the town.  I’m glad I went this way through town for a couple of reasons.  Having to start and stop going up through town would have been a challenge as the roads were all patched and bumpy and having the views that I had would have been behind me.  Love seeing the red rocks!  These are the views just before Jerome.

I continued through to Cottonwood and onto Sedona.  I had been to Sedona about 6 years ago.  I just love how where ever you are there are views of the red rocks.  This is what you see over the shops in town.

I went up to the airport to see the views, it’s just beautiful!

I stopped at the historical society in Camp Verde, Arizona and got some information about the area.  Then got a room for the night.  It was nice seeing Prescott, Prescott Valley and Cottonwood.  They were areas of interest and maybe areas to call home for the winter months.  Still trying to decide that, but I have more area to check out first.

Love and Light to you all!

Well, I’ve only been gone for a short time and already changed directions multiple times. The weather has driven me this whole trip.  The weekend before I left it snowed and rained.  I then started looking for a couple clear days so I could leave.  I raced down to Virginia before I had a rain day.  Watching the weather, going down to Georgia and then across Alabama and Mississippi we’re out.  They were getting heavy rain with tornadoes (47 in two days).  So I changed direction and headed across the mountains through Tennessee.  I rushed through Tennessee because of heavy rains and an area of tornado chances.  After I was through that temps started to drop.  When I got into Amarillo, Texas they were predicting freezing rain with high temps only 34.  I stayed an extra day there and then changed direction again.  I wanted to go across to Albuquerque, New Mexico and then into Flagstaff, Arizona and work my way down through Sedona, Cottonwood, and Prescott.  A major cold front is coming down from Canada.  Most areas are 30 degrees colder than normal for this time of year.  I decided to head south and then cut across New Mexico over to Arizona.

When I left Amarillo, Texas it was 42 degrees at 10:30 am.  I took US-70 down to Roswell, New Mexico.  About 50 miles out I had a hawk fly in front of me.  I had been in a daze, just riding.  I know that the hawk is a messenger, so I really started to pay attention.  Wow, I’m in the middle of nowhere.  No population, or anything out here.  I started seeing more hawks sitting on the utility poles.  About every 3-4 pole there was a hawk sitting watching as I passed.  I would say I was at least 30 – so cool!  I also saw a group of Antelope, an eagle and a turkey buzzard.  It definitely made up for the colder ride.

When I left Roswell, New Mexico the temp was 45.  Finally starting to get to warmer weather.  I took US-70 up over the mountains to Las Cruces, New Mexico.  So glad things changed, this Route was absolutely beautiful.  It got cloudy and a lot cooler up the mountain, the sun adds about 10 degrees while riding.  Again hardly any traffic and the views were wonderful.  If I can’t go back through the upper states when I head home, I will definitely go this way.

From Las Cruces, New Mexico my GPS had me take route 10 for a little bit, then hook onto US-70 again.  It was warmer, starting the day at 45!  When it’s warmer, and dryer I want and feel like stopping.  Here are a few pictures along the way.

Early afternoon, about when I entered Arizona the winds started picking up.  Felt like 30-50 mph at times.

Love and Light to you all!

 

 

Sunday afternoon I ran into rain about 120 miles out from Memphis, Tennessee.  I decided to find a room and not ride in the rain.  Monday went I woke up I turned on the TV to watch the weather.  Severe weather from Jackson, Tennessee to Little Rock, Arkansas.  They were saying heavy rains and high potential for tornadoes in the afternoon/evening – yikes!    I got ready fast and left the hotel by 8:30 am.  It was windy out, and it really picked up once I crossed over into Arkansas.  About 2 o’clock it started to rain, I knew where I needed to be to be out of the tornado zone.  I still had about 100 miles to go, so I kept going.  It started pouring, I could hardly see lights up ahead.  This is one of those times I’m so glad Denise showed me the lights I ended up getting for my bike (I felt comfortable that I was being seen from behind).  I stayed behind a PAM Transportation truck, knowing they take some time stopping.  I wanted to pull off, but knew that wasn’t safe sitting on the side of the road.  This happened to be an area with no exits, so I kept going.  The rain stopped, and about five miles up the road traffic came to a standstill.  There had been an accident!  It started raining again and got heavier again.  I pulled off and waited for a bit.  When it almost stopped I got back on the highway and made it to Conway, Arkansas.  This was just outside of the severe warning.  I was soaked!  I laid all my gear out to dry and turned the heat up as high as possible.  I left my room to get dinner and when I got back my room it was gross  a warm wet smell.  I decided to put the air conditioner on instead, thinking it would take the moisture out of the room.  It worked, plus I was able to sleep better.

Tuesday morning there was a heavy fog warning with low visibility.  My room looked out onto the highway and the roads were still wet.  I was debating leaving, but all the weather reports said a sunny day.  I decided to just wait and leave close to checkout time.  That worked, roads were clear and temps were 62.  Most of my gear was dry, but my left boot was still very wet.  I took a plastic bag and put it on under my boot, worked great.  It brought back memories for being a kid.  We would use bread bags in our winter boots if the felts were still wet.

Love and Light to you all!

Day two I got up and got going by 9 am.  I made it to Lynchburg, Virginia by 3:30 and decided to find a room for the night.  Checking the weather I saw that Missississippi and Alabama had like 41 tornadoes during the day – yikes!  Looking at rain heading towards Virginia.  Anyway I would be going looked like I would get part way and hit rain.   I decided to stay an additional night.  The weekend weather was looking sunny!

I took off Saturday morning the temps were 52, not bad!  I was in the valleys looking up at the Blue Ridge Parkway, the trees were beautiful!  I did notice that the colors down here are more muted, but still pretty to see.  The winds were 20-30 mph with some gusts to 50.  Thank goodness they decreased as the day went on.  The temps dropped to 47 in the mountains and when I reached Knoxville they were back up to 62 degrees.  When I stopped for gas about 4:30 there was a hotel across the street, decided to grab a room for the night.  It was a little more expensive, but I had a large room with a soaking tub!  That was a nice treat!

More rain is working across the mid west tonight, so we will see how far I get!

Love and Light to you all!

One year to the day I started out again.  I took off from Augusta, Maine at 8:00 am.  The temperature was 37 degrees, this making the windchill about 19 when going 75-80 miles an hour.  Thank goodness for my heated gear, my hands and torso were fine.  A couple hours into the ride my toes and legs were cold, especially when the sun went behind the clouds.  The nice thing was that it was getting warmer the further south I got.

About 3:30 pm I decided it was time to look for a hotel.  I had a truck speed up by me and through all the traffic.  I didn’t hear him or see him until he was right beside me.  He was obviously in a hurry or ticked off at other drivers and went flying by everyone.

I found a hotel in Eaton, Pennsylvania.  A good first day, I did 463 miles!  There are a lot of rain storms working across the country, so trying to decide which way is best to avoid most of them.  Not use to hearing tornadoes in the weather forecast- yikes!

Time to pack up and get going!

Love and Light to you all!

Well the weather has turned chilly here in Maine.  We’ve had a heavy frost a couple of mornings.  Saturday it was predicted to be the warmest day for the weekend.  A friend organized one last ride before putting the bikes up and getting the snowmobiles out for winter.  It was cloudy first thing and only 53 degrees at my house.  I layered up and got my electric gear out.  I had the jacket last year, but bought gloves in the spring that I hadn’t tried out yet.  Somewhere in my packing and moving I have miss placed my controls for the jacket.  I’ve looked high and low and can’t find it anywhere.  One bad design with the jacket is it doesn’t have any pockets, so when I take the control off it doesn’t stay with the jacket hence why it’s missing….  Anyhow, without the controls I only have one temperature – low.  I was fine all day, so I think mid 40’s I will be fine too.  That’s if I can’t find the control before I leave.  I think my gloves are going to work great and keep my fingers warm.  Last year that was one thing that got cold first.

We took Route 27 to Wiscasset and then took Route 1 to Bath.  We went down to Popham Beach to the fort.  This is one of my favorite places to go and walk the beach.  I usually go a couple times during the riding season, but hadn’t made it this year.  It was nice listening to the waves, there weren’t many people there which was nice too!

After we road over to Freeport then through to Pownal into New Gloucester where we stopped for lunch.  Where we had a later lunch we headed towards home after, knowing it gets cooler later in the afternoon now.  I got home about 3:30 and we put on about 140 miles.  Great day, and the foliage was still nice.

Love and Light to you all!

As summer ends and we enter cooler weather, I’ve been reflecting on everything I’ve done this summer.  I felt like most of it was cleaning out my house.  I took four car loads to goodwill – each time the car was so full I couldn’t fit anything else in it.  I shedded 12 large garbage bags of old medical records, tax stuff, etc.  My trash guy will be glad I’m gone as each week I’ve had large amounts of trash.  It feels good!

Until I started going over everything, I didn’t realize just how much riding I did get in.  I did the four corners of Maine hitting Kittery, Grafton Notch, Lubec and Madawaska.  I road all along the coast, and hit New Hampshire a couple of times.  I road with old friends and many new friends, putting about 8,000 miles on just since I’ve been home.  I hit a lot of places I’ve never ridden on right here in my own state – which is pretty cool!

The last week or so I’ve been getting all my financial stuff done.  I should have done it earlier, because now I’m just waiting for a couple things in the mail before I can leave.  Working with my old company has been interesting to say the least, to finalize a few things.  Deep breath, this to shall pass!

I’ll be on the road soon, I’ve been looking over the maps trying to figure out how I want to go.  At first I was thinking following the coast line down to Georgia and then cross over.  With hurricanes and flooding, I don’t think that’s a good idea.  So, I’m still looking and deciding.

I’m glad I took the time to reflect on all that I did this summer, makes me appreciate everything a little more.

With the extra time, I took some time for me the other day and walked down to a nearby pond.  It’s close enough that I can walk to it, and I usually go a few times each season.  It was beautiful with all the leafs changing.  I took my drum and also did a nice meditation by the water.  I felt so refreshed and at peace when I walked back home.

Take some time for you, you may be surprised how refreshing it is!

Love and Light to you all!

I met up with a dear friend and spent the day in Belfast with her.  We walked the Belfast rail trail to find the trains that she had heard about.  We thought they were only about a mile and a half away, but ended up being 2 miles each way.  We both had our cameras with us and had fun getting our creative sides going.

 

 

About a half mile from the trains we came upon a cemetery.  We could see from the trail the back of an angel, so we had to go investigate.  She was beautiful!

The day was full of laughter and fun, we always have a great time together.  I’m always glad I stop and take the time to be with my friends and family when the opportunities arise.  These times are what make life special.

Love and Light to you all!

Fall is here, and colder mornings – I’m trying to finish everything up so I can get back on the road.

Last weekend I took the advanced class in ThetaHealing.   This class was three days full of information and learning.   It was a fantastic class and as we were learning, we were clearing our own limiting beliefs in the process.  With this modality you can instantly change any negative thinking within you that creates illness.  Changing on all levels: physically, mentally, emotionally and spirits.  I recommend going out to ThetaHealing.com and finding a practitioner and/or teacher in your area.

Last week I ended up with a wonderful cold – I didn’t have any energy and wanted to sleep the first half of the week.  My body telling me to take a break.  Even when I wasn’t feeling the greatest I still tried to get some work done in the house.  I’m so close, but then it seems so far away.  I keep telling myself I’m almost there – it will definitely be very freeing when I hit the road knowing this is done.

I also had my 30,000 mile service done on my bike.  I added some lights on my hard bags – I should be seen now!  Love them!  I’m starting to make a pile of things that will be going with me, as it will be soon.  This morning it was 44 degrees at 7 a.m. – brrrrrrrr.  I need to pick up my pace around here.  I did see the weather report for Arizona last week they were still at 100.  Something in between would be nice.

I’ll try to get another post out before I leave, until then enjoy!

Love and Light to you all!

When I think about rides while I’m at home, I tend to think of rides only in Maine.  A friend contacted me and asked if I had ever been to Castle in the Clouds.  I had never been there, and no idea where it was.  Castle in the Clouds is located in Moultonborough, New Hampshire, which is about 2 an a half hours away.  We rode over and went right to the castle.  On the way up we pulled over and walked to a neat waterfall, then drove up the rest of the way.  There is a lot of history in this castle, the original owner that built the castle was the owner of the largest shoe factory.  They bought and owned over 5,000 acres at one time where this castle is.  I’ve taken some pictures of the detail in the tiles, the wood floors, the textured design of the ceilings, and the thick roof tiles.  Just an amazing place.

 

The gardens and views are beautiful.  They are working to restorate the castle to 1914 when Thomas Plante built it.  Great place to visit if you are in the area.  They also have many trails for hiking also.

By the time we left the castle it was after three, and we were starving as we hadn’t had lunch yet.  We drove about 20 miles to Ossipee, New Hampshire and stopped at Yankee Smokehouse Wild Hog Pizzeria for lunch.  When we came out from lunch my friends bike wouldn’t start, and we couldn’t figure out what was wrong.  She called AAA and they came and ended up towing her home.  Leaving Ossipee at 7 pm, it was going to be dark soon meaning most of my ride home was in the dark.  I usually don’t ride much at night because of the visibility and animals.  I followed the tow truck until Portland then hooked onto 295 back to Gardiner.  It was about 9:30 pm when I got home, my eyes and shoulders were tired from straining to see the sides of the road keeping an eye out for critters.  I’m always up for an adventure, and it defiantly was!  I slept very well that night!

Being Labor Day weekend a bunch of us were going to ride over to Vermont Sunday and come back Monday.  Because of one breaking down we decided to save that trip when she was up and running again.  We decided to ride up and stay at another friends camp in Rangeley and then ride home on Monday.

We met in Manchester at 9 am and headed up Route 27 to Farmington then staying on Route 27 toward Kingfield.  First stop was in North New Portland at the Wire Bridge.

 

After the wire bridge we continued past Kingfield toward Stratton.  Ira Mountain is just before Stratton.  We crossed a bridge off Route 27 then onto a dirt road leading up the mountain.  There were some switchbacks going up and going around those there were many chatter bumps with loose dirt.  I was sweating by the time we go up to the top.  The views and earth work up there was amazing.  I’m glad I did it, and that I had others with me.

 

Heading down the mountain was a little scary as we didn’t want to go to fast and had to be careful using our breaks.  We headed to Trails End in Eustis for lunch.  We got there just in time as it’s a restaurant 4 wheelers stop at and a bunch showed up shortly after us.  Great food!

After lunch we decided to ride up towards the Canadian border to Chain of Ponds.  The roads are in great shape and fun to ride.  Hills and curves all the way there.

 

While we were at lunch our friend texted us saying she got her bike fixed and was going to meet us in Rangeley, so after Chain of Ponds we headed over to Rangeley to meet her.  After we met, we headed out Route 16 to Quill Hill.  Another dirt road….  it takes about 10 minutes to drive up to the top.  The same person owns Ira Mountain, so a lot of similar earth work at the top.  This road wasn’t as hard to drive up, with less switchbacks and chatter bumps.  The views at the top are phenomenal, 360 degree views.  They keep the gates open until 9 pm so you can go up and watch the sunset.  This is a must see if you are in the area, just beautiful!  Adding to my bucket list to see a sunset up there.

 

After these phenomenal views we headed to Rangeley to my friends camp and hung out by the campfire cooking s’mores!

Sunday we got up and headed into Oqossic and had breakfast at the Gingerbread house.  From there we did the Height of the Land.  The last couple of years that road had gotten very bad and wasn’t fun riding on a motorcycle, but they have repaved it this year.

 

After the we stopped at Coos Canyon and walked around a little.  Watched kids jump off the ledges of the rocks into the water.

 

We then road into Rumford and stopped at the waterfalls, then over to Andover to see the covered bridge before heading back to Manchester.  I think we packed a lot into the weekend even after plans getting changed.  A lot of wonderful memories!

Love and Light to you all!

This weekend I hit two of the four corners.  Four of us met at 7 a.m. in Manchester at J&S Oil Friday morning.  The temperature when I left my house was 50, a little chilly!      We went out Route 3 to Belfast, then followed Route 1 to Machias where we stopped and had lunch, and pie at Helen’s Restaurant!  The pies were delicious!  After lunch we got off Route 1 and went down around Cutler, a neat little fishing town!  Then to Lubec stopping at the West Quoddy Head Lighthouse.  Helen and I are doing the four corner experience so we needed to stop at the Lubec Post Office and also get gas before continuing on to Calais for the first nights stay.  We did 269 miles the first day.

Day two we got up and left about 7:50 a.m.  Wasn’t as chilly this morning, the gauge on my bike read 63.  Our first stop was Mars Hill for breakfast then followed Route 1A to Littleton, Maine to stop and see one of the last covered bridges.  We stayed on Route 1A up to Madawaska for the northern point of Maine.

After stopping at the Four Corners Park in Madawaska we headed to Caribou where we stayed our final night of this trip.  We left Calais about 8:30 a.m. taking Route 1 to Route 6 then hooking onto Route 2 which we followed al the way to New Sharon where we hooked onto Route 27 into Augusta.  Route 2 was fantastic riding, no traffic until about Skowhegan and roads were in great shape.  We ended with just about 800 miles for all three days.  It was a fantastic trip with great friends.  We made a lot of memories and had a lot of laughs!

Back in May Helen met me in New Hampshire the night before I came home from my trip.  She did the last leg of my journey with me, and on our way back we stopped in Kittery to do the most Southern corner.  We needed a picture at the Kittery Trading Post for this stop.

In June, Helen organized a ladies ride and we rode over to Grafton Notch which is the Western point that we needed to hit.

That’s the four points of Maine.   Doing these I have hit many roads that I had never ridden on before.  I am grateful that Helen and I were able to do all four corners together!  What’s our next adventure?

Doing the corners is a wonderful way to see Maine.  The farm country up north is so beautiful.  Living in Central Maine we tend to forget there are still a lot of farms still operating in Maine.  Was wonderful to see!

Love and Light to you all!

 

Went for a ride yesterday.  Fall is coming, it’s starting to get a little chilly in the mornings.  We left Gardiner about 10:00 am and headed west to Rumford.  On Route 108 just before Rumford we passed another small field of sunflowers.  It’s so neat to see as you drive up to the field.  We stopped at the waterfalls rest area right in Rumford for a little break.  From there we headed over to Andover and had lunch at the Little Red Hen restaurant right on Main Street.

They make all their own breads, great country style restaurant.  They get people stopping on their way through that are hiking the Appalachian trail, cyclists, and campers.  After lunch we headed over to the covered bridge that is just a few miles from the restaurant.

The bridge was built in 1867, and one of the few that you can still drive through.  The roads after bridge is a quiet country road.  We came up over a hill and there was a field of bisons.  What a surprise to see about 20 of them.  I pulled over and had to take a few pictures.  That was the last thing I expected to see in Maine!

Was a fun day, still amazed that we saw all those bisons!

Love and Light to you all!

I heard there was a field of sunflowers in Western Maine, so I contacted a friend in that area and asked if she wanted to go on an adventure to find it.  When we met up, my friend had found out where the field was.  She also mentioned it had been in the local paper a week ago.  She took us right to the field.  They were almost gone by, but we still had fun taking some pictures.

We then got onto Route 113 which weaves back and forth from Maine to New Hampshire, and back to Maine.  The road was narrow with a canopy of trees most of the way.  We climbed up and around a mountain, then back down.  There were spots to park for hiking along the way.  When we crossed back over to Maine we followed the Cold river, Evans brook and Wild river out to Route 2 in Gilead.  We headed to Bethel for lunch.

After lunch we stayed on Route 2 until Rumford, where we got onto Route 232.  Then hit Route 26 into Oxford where we hit the Casino.

We said our goodbyes before we left the Casino as we were splitting off up the road.  I stopped at the Harley shop to order a few things as I get ready to hit the road again soon!

Another fantastic day riding, I would highly recommend Route 113 – Evans Notch.

Love and Light to you all!