2023-09-01 Puerto Penasco to Kanab UT 553 miles Official miles per our passports
We both probably had a good nights sleep. I did hear the wind howl again, but it wasn’t all night. The next days ride is on your mind which makes it tough to fall asleep. I believe we were up about 4ish. After our routine in the room, we were at our bikes about 5am, with maybe 2 thirds of the bikes in the lot gone. We took off our bike covers to begin to pack only to discover there was sand ever where on the bikes. We finished loading up, turned in our token coin to the guy in the lobby collecting them, and off we went at 5:30 am. It was still dark, and there was some wind and it was still warm but comfortable.
When we start off, there are a few bikes ahead of us and we are somewhat in a pack. Once we get through the town lights, we are on Mex 8, the main road to the border. Still very dark but most of the bikes catch up to each other and pretty soon, it is a long line of bikes – or it seemed that way in the dark. I’m unfamiliar with these Mexico roads here, and I’m hesitant to do much passing with such a line of bikes and it still being dark. There are critters out and I can’t really see the road for any curves, blind spots, pot holes, sand drifts or washouts. I know we only have about 60 miles or less to the border so I just decide to just relax and wait this out. From past three flags I remember it will start thinning out once we cross the border.
As when riding in a group of motorcycles, especially when there are many, the ride in the line is like a rubber band due to everyone riding in a group. Speeds up, slow down, speed up, slow down etc. Just had to be patient for the sunlight and the border crossing. When there was more daylight and you could start to make out the road, we started to make some passes and by the time we got to the border, the line was not long at all. Maybe 10-12 bikes ahead of us. Rick and I lucked out on the border as they opened up another gate just as we arrived so the wait was minimal.
Once we crossed, like I thought, it was cleared out of bikes on the road as a lot of riders started taking breaks, getting gas or stopping for breakfast. We were riding in the 75 – 80 mph range on AZ 85 through Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument Park in the southern part of Arizona.
We continued to ride north on AZ 85 till we hit I-10, which we took east towards Phoenix. The route didn’t go into Phoenix, but skirted Glendale/Phoenix area via 101 to I-17 north to Flagstaff. The skies were generally overcast, with patchy blue areas. There looked like threatening clouds east of us but generally it look like we were going to have a dry day.
I-17 north is a fun beautiful road, a bit crowded this holiday weekend, it was moving but always climbing in elevation for the most part as you head into the Sedona area. We found that riding in the right lane was quicker and could pass more cars that were all in the left lane. I-17 ends at I-40 by Flagstaff, which we take for a short time and get of on AZ 89 north, which takes you the east side of the Grand Canyon. All we had to do was follow the signs for 89 north till sometime past Paige AZ, would would catch 89A through Marble canyon and past the entrance to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.
As we continued north in the afternoon, the skies were starting to get cloudier and you could start to see showers off in the distant areas of the desert. When we were in the Phoenix area, it was hot and still humid. As we climbed on I-17 to Flagstaff, it started getting cooler in the higher elevations to about 70 degrees when we were in Flagstaff. After Flagstaff you drop back down into the desert and warm up again, and by the time we get to the 89A/89 junction, it is about 3ish in the afternoon and we could see the rain behind us and just to the side of us.
I pulled off the road to get my jacket on, put my helmet on, and to verify with Rick that there was a gas station somewhere ahead of us as we were probably still about 65-70 miles from Kanab and it would be tight to push it. It starts to sprinkle just as we get going and we head forward to the next gas station which Rick’s gps was saying was 10 miles.
Sure enough, when we see the gas station it starts raining hard. We are under the canopy when we are filling up our bikes and we decide to wait a bit and let this storm push most it’s energy out. After about a 10 minute wait, the rain was light and we continued along, but at a slower pass as we climbed up a mountain and over a pass before we were heading down into Kanab UT to our first checkpoint at about 4:30 pm.
There were some volunteers to guide us into the first checkpoint, which was at the community center in Kanab. It was still a steady drizzle when we got there. There were a handful of bikes in the parking lot when pulled in. We parked our bikes, grabbed our passports and as we made our way towards the entrance, we said hi to the father/son team that sat at our dinner table at the start banquet as they came out. Inside it was dry and as it turned out, this was also the best spread of snacks. There was coffee for us along with oranges/apples/bananas, chewy cookies, and assorted snack bars. We got our books stamped-I asked where we were in placement and they said we were in the top 1/3 as people were just starting to come in.
Our hotel for the night was not in Kanab, but 17 more miles north on AZ 89 at Mount Carmel Junction, which is junction 9 that take you into the east entrance to Zion National Park. This is a familiar stop for us going to Sturgis and I like it as there is a gas station, a Best Western, and the Thunderbird Restaurant all on premise, which is nice after a hard day of riding.
After we checked in, we rinsed our bikes down, not just from the rain but from the dust storm the night before in Puerto Penasco, then cleaned up for a great dinner and what this place is famous for, Ho-made pies.
After our belly’s were full, we made it back to the rooms and settled in for the night as we wanted to get up early for the biggest mileage day of this 4 day rally, which was 610. but we already did 17 of it to get to the pies….
Good job riding this leg! If I ever make it to Zion I’ll stay here and check out the pies!!