We had a wonderful Road Trip in every way. Yesterday was wonderful. The overnight at The Highlander was wonderful and today was wonderful. I mean, gee, did we say it was wonderful?
We returned home about 3:30 pm and had everything totally de-rigged in under an hour. The whole process was totally casual--no stress whatsoever.
Our only "problem" of the trip was a flat tire. However, it was a wonderful flat tire. Oh, come on, John, how could a flat tire be wonderful? Well, the tire went flat overnight while we were sleeping in a warm cozy motel room. We discovered it this morning. So, we had a warm cozy room from which to change the tire at our leisure using a floor jack on smooth asphalt. That's pretty wonderful as far as flat tires go on a Road Trip. Meanwhile, we took the tire a few blocks to an Old School tire repair place and returned to the motel to spend time interviewing owners Alan and Sandra who are restoring the place. So, there was no lost time as a result of the flat. Meanwhile, we returned to the repair shop and the guy said there was nothing wrong with the tire and no repairs were necessary. Therefore, no repair costs were necessary. We put the tire back on the Samurai, left Williams at our scheduled departure time, drove it home today and it performed fine. So, I guess that qualifies as a wonderful flat tire. Would you agree?
We have a genuine ba-zillion of photos to deal with. The hood cam took over 2000 photos. We added maybe 100 or so ourselves and did a few videos, too, plus an MP3 audio snippet. We've kind of made a deal with ourselves that if we can't process everything by Sunday, we will delete it. We will see how that promise works out.
Nothing much else to report. Have a wonderful night and many Wonderful Cheers! jp
Gearing up for a mid-June 2106 Road Trip. Photo is at top of Fish Creek Pass May 31.
Thursday, January 17, 2013
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
First Pix & Trip Notes
(Addition notes appear below slideshow.) Here's almost 20 uncaptioned photos from today. Our little netbook is misbehaving so we will wait until our return to caption the, Bottom Line: Great Road Trip Today and The Highlander ROCKS!
Thursday morning dawned nice and WARM here in Williams--27 degrees! That's a heat wave compared to what they have been enduring for the past week. We met Alan and Sandra yesterday and they are great owners for this property. They are hard at work remodeling each room with meticulous care. Our Room #3 is the Marilyn Monroe Room. It has very nice euro styling and an endearing simplicity. It is very clean and thoughtfully decorated. Susun loved the bathtub and I guess that's teh finest compliment you can pay a place.
Yesterday, we took one Route 66 photo and our agenda this morning includes taking some more of those iconic photos for her upcoming 66th birthday. We hope to get out of town by 11 am today. It took us 6.5 hours to drive from Rimrock to Williams yesterday but that included a long detour over through Drake and Hell Canyon. That was probably one hour. Chances are it will only take us five hours for the return trip. We'd like to be home by 5 pm. Here are the statistics of our trip yesterday according to our GPS which we turned on at the Jerome Fire Station.
Miles from Jerome Fire Station 78.5
Total time actually moving 3:25
Time stopped 2:06
Maximum speed 48.4
Average speed while moving 22.9
Total overall avg. speed 14.2
Maximum elevation 7,357
Overnight elevation 6,700'
Distance from Rimrock to Jerome Fire Station: 26.2
Total distance traveled: 104.7 miles
Photos taken: 1600
Even though 1600 sounds like a lot of photos, 1536 of those were taken automatically every 10 seconds by the GoPro hood cam. So, we really didn't take too many photos ourselves, at least by comparison to other road trips of note. Maybe we can make up for that today.
Well, that's about all until we return to Second Chance Ranch. Have a great day & Many Cheers, jp
Thursday morning dawned nice and WARM here in Williams--27 degrees! That's a heat wave compared to what they have been enduring for the past week. We met Alan and Sandra yesterday and they are great owners for this property. They are hard at work remodeling each room with meticulous care. Our Room #3 is the Marilyn Monroe Room. It has very nice euro styling and an endearing simplicity. It is very clean and thoughtfully decorated. Susun loved the bathtub and I guess that's teh finest compliment you can pay a place.
Yesterday, we took one Route 66 photo and our agenda this morning includes taking some more of those iconic photos for her upcoming 66th birthday. We hope to get out of town by 11 am today. It took us 6.5 hours to drive from Rimrock to Williams yesterday but that included a long detour over through Drake and Hell Canyon. That was probably one hour. Chances are it will only take us five hours for the return trip. We'd like to be home by 5 pm. Here are the statistics of our trip yesterday according to our GPS which we turned on at the Jerome Fire Station.
Miles from Jerome Fire Station 78.5
Total time actually moving 3:25
Time stopped 2:06
Maximum speed 48.4
Average speed while moving 22.9
Total overall avg. speed 14.2
Maximum elevation 7,357
Overnight elevation 6,700'
Distance from Rimrock to Jerome Fire Station: 26.2
Total distance traveled: 104.7 miles
Photos taken: 1600
Even though 1600 sounds like a lot of photos, 1536 of those were taken automatically every 10 seconds by the GoPro hood cam. So, we really didn't take too many photos ourselves, at least by comparison to other road trips of note. Maybe we can make up for that today.
Well, that's about all until we return to Second Chance Ranch. Have a great day & Many Cheers, jp
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
Perkinsville
Just one Perkinsville photo--we promise. A portion of the movie "How The West Was Won" was filmed in Perkinsville in 1961 when Western movies still ruled the Hollywood World. Perkinsville was transformed into Gold City. As chance would have it, it appears the Perkinsville buildings are the last remaining physical vestige of the epic movie. Here are a lot of factoids I did not know about the movie, including all the other "on location" places where the film was shot.
http://www.dukewayne.com/showthread.php?t=1998
We can tell ya some stories about the Perkins family but, ya know, this isn't the place--maybe some night 'round yonder camp fire.
Meanwhile, we promise to take at least two token, obligatory photos of Perkinsville when we pass through going and coming this week.
http://www.dukewayne.com/showthread.php?t=1998
We can tell ya some stories about the Perkins family but, ya know, this isn't the place--maybe some night 'round yonder camp fire.
Meanwhile, we promise to take at least two token, obligatory photos of Perkinsville when we pass through going and coming this week.
The South Kaibab
Forest Service folks know there's such a thing as The South Kaibab and the North Kaibab. Actually, they are in two distinct worlds apart separated by the great chasm of the Grand Canyon. The bureaucracy lumped them together under a one size fits all umbrella called The Kaibab National Forest (KNF). For the next two days, we get to enjoy s little, tiny slice of The South Kaibab between Williams and the Prescott National Forest boundary north of Perkinsville.
We've been having fun refreshing ourselves about "all things Kaibab." Here's a couple of great public domain photos we found courtesy of the KNF. (Captions in quotes are below each photo and link to photo files is at end of post.
"1910—Bill Williams lookout number one. The first lookout on Bill Williams Mountain was constructed by Rangers Benham and Sevier in 1910. Hans Boethe is shown on top." Editor's Comment: This had to be totally OSHA approved, right?
"1937—Turntable, Warm Springs Canyon. The turntable allowed cars to be turned around at the end of the narrow road." Editor's Comment: Road too narrow to turn around? NO problem! Just install a handy, dandy, turner, arounder and you will be totally Okay! Wonder how much the turner thingie cost Uncle Sam back in the day? Heck, a crew could have simply picked the truck up and turned it around by hand. Rube Goldberg would be VERY proud of this contraption.
Here's the link to the Kaibab Flickr photo file:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/
We've been having fun refreshing ourselves about "all things Kaibab." Here's a couple of great public domain photos we found courtesy of the KNF. (Captions in quotes are below each photo and link to photo files is at end of post.
Here's the link to the Kaibab Flickr photo file:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/
United Verde & Pacific Railroad
The UV&P was known as the "Crookedest Railroad In America." That didn't imply it was run by crooks. Nope, it has something like 180 curves, some of which were 40-degree curves and one was a 45-degree curve. This narrow gage engineering marvel stretched 25.8 miles between what's now Chino Valley and Jerome.
The curves on the UV&P were so tight people joked the conductor at the rear of the train could reach out and shake hands with the engineer at the front of the train.
The UV&P was incorporated in the spring of 1894 and actually in operation by early 1895. The reason it was built so fast was because the famous William Andrews Clark was simply throwing gobs and gobs of money at it. Clark knew the railroad was the ticket to riches and history proved him correct.
The railroad eventually was closed down in May 1920 after what's now the Verde Canyon Railroad was built in 1912. The VCRR is mostly a tourist operation that has carried over a million passengers since 1990.
We have always been smitten with the UV&P. Way back during the Dawn of Mountain Bikes, we started a company called "Arizona Rough Riders," to take people on guided bicycle tours deep into the Arizona hinterlands. In order to sketch out the itineraries for these trips, we would gather together out Dear Friends and do a "test trip."
One of our finest such trips was the Seligman-Jerome Ride along two old railroads. I can't remember the name of the railroad that went from Seligman to Chino Valley but I'll never forget the ride from Chino to Jerome. I think it was in the Spring of 1984 but it might have been 1985.
As I recall there were at least six of us and maybe 8. We took 4-5 days riding that route. Wayne Ranney was along so maybe he will remember. That's when we fell in love with the UV&P. Later we became Friends with legendary local late railroad historian Russ Wahmann and he regaled us with, oh, so many tales of the UV&P.
One of the cool things that happened on that ride took place many miles out on the old rail bed from Jerome. We came on this really old couple hacking away at the trees and plants on the side of the hill. We stopped to ask them what they were doing. They said that when they grew up, there was no vegetation on the hillsides and they were trying to make it look like what they remembered as kids.
Well, of course, some of you know there was no vegetation because the smelter smoke killed and destroyed it all. Heck, the smoke actually killed ponderosa pine trees almost all the way to Williams "back in the day." But that's another story.
The road from Jerome to Chino Valley faithfully follows the old UV&P rail line and it's actually pretty much just the way it way back then.
We did find some stuff on the UV&P online and it is all shown below without captions.
Video showing Jerome to Perkisville
One real nice thing about this particular Road Trip is that it's real popular and has been documented many, many times. We've found articles ranging from the Las Vegas newspaper to Phoenix magazine. All kind of people have put up trip descriptions, reviews and more. We found this one three minute video that does a pretty good job showing the road from Jerome to Perkinsville. Note that we HIGHLY recommend watching the video with the sound OFF.
Road Trip Electronics
No Road Trip worth taking these days is complete without a wide range of onboard electronics. So, just what do we carry?
Here's a mostly complete list. (Photos to follow)
Cell Phones
We carry two identical cell phones each with their own number. We also carry a spare battery that fits either phone as well as both a 12 volt car charger and the traditional wall charger. We typically travel with the cell phones turned off for two reasons:
1) We don't want to run down the battery and,
2) We don't want to be interrupted during Road Trip Time.
Ham Radio
We carry a 2 meter handheld with a special antenna. In our tests, we've been able to reach out 70 miles (line-of-sight) with this antenna. We always check to see which is the nearest HAM repeater and program teh frequency into our handheld.
CB Radio
This is a classic portable 1978 CB radio that clips to the car battery for its power. We've never had to use it but we figure it can't hurt to carry it.
Netbook computer
We carry a little Windows 7 netbook PC that has one gig of RAM and maybe a hundred gigs of storage space. It's perfect for checking email and weather and looking at our photos. It is also set up to receive data from our GPS.
Garmin 60CSX GPS
This unit rides in a special carrier on our windshield. It collects track and waypoints data which we download onto Google Earth and Google Maps.
GoPro Hero2 helmet camera
This unit now rides as a hood ornament. We're are learning how to take time lapse photos and convert them pictures into a YouTube video
Digital cameras
We carry three digital cameras. We each have a small "point & shoot" camera and we also carry an old Fuji with a 15x optical zoom and a great panorama feature.
Video camcorder
We carry a real nice video camera for interviews and capturing specific scenes that can be made into videos to support the goals and objectives of any given Road Trip.
Digital voice recorder
There's NOTHING better for making Road Trip notes than a digital voice recorder. They simply can't be beat.
Digital laser thermometer
The point & shoot thermometer is very useful for checking "real" engine temperatures when we suspect the vehicle might be overheating. We've learned the temperature gauge might not be an accurate indicator of "real" engine temps. The digital non-contact thermometer settles the issue once and for all.
Digital atomic clock
We like knowing what time it is when we are sleeping. This little lighted clock goes everywhere we go.
CO Detector
If we are staying in a motel, we will take our carbon monoxide detector as a safeguard.
LED flashlights
We carry a variety of LED handheld and headlamp-style LED flashlights as well as lot sof spare AA & AAA batteries for them and the various items above.
OPTIONAL:
XM Radio
Depending on the length and location of the Road Trip, we may take out portable XM Radio outfit. It all fits into a plastic shoe box and comes in real handy during longer Road Trips.
Our Electronic Wish List
- Digital Tire Gauge
- Small portable computer scanner
- Electronic range finder
- Better vehicle sound system
The biggest key to happy and successful use of such a bewildering array of electronics on a Road Trip is to have a safe storage plan for each item; to make sure all batteries are charged and to remember where everything is stowed.
Back Road Rig
Below are 26 photos showing most of the basic stuff that we stuff into SuziQ, our 1988.5 Suzuki Samurai Back Road Rig.
Road Trip Ahead
(Editor's Note: This blog post first appears on our main blog.)
Susun and I have had a particular item on our bucket list for a long time--driving from Jerome through Perkinsville to spend a night in Williams and then driving back along the same route. A map of the route is below. Last time I drove that road all the way to Williams was more than 20 years ago in the late fall of 1992. That's back where there was serious talk about making it a real highway. I was riding in a van load of elected officials, politicians and Chamber of Commerce types. I did my best to talk about the "value" of that road and how keeping it the way it was would be a good idea.
As Loyal Blog Readers know, we had just ran in the 1992 election for Yavapai County Supervisor, specifically to attempt to keep Carlton Camp in office by taking votes away from his newly independent opponent Mister Tommy. As I recall, we rec'd around 5,000 votes and it was just enough to tip the balance to Carlton. Carlton was very well aware of what we did so he was very agreeable to listening to what I had to say during that road trip in December 1992. Carlton listened well enough to basically forget about putting the county behind the idea of improving that road beyond what it was then and continues to be today.
Ever since then we've talked about doing the drive again and the years keep on slipping past us. Honestly, it's pretty hard to believe it's been 20 years since we drove the road. Strange how time plays its tricks, eh?
Anyway, we dutifully put it on our Year 2013 Bucket List. Well, we woke up today and started thinking, "Why Not?" "Let's just do that road this week, what do you say?" Susun was "all in" for the idea right away. She didn't even hesitate.
I did some checking into various lodging facilities in Williams and discovered some fun news about a 1950 Route 66 relic motel called "The Highlander." Click here to go to the motel's website. A 1954 postcard of the place is shown below the map graphic. A Belgium couple bought the motel in 2011 and are restoring it for those of us who love "all things retro." Now we are looking forward to both the "up and back" road trip and also to talking with the new owners to learn their story. For all of us who go way back with Williams, this has potential to be an intriguing story in its own right.
We are also going to use this trip to take our GoPro Hero2 camera to another level. You may recall when we did the time lapse YouTube video of the walk around the Old Field on Montezuma Well National Monument in front of our house. Well, we've been watching as the GoPro segues from "hey, look at me" stuff into a piece of technology especially useful for documenting vehicle and bicycle road and trail trips.
So, that's going to be a new fun thing to test out.
We're planning on taking our time on this trip so that we can photograph each aspect of the trip. Those are our plans and you know how plans change. It will be interesting to see how it all shakes out in reality this week. It looks like the weather is cooperating and we are leaving behind the Arctic deep freeze and moving back to normal January Arizona weather. By our return trip Thursday, the weather ought to be shirtsleeve and delightful.
Susun and I have had a particular item on our bucket list for a long time--driving from Jerome through Perkinsville to spend a night in Williams and then driving back along the same route. A map of the route is below. Last time I drove that road all the way to Williams was more than 20 years ago in the late fall of 1992. That's back where there was serious talk about making it a real highway. I was riding in a van load of elected officials, politicians and Chamber of Commerce types. I did my best to talk about the "value" of that road and how keeping it the way it was would be a good idea.
As Loyal Blog Readers know, we had just ran in the 1992 election for Yavapai County Supervisor, specifically to attempt to keep Carlton Camp in office by taking votes away from his newly independent opponent Mister Tommy. As I recall, we rec'd around 5,000 votes and it was just enough to tip the balance to Carlton. Carlton was very well aware of what we did so he was very agreeable to listening to what I had to say during that road trip in December 1992. Carlton listened well enough to basically forget about putting the county behind the idea of improving that road beyond what it was then and continues to be today.
Ever since then we've talked about doing the drive again and the years keep on slipping past us. Honestly, it's pretty hard to believe it's been 20 years since we drove the road. Strange how time plays its tricks, eh?
Anyway, we dutifully put it on our Year 2013 Bucket List. Well, we woke up today and started thinking, "Why Not?" "Let's just do that road this week, what do you say?" Susun was "all in" for the idea right away. She didn't even hesitate.
I did some checking into various lodging facilities in Williams and discovered some fun news about a 1950 Route 66 relic motel called "The Highlander." Click here to go to the motel's website. A 1954 postcard of the place is shown below the map graphic. A Belgium couple bought the motel in 2011 and are restoring it for those of us who love "all things retro." Now we are looking forward to both the "up and back" road trip and also to talking with the new owners to learn their story. For all of us who go way back with Williams, this has potential to be an intriguing story in its own right.
We are also going to use this trip to take our GoPro Hero2 camera to another level. You may recall when we did the time lapse YouTube video of the walk around the Old Field on Montezuma Well National Monument in front of our house. Well, we've been watching as the GoPro segues from "hey, look at me" stuff into a piece of technology especially useful for documenting vehicle and bicycle road and trail trips.
So, that's going to be a new fun thing to test out.
We're planning on taking our time on this trip so that we can photograph each aspect of the trip. Those are our plans and you know how plans change. It will be interesting to see how it all shakes out in reality this week. It looks like the weather is cooperating and we are leaving behind the Arctic deep freeze and moving back to normal January Arizona weather. By our return trip Thursday, the weather ought to be shirtsleeve and delightful.
Road Trip Time Reborn
We did an extreme makeover on a dormant blog and now we have a great address and a great name that's perfect for our new attitude and approach to describing our Road Trips. As the description says, "We Love Road Trips!"
Whereas in the past, we have tended to blend our Road Trips into our main blog or perhaps a blog dedicated to another purpose, this blog is all Road Trips all the time. When we head out on the highway, we're on Road Trip Time!
This blog was actually started four years ago in January 2009! There were a lot of posts here are are not remotely relevant. Therefor, all of the previous posts on the former blog here have been put on ice. We've wiped our slate clean here and we're ready to rock out tomorrow on our first Road Trip of Year 2013--Jerome to Williams and back via Perkinsville. Yea! We can't hardly wait.
Whereas in the past, we have tended to blend our Road Trips into our main blog or perhaps a blog dedicated to another purpose, this blog is all Road Trips all the time. When we head out on the highway, we're on Road Trip Time!
This blog was actually started four years ago in January 2009! There were a lot of posts here are are not remotely relevant. Therefor, all of the previous posts on the former blog here have been put on ice. We've wiped our slate clean here and we're ready to rock out tomorrow on our first Road Trip of Year 2013--Jerome to Williams and back via Perkinsville. Yea! We can't hardly wait.
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