Havasu 500?
Thursday, December 1, 2022 at 11:12AM Three Amigos and #33
Thanksgiving is over and I had to think back a couple of weeks to my last ride with a group of friends that make me truly Thankful. It started out as a wanna be backpack style Baja ride without all the drama of border crossings, money exchange, language barriers and gathering logistics.
I invited three solid guys, well two and Recon to go on the trip to make it easy on myself as I seem to end up being the coordinator, trip planner, spare parts guy, spare gas guy with the monster fuel tank and cheer leader, lol.
I made good choices! Bruce ‘The Bomber’, Don aka ‘Recon’, Buck of SBB Suspension fame aka ‘Buckmeister’ and me/#33. We met up at my house with a projected start time of 0800 hrs. Since it was a small group and all Great guys it was just a target time. I never intended this trip to be everything set in stone to the minute, always takes the fun out of it if someone tries to run it like that. Lo and behold everyone was excited and early. Perfect! I was thinking we were going to be kick stands up at 0800, Wow. Dumbass……. What about safety briefing, pictures, etc. Lucky for me Mrs. Buckmeister and Mrs. #33 said we had to all get in the group photo. Thanks Marcie and Cheryl for reminding me.
Once we got our roll on we made some pretty good time just meandering out of town and heading out into the desert bound for our first night stay in a small town called Salome. That was until we stopped for one of our first on the trail pics of a giant spider placed in the desert by most likely Jeepers. That’s when Recon says, ‘I am leaking a little gas’. Fuel injected bike so it should not be leaking any gas! 18 miles in and I am already crossing my fingers, lol. The Buckmeister our resident mechanic on the trip takes a look and doesn’t seem too concerned. Maybe overflow from the tank because we started out topped off. So because it is early in our trip we decide to investigate because we are still only 45 minutes in and can return for any parts or even another fuel tank if necessary. Bomber, Buck and Recon begin to disassemble Recons bike while I stay out of the way, too many cooks spoil the soup thinking.
They get the tank off and Buckmeister discovers that after running the fuel tank on many thousands of miles of trail riding it has developed a wear spot where the rubber mounting grommet rubs the tank. Just beginning to leak, hmmm. Now Recon has to decide, ride and take his chances, go back to get a stock tank or attempt to patch it and see what shakes out over the next four days. Hey we are still in the USA and not stuck in Baja so let’s patch and roll. We can always call for a rescue ride. Recon decides to Live on the Edge (LOTE) we begin to siphon gas into the other bikes to drop his fuel level then patch with our always ready Qwik Steel putty. Repair complete and we are back on the trail without seeing any leaks, so far.
We took a route I rarely use because there is a water crossing I am never sure of the depth and I ride a lot alone so I usually don’t risk it.
When we get there it seems to be low enough to attempt, so I wade in knowing that if I get stuck or drown out the others HAVE to rescue me because they don’t know the route! Lol. I am not the sharpest knife in the drawer but not so dumb as to not have a contingency plan. The fellas were that contingency plan! Viola! No problem the water is no more than foot peg deep at the deepest spot. Once I got across and stopped I realized what a great spot to take a break, have a snack as it was now almost mid-day. We had covered enough miles now to put the gas from our bikes back into Recon’s bike. The low spot in the creek worked well for lowering his bike to siphon.
Back on the trail and we made our way to Salome via Cottonwood pass, maybe 3000 ft. elevation. I had only been over it once a few years ago so I was finding it again as we went. I forgot it was like an Endurocross on the way up. Lots of rocks and boulders on the climb. I thought it was perfect. When we got to the top a couple of the boyz commented on how rocky is was. I live in the area so I almost didn’t notice.
It was cooling off and the breeze was coming up as we reached the top, quick stop for pics and nature break and we were on our way down to Salome. The motel was new to me as I had never stayed there before. That is always a gamble! It turned out to be a great little place, Stanford Inn, with a restaurant and bar. Good thing because there is nothing else close enough to walk to. The restaurant closed at 2pm but the lady said we could order food in the bar. The lady checking us in was a very nice woman, I am not used to that whenever I arrive on off road bikes. Friendly and helpful. She gave us our two rooms and she must have known our group! The rooms were theme rooms and assignment was perfect. Buckmeister and #33 got the MOTO room, I kid you not! It had everything moto as décor. Awesome.
Recon and Bomber got the Cowboy décor room, Buck and I were cracking up and quickly said it looked a little too Brokeback Mountainish for us, Just sayin’. They were nice rooms and had the connecting door so it became an oversize double suite. It was lucky for us because our satellite for TV was not working, so we could listen to whatever Recon and Bomber were watching. Ahh, almost like Baja.
Day 2 we were leaving with slight mist/rain in the air heading back over Tank Pass. It had rained overnight and gave the desert a decent soaking, how lucky for us. The dust had been put on hold for a while. Day 2 ride was going to be perfect, great roads, sand washes and a few sights along the way. Recon’s tank was holding so we covered some ground to Wikkieup for food and fuel. Our buddy Montana John rode his dual sport XR 650L over to meet us for lunch, since it is only about 180-mile round trip for him. Lucky for Recon because he borrowed a sweatshirt from M.J. with our overcast drizzly day being cooler than expected. He probably owes M.J. lunch! We burned from lunch and headed into the Hualapai mtn range. More elevation meant more cold weather. Very fun riding and commute with sights, jeep roads and old abandoned ranches, mines and such. We stopped at the Borianna mine to see the Koi or Oversize Goldfish whatever they are. Those fish are always there and I have no idea why they survive at a pond near an abandoned mine. As we progressed in elevation to about 7000 ft. it got colder. Then we hit the snow. It was getting late in the day so my idea of exploring the canyons down one side of the Hualapai range to the old Mansion got scrapped as we got short on time and colder by the minute. The shortest route to the Lodge at the top of the mountain had the most snow! We rode on a snow covered two track with no tracks, fresh fallen snow. Beautiful in pics but miserable on our lightly protected fingers. When we finally got to the lodge and were about to head downhill toward the motel I stopped to ask if anyone wanted to go into the lodge to warm up for a minute. Immediately everyone was in agreement and I was relieved I was not the only girlie man in the group. We stopped and had a cup of hot chocolate, mostly so we could hang around inside and wrap our fingers around a hot mug of something! With our fingers slightly thawed we headed downhill to our motel in Kingman. It was chosen due to the historic nature and the proximity to a steakhouse!
The man at check in was happy to see us and loves to give a speech when you check in, which was nice but with everyone standing inside to get out of the cold he surmises he had an eager audience. He didn’t realize no one wanted to wait outside in the cold. So I tried to be patient and attentive while he droned on, he really did have some good info but not enough to keep the cold boyz behind me paying attention. I heard the fellas start to talk behind me and the man quit speaking until they stopped and payed attention. I found it quite amusing because it happened a couple of times. Funny! We got our keys and headed to our rooms eager for a hot shower. The shower was not hot, not warm, but it wasn’t cold. The only one to man up was Buck. He REALLY must have wanted a shower! I could only muster a sponge bath, but I am a cold weather sissy. We had dinner at a nice steakhouse, Dambar & Steak House.
Day 3 had us headed over to Laughlin, Nevada. It was very cold that morning and no one was in a hurry to roll in mid-30-degree weather. So we took our time meandered down the street for gas, pics and a nice long breakfast while it warmed up. Good plan, but when we finally got going it was still not much into the 50-degree range. Once we got into the off road part for the day it was fantastic! It was like the water truck had been on all the trails in front of us. It was so much fun we could have just stayed in those hills and explored all day with perfect traction. The views were exceptional from the peaks and we did some exploring. We came across the infamous Panty Tree and after the Bomber’s Pole Dance we were on our way to Christmas tree pass. Scenic ride and return on some singletrack trail to the designated riding area with miles of canyons and trails on ridges and many sand washes. We made it to our motel in Laughlin and everyone was ready for that HOT shower! I tried to run the hot water out but started to shrivel up, so I gave up. Then on to dinner. That turned into a comedy! No one wanted to pick the eating place so we meandered down the boulevard, in cold night air while discussing where to eat. After walking up and back we ended up eating in the Motel casino where we were staying! Good thing I like these guys or I would have ditched them for making me walk out in the cold. Did I mention I am a cold weather sissy? Good restaurant in the casino with food maybe 100 yds. away. After dinner Recon and I decided to LOTE and stopped at a slot machine, we walked away with $10 extra to split between us! Living On The Edge!
Day 4 had us up and headed home on our final day because Buck still had to drive home to make a wedding the next day. So we took the shortest route home by dirt roads, 2 lane back road and dirt trails all mixed in. We stopped in Golden shores at a nice small restaurant for breakfast and for the Bomber to get a cup of coffee. The only coffee drinker in the group. No hurry and a nice leisurely pace to get home. As we entered Havasu the Bomber peeled off and headed for the trailerhood. Then as we neared my house Recon peeled off and headed for home with a wave. Buckmeister and I rolled into the Garage Mahal and were met with cheers and smiling faces from Marcie and Cheryl. Oh yeah and I had to wait while they got finish line photos! This just might be better than Baja!
After getting news that our buddy Doug aka ‘Senor Kirby’ was in the hospital with vertigo complications we thought the Havasu 500 may be renamed the “Senor Kirby 500” and become an annual event. Let’s hope so!
‘it’s not about the ride, it’s the people you ride with’
#33
Reader Comments (2)
If I'm ever lucky enough to ride a dirt bike again, there are now two rides I'd like to do. The first is to ride my 250 dual sport bike in the mountains out of Nevada City and the other is the "Senior Kirby 500". I would love to do a Baja themed ride in #33's area. And as Eric said not deal with the hassle of Baja, although I must admit that was part of the mystery of it all.
Doug 21J AKA Senior Kirby
If I'm ever lucky enough to ride a dirt bike again, there are now two rides I'd like to do. The first is to ride my 250 dual sport bike in the mountains out of Nevada City and the other is the "Senior Kirby 500". I would love to do a Baja themed ride in #33's area. And as Eric said not deal with the hassle of Baja, although I must admit that was part of the mystery of it all.
Doug 21J AKA Senior Kirby