Day 5 - The Finish!!

We were on the road by 8am, refreshed and ready for the challenge of 60 miles of the Coronado Trail Scenic Byway SR 191.

Nogales, AZ

This is the only road that had its name changed by the Bible.  Formerly known as US 666 and nicknamed "The Devil's Highway", the route was renamed to US 191 in 1992.   Our challenge for today is 332 mi, 2 check points, and surviving the sheer slopes with narrow shoulders and no guardrails, 400 twisting curves and switchbacks, and ending at the Morenci coppermine in the Sonoran desert. This road is noted as the least traveled road in the continent.

We made it!!

The views along 191 were spectacular but really couldn't take our eyes off the road for very long, lots of switchbacks, turns, gravel and uneven road. Nothing slows you down like seeing a motorcycle accident and unfortunately we came upon 3 of them, all 3 Flaggers. The one that made our heart drop was coming upon the Gold Wing of Betty's (yesterday blog) on it side, up an embankment and her laying on a stretcher awaiting the helicopter. Thankfully we now know her injuries were only severe facial cuts because she hit the windshield wearing a half helmet. Full face helmet would have left her unscathed. After two hours of careens up and down the "The Devil's Highway" we made it to Clifton, got gas gathered our wits and then headed to Nogales, AZ.   On the way we experienced a favorite (haha) insect migration, highway polka dot stained with grasshoppers that didn't quite make it across, the stench was gross, we thanked our lucky stars the migration was a week ago and not today. There were still a few making the crossing. We then enjoyed more of Arizona's spectacular changing weather; lightning, thunder showers and then sunshine.  In Nogales we bought gas and ensured we got our original printed receipt to prove we made to Nogales.  One more stop at the border check, answering the question "Are you a US Citizen"?  (they had a dog sniffing all vehicles for drugs) We pulled into our final checkpoint the DoubleTree Reid Park at 6pm to see many other bikes, it was very exciting. We received a packet of goodies, including a set of 3 EBags, Tshirt, cap, belt buckle, plaque, stickers, patch & pin, dinner & breakfast coupons, it was a rush. Maggy & Linda now feel like a part of the 3 Flag Family with a huge sense of accomplishment for having completed this event and plan to do more. Also very exciting for Sue & D2 to have completed their 5th 3 Flags Rally. High Fives All Around! 

Day 4 - 24 hrs to the Finish

riding thru golden fields

• check pt 3

The day started off at 73 degrees and it was a beautiful morning.  We got on SR60 towards Springerville and all fell into formation and got into a good rythm.   We had great views of yellow mustard fields and cholla castus aka jumping castus.  We got gas in Datil at an eclectic store and of course Maggy had to buy some earings made by a local Native American women.  It's elk hunting season and everywhere you stop there are men dressed in camo.  The 3rd 3flags checkpoint was sponsored by the South Coast BMW Club and was in Springerville, AZ.  Today we met up with alot of other riders.One of the pictures you see is Maggy talking to Betty M., she is a 84 yr old GoldWing rider who is an avid 3 Flags & 4 Corners participant. Tonight we at at a lodge south of Alpine and at the top of Devil's Highway that we will take on in the morning. It's suppose to be 60 miles and 433 turns, hmm, we'll see. This lodge was perfect for tonight, we got in early, and had couple hours to relax on the big front porch, across the highway is a huge meadow, we're in the big trees now. Had a family style dinner and spent 2 hours talking to 2 other 3 flaggers from BC, that we met in Regina & just so happened to book a cabin here. Really nice guys, bought a BMW from David not too long ago, small world. Looks like lots of rain and thunder storms in the desert tomorrow. Oh well what's a girl to do but ride.

Day 3 From the Mountains to the Desert

We survived the gravel!!

We rode out all bundled up at 40 degrees and 30 miles later it was 50 degrees and then 22 more miles of construction. We rode through Leadville, which is at 10,000 feet and a very adorable town.  The canyons out of Leadville were spectacular. Colorado has some of the most spectacular mountain scenery. The 3rd checkpoint was at the Taos Monte Bello RV Park in Taos, NM.  It was supported by a member of the SCMA club. They were very friendly and again had everything you would need to hydrate and replenish your hunger. But the road into the RV park was gravel!! Sue & DeeDee turned left and up the gravel road,  Maggy followed but got very squirrelly, and fishtailed her way to the top, Linda was cautiously following in total panic! But nobody went down!! We had lunch at the checkpt and headed out on BlueBerry Hill which was a cut around Taos, Sunday in Taos on a holiday is no place for motorcycles trying to make good time. It was now really getting warm as we headed through Santa Fe and into Albq. We're trying to remember how darn cold it was at the top of the Road to the Sun in Glacier and bring back some cold air but ...not happening! We're in for the night in Albq. Tomorrow is short but warm heading into Arizona. =

Day 2 Another Long Day

A plane passing by as we got gas

Virga clouds

We were up at 5:30 and on the road by 7:30.  Dee Dee led us out of Gillette and on both sides of the road were lots of antelope luckily they stayed away from the road.  As we headed out after lunch we notice there was looming black cloud with virga coming down in a number of places.  The 2nd checkpoint was at the American Best Value Inn in Craig, CO operated by the local Harly club. Providing cold drinks, fresh fruit, and lots of sugary foods.  We noticed that we crossed the Colorado river twice in "COLORADO"  and we also crossed the Continental Divide twice.  As we started getting into Colorado it became more greener, more trees. We had 10 more miles of construction continuing to hone our dirtbike skills. By our opinion we certain that Wyoming's state budget is generated by traffic ticket revenue.  "But we managed not to contribute to their revenue."

Day 1-Fri 9/3 -GO!!

We set 3 alarms just to be sure. Few minutes before 3:30 Sue woke up and then the alarms started, hehe, we were up and getting dressed, eating our morning snacks to hold us over, down to the bikes by 4am to move them out of the underground garage to the street so we wouldn't get caught in the rush. Maggy then discovered she'd misplaced her start card, which has to be turned in before you can take off.  The panic started as we rummaged thru her bags and DeeDee found it. Went in for the riders meeting at 4:30 which didn't happen til 4:50, tension rising, getting nervous, and excited, they gave us the final details and started collecting start cards, now the race to the bikes, dark outside, roads clear except for us. On the bikes and away we go. Some ahead some behind some not leaving yet, we jump on hwy 6 heading to the border. We are amped up now. Made it to the border, about 20 bikes back, one by one, it took us 30min to get to the front of the line, by the time we left there must have been 100 bikes lined up, wow. We rode like the wind, fun to see so many other bikes everywhere all day long, knowing they were all doing the same thing. We rode and rode and rode. Finally getting to Deadwood, SD for the first checkpoint was a rush. Lots of bikes and storytelling going on. They had all kinds of snacks for us but no time to linger we still had 100 miles before we were in for the night. Exhausted but feeling very accomplished we had a great dinner at 7pm showered. organinzed for the next morning and fell to sleep immediately. One province, 2 countries, 3 states, 643 mi, made it safely. gogogogo More later, we're having to catch up as we have more evening time. By for now.

at the border

Getting Ready

gettimg mc ready

pasting our pictures in our 3flags passports

Tomorow's the big day, so today we're getting ready!!  We slept in, did laundry, cleaned, and TCLOCS'd out mc.and chased down parts for Sue's motorcycle.  She's down and out again (the two headlight mounting bolts fell out) and now Hi-O-Silver is back in the pole position.  We checked in, signed waivers, got our pictures taken for our 3 flags passports (which we present at each checkpoint to get the official stamp to prove our participation).  Everyone is completely impressed with our wearing the Red BMW Motorrad t-shirts and even more impressed that we are all riders.  We are packed, our mc are loaded, and we are sleeping with our boots,  and ready for the 3:30 am Tom Bodet phone call, the 4:30 am rider's meeting and the 5:00 am start!!!

We are overly excited, nervous and anxious!!!

Lethbridge, Alberta to Regina, Saskatchewan

Motorrad Girls

We awoke to wind but no rain, yippee! The skys were threatening so on with the rain gear and cold enough for electrics again. As we got out on the road you could see the horizon for 360 dgrees, it was amazing how flat it was. But there is something so striking about the countryside in Alberta and Saskatchewan, it goes for as far as the eye can see and is all planted or in some stage of harvest. Farms are 1000's of acres. Alberta has the cattle but Saskatchewan has the grains and corn galore. A little town of Taber had signs up saying world tastiest corn and a corn tasting contest. The roads we were on today were flat, wide, kinda of freeway like, in excllent condition with perfectly manicured shoulders. Hm, crossed my mind, how could all roads in Canada be mown on the same day. I know strange thoughts, but even as beautiful as the countryside was, it got very boring, strange that we looked forward to road repair zones just for some change. Always a little confusing to get used to kilometers, thank goodness our speedometer are little conversion charts. Top speeds on these roads is 110km so about 65mph. We had lunch in the little town of Herbert. It was classic, restaurant in an old gas station, we walked in, there was a long table of 20+ senior men drinking coffee, shooting the breeze on the other side was a long table with 6 senior women having coffee and chatting. It was obvious when we walked in we created quite the stir. We sat at the table with the ladies and chatted for awhile, it was fun. We have noticed the Canadians are so friendly, where ever we go they are so helpful. We pushed on, Sue found a great cut around Medicine Hat so we missed rush hour traffic there and eventually rolled into Regina. Found the hotel easily and checked in. Probably 100 bikes here so far. The official registration doesn't open until noon Thursday. The excitement has started though. Lots of questions, wondering how they are going to start us off Friday morning. All we know is a 5am shotgun start. The parking is underground with one exit on an incline that opens when a vehicle approaches, hmm, stay tuned to that chaos. Hoping we can move our bikes out onto the street before we take off. We'll see........these are the little details that get the adrenalin pumping.