Anyway, I had forgotten whether my delivery time Monday morning (for my day job) was 5 a.m. or 6 a.m., so after church and breakfast I figured I'd fire the Buddy up and run up to the terminal to check. To my surprise, Ski said she wanted to go too! On her scooter! So we did. My terminal is in Clarkdale, about 5 miles below Jerome and about 5 miles from home. We motored on up to Clarkdale and Ski had just the biggest grin on her face. "Forgot how much fun it is, didn't you?" I yelled over the wind. She just nodded.
I checked my schedule and left the terminal, pulling up to a 4-way stop about a mile down the road. While at the stop, Ski suggested an excursion to Jerome and of course, I NEVER turn down a ride, so we turned right and headed up the hill. Ski was impressed with the power and speed the Buddy displayed, but she'd still get that evil grin on her face, goose the Helix and leave me in the dust. She likes doing that. We circled the town a time or two, receiving looks of derision from all the Harley riders. Like I care. How many of them put over a thousand miles on their new bike in less than three weeks, like I did mine? And how many of them are actually passionate enough about their bikes to have a restoration project in their garage? Off my soapbox, now. We parked in one of the lower parking lots and walked to a little shop Ski had spied. She's in the market for a Halloween costume and this shop had several she was interested in. I kinda liked the "Woodland Nymph" costume, but nobody asked me. The shop is built in a building that in the early part of the century was a brothel. They have all kinds of memorabilia from both the era and the business. Fun to look at. However, it was a small shop and more than about 4 people just didn't fit, so I wandered across the street to a shop specializing in outdoorsy/hiking kind of stuff. Found some saddlebags might fit the scooter.
They didn't have Ski's size, so we hopped on the scooters again and headed down the hill to Cottonwood where we stopped at the American Legion. I'm a member there, but since I don't drink, I very seldom go there. They had a 2 piece country band there giving the World War II and Korean War era vets something to dance to. They were having a fine time. Ski marvelled at two dollar cocktails. I drank coffee and gazed wistfully out the window at the neglected scooters.
We left the Legion and Ski suggested we go down Cornville Road, which has a couple of spots where the curves are entertaining. We got into Cornville where I led us to Page Springs Road which (more or less) connects Cornville with Hwy 89A heading into Sedona. It is a beautiful ride of about 8 miles alongside the Verde River. Nice, tight corners; shady trees overhead. At the stop sign where Page Springs Road intersects 89A, I asked Ski if she wanted to to home or to Sedona. Sedona, it was!
With the Buddy hitting speeds of 65+ mph and the Helix displaying vulgar amounts of power up to 75 mph, we cruised into West Sedona. We enjoyed a pleasant ride through town to the "Y" where 89A connects with Hwy 179 south towards the Village of Oak Creek. Nice, windy road through the red rocks for about 5 miles. We rode through VOC to Beaverhead Flats Road and turned right. Good pavement, fast sweepers. This empties out onto Cornville Road, where we turned right again, rode through Cornville and went on home.
All in all, about 2 1/2 to 3 hours and about 70 miles. What a great, relaxing, enjoyable afternoon with my wife. I highly recommend it as couples therapy.
C-ya later...ride on!
Dr. Keys
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