This year was a little different. We included the Pharoah's Scooter Club in the planning and operation of Mummy Mayhem so we could get a bigger turnout. It worked, too! Certain reports claim around 40 scooters attended!!
The rally began with a meet-and-greet at the Bikini Lounge in Phoenix on Thursday night. I didn't make it. More on that later. Friday morning we met at the 4 Peaks Brewery in Mesa and pretty much took up the whole block then rode down Main Street/Apache Trail (depending on which city you are in...same road, though) east to where it joined with Hwy 60 east. Then we just stayed on that through Apache Junction, Superior, Miami and finally, Globe, AZ. Splendid ride. Then we were led down numerous side roads until we came to dirt. Did we stop there? HELL NO!!! A couple more miles down the dirt roads...one resembled an moderately unused creek-bed to the campsite. The next day was a ride north on Hwys 188 and 288 to the Salt River for tomfoolery then back to Miami where we drowned a cafe in a sea of black Mummy Mayhem t-shirts a frivolity. Back to the campsite for more tomfoolery and jackassery. Sunday morning saw everybody packing up and heading home. This is just the start...details to follow...
Okay, some details as promised. I left Cottonwood at about noonish on Thursday and pointed the scooter uphill towards Mingus Mountain again. Over the hill, down into Prescott, THROUGH Prescott and down through Wilhoit, Peeples Valley, Yarnell, Congress and finally Wickenburg where I finally fueled up. 73 miles per gallon. Cool! Blasted out of Wickenburg and onto Hwy 60, then the Carefree Hwy. then south on Lake Pleasant Road to Bell road. East to 87th and south to Jes' Jim's house. I met the lovely Carole there and she allowed me to offload my gear (I would be spending the night) and I hit the road again. East to the Loop 101 East and all the way across the north end of Phoenix and through Scottsdale then south to Hwy 60 again. I took that to...well, the PLAN was to find Higley and go south to Guadalupe where I would meet the beautiful and enchanting Joni for my first foray into sushi eating.
Well, about a quarter mile from the exit my rear tires lost its air. I ended up walking/pushing it about 3 miles to the sushi place. I went in and washed my hands and joined Joni for dinner. And a FABulous dinner it was!! I particularly enjoyed the mussels!
The sushi place was right next to a Checker Auto Parts store and it was about 8 o'clock when we finished dinner. Walked over to Checkers, fully expecting them to be open since the one in Cottonwood is open until 9. Nope. Closed. So we climbed in Joni's car and went to a local Walgreens and got a can of Fix-a-flat. Squirted it in the tire and discovered the problem was (once again) the stinkin' valve-stem. Crap. Time for a drink. So we went to Molly Branigan's and Joni enjoyed a couple Irish Coffees while I sipped a single-malt scotch. I called Jes' Jim who recommended I call Damn Dirty Dave at the meet and greet, so I did. Just so happened DDDave had a rear wheel from a crashed (multiple times...including one requiring a helicopter ride) Honda Elite 250 that would fit. I told him I had the required tools and he sent the wheel and tire down to me with Jes' Jim in his Volvo station wagon. Yes, this IS an important fact.
Jim showed up and I pulled out my tools and discovered the bolts I needed to remove had been put on with an air wrench and my little open-end wrenches just slipped on them. I, in fact, did NOT have the required tools. Now what???
We decided to put the Helix in the back of Jim's station wagon. Don't let ANYone tell you it can't be done...it CAN!! Well, the Volvo was Miss Carole's and Jim didn't want to soil the carpet and out of the depths of her trunk Joni produced a big piece of plywood. PERFECT!!! Then, the problem was the centerstand digging into the carpet. Joni produced two pillows! Okay...we were set. Closed the rear hatch. Oops...no rope to tie it down. Nope, no bungies either. Joni produced a dog leash that worked perfectly!!
I hugged Joni and we were on our way. Jim suggested Joni needed a scooter to ride with us since she's such a resourceful lass and I told him her daughter has one. AND her son-in-law. He looked at me curiously. I said, "You know them, too...Sammy (Hot Tomato) and her new husband Tryg!!!" I was seriously chastized for not introducing her as such.
We showed up at the meet-and -greet where DDDave had the needed tools and I replaced the rear tire on my scooter in the parking lot at about midnight and we all headed to our respective places for needed rest.
Up early the next morning...Jim and I loaded the scooters with our gear and took off for DDDave and Sandy's place. Showed up in plenty of time to watch DDDave finish putting the engine from his Vespa Sprint into Sandy's scooter. He'd just started the night before!! We got the van loaded with everyone's camping gear and got ready to leave. There were a total of 6 scooters that rode from there to the 4 Peaks Brewery where we were to meet the Pharoahs and the rest of the Scarabs. We had a great time at the Brewery meeting new friends, shaking hands with old friends who we only get to see once or twice a year. Finally, everybody loaded up and headed out. We followed Main Street/Apache Trail (depending on where you are...) through Mesa and all the way out to where it meets up with Hwy 60. Nice little urban ride. Lots of stares at 30-some motorscooters in one group! Once onto 60, we could open them up and well, for motorscooters, fly! Between 55 and 65 mph was the average. GREAT ride. The highway begins as a regular 4-lane, quickly narrowing to a rural 2-lane highway. It courses through the mesquite and sagebrush in the east end of the Valley of the Sunstroke and gradually begins rolling over hills and on into the town of Superior. From Superior to Miami the highway becomes more of a two-lane mountain road with a pretty good climb. All the scooters did very well...no breakdowns and not even much 'holding-up-of-traffic'. Fabulous ride! We cruised through Miami and on into Globe where we hooked a left into downtown Globe, AZ. Some of you might not have recognized it as a downtown area, but those of us from small towns did. All the way through town we rode until we reached a road (I could never find again) that branched off to the right. We followed that, making a few other turns as we went, some 4 or 5 miles back...on both paved and unpaved roads to our campground where we met up with some of our Pharoah buddies who had driven out from Albuquerque that morning. More hand shaking and beer tipping and camp-site set-up commenced. Good times, good times...
