Day 4- Amarillo to Hinton

What a great day of riding!  This morning started a little later than we had hoped.  I don’t think we even started to wake up until about 8:30.  We started off by going backwards.  Last night we drove right past the “world-famous” Cadillac Ranch.  This is a spot just west of Amarillo where some dude planted a row of Cadillacs.  There are dozens of cans of spray paint out here and people simple add whatever they want to the design each day.

Due to the risk of bad weather, we started off by hitting I-40 for a bit.  But shortly, we got onto some very good secondary highways and headed a bit north to Pampa.  The plains were beautiful. After several hours of riding across the plains of the Texas Panhandle, we entered Oklahoma and noticed immediately that the dirt was red.  It’s strange how quickly the change is evident.  It’s almost like the state passed a law and all OK soil was painted to match.  So odd…

We drove across OK to Elk City to the Rt. 66 Museum, and then on to Hinton where we had dinner with our family.

A little bit of Rt 66 (and too much I-40)

We had a wonderful time on our 3rd day on route to Chicago.  We started with a great morning at the Beck’s house.  Their eldest son is so creative and sweet…he stayed up until we arrived (about 10pm) because he had made the house into a hotel for us.  Mark and I were staying in his and his brother’s rooms.  He had made little key readers and posted them on the doors and gave each of us these nice little keys.  He had planned on treating us as guests and letting us check in.

However, it didn’t quite work out that way.  When we got the Beck’s last night, I noticed a flashing “Key” icon on my bike.  It took me a minute to figure it out.  The light meant that the security fob was not within 6 ft of the bike.  DOH!  I checked all my pockets and I didn’t have the key. (These Harleys have a strange mechanism where you use the key to lock/unlock the bike, but it’s not necessary to keep the bike running. One of them has a special security feature that requires the key fob be within 6 ft of the bike for it to start.)  We unloaded the bikes, got into the car, and drove back to El Pinto worried sick that I wouldn’t find them.  Of course, the HD guy told us before we left… “Whatever you do, don’t lose these keys.  It will take us a couple of days to get them to you.”  Gheesh.

Thankfully, we found them in the parking lot right where we had parked.  I don’t know if I left them in my saddle bags, or missed my pocket.  What a relief!  By the time we got back with the keys, the kids were asleep.

So the hotel manager greeted us this morning to check our keys.

 

 

Then we loaded up the bikes and the three of us headed out to Rt 66 eastbound. 

 

The road east of ABQ was wide open and we followed Rt 66 for about an hour.

 

We stopped for lunch in Santa Rosa at this great little cafe called Joseph’s.  it was funny because when we arrived the hostess said “are you with the 26?”  Of course, we didn’t understand.  So she helpfully repeated, “are you with the 26?”.  We finally figured out that there was a group of 26 bikers with a reservation for lunch.  We quickly took a seat and placed our order before they arrived!  It was great!

After Stanton left, we headed off road a bit.  Long stretches of Rt 66 are merged with I 40.  We had already spent about 90 minutes on I-40, and were ready for a change.  So we took some back roads and found some beautiful country in Eastern New Mexico.

We planned to get gas in Grady, but we discovered that there are entire towns in rural NM without a gas station!  Seriously!   Ugh.

We found a station back up near I-40, a helpful customer told us there was hail on the way.  We walked our and looked to the West and saw DARK clouds on the way.  So we hopped back on I-40 and went full-throttle until we arrived at Rudy’s in Amarillo. A great way to end the day, with great BBQ in the Lone Star State.

Riding the Rocks and Seeing the Becks

Our second day of riding Rt 66 was safe, beautiful, and ended with our dear friends, the Becks.

We started with the long descent down the mountain from Flagstaff.  Even now in mid-May, the mountains around Flagstaff are covered with snow.  Here’s a nice view of the peaks as we wound our way down east of town on Rt. 66.

After leaving the cool air in Flagstaff, we headed out to the desert.

 

Our first stop was Winslow, AZ, where we stood on a corner with Don Henley.

 

We stopped for a long rest at the Painted Desert/Petrified Forest.

Then the continental divide.

Final stop, we met our dear friend Stan in Grants, NM and headed to dinner at El Pinto in ABQ.

Rt 66 - Day 1

Well, we began our ride today.  It started with Mark's arrival in PHX and then heading out to get our bikes.  By the time all the paperwork was signed and we were ready to leave town it was about 1pm.  Here's Mark with our bikes...




The first hour or so was through the most dry, hot desert I can imagine. It was about 100 degrees and there was a dozen shades of light brown. It was beautiful in its own way, but it was like Mars.
Finally, we hit some elevation, and the terrain began to pick up a bit. It was actually very nice here. It was a bit cooler and there were patches of life all around. Our first photo stop was about 90 minutes outside of PHX...or at least where we got the bikes.

As we kept moving up the mountain, the temperature kept dropping. The lowest temp was about 1-hr from Sedona when the temperature got to around 55. It was amazing to see the change from 105 to 55 in one afternoon of riding. By the time we reached Sedona, the sun was setting. It was absolutely amazing. The red rock cliffs around the city were absolutely alive with the colors of sunset.

We enjoyed the sights of Sedona so much that we stopped three times to take photos. I'll put more up later, but it's 1am now and I need to get some sleep.

When we finally reached our hotel in Flagstaff, it was COLD (45 or so) and dark. That last 45 minutes was rough riding in the dark on winding, unfamiliar rodes, with the cold. To make matters worse, the road was so bumpy that my GPS kept falling off the bike. Fortunately, I caught it both times.

After a long and beautiful day, we had an amazing plate of sushi at a place called Monsoon's in downtown Flagstaff. This place was our first stop on Rt 66.

Absolutely delightful. I hope every day is as perfect as this one...

The Second Time Around

One of my favorite Sinatra tunes is “The Second Time Around”.  That has nothing to do with this post, other than it’s a catchy title.

 

This post is not about music, but movies.  Last night Michelle and I watched “Wild Hogs”.  It was her first time to see it, but I’d seen it once before at the Malibu Cinema on a guy’s night.  The first time I watched it, I really disliked it.  I thought it was boring, predictable, and overall not worth the time or money. However, last night with Michelle I really liked it.  Certainly not worthy of any awards, but an entertaining way to waste 90 minutes at home.

 

The second movie I watched for the second time is “Quantum of Solace 007”.  I saw it on a guy’s night at the Malibu Cinemas also… at least most of it.  That night the projector broke at the theater about 75-minutes into the movie, and the teenager running the theater didn’t know how to get it started again.  So, she gave us all hand-written rain-checks to come back another night.  However, I don’t think any of us ever went back and watched the end of the movie.  It just didn’t capture our attention. 

This evening while I was hanging out at the hotel, I noticed it was on cable and I tuned in.  It was much better this time.  Very intense.  And it was very consistent with the themes in Daemon and Freedom (TM). .

Neither of these movies are great, but perhaps this goes to show that one’s expectations are shaped by the relative costs of an experience.  Paying $15 at Malibu Cinemas for a show on a guy’s night is pretty high expectations.  But, sitting at home (or a hotel) and killing time is pretty low. 

Maybe I should try Transformers 2 again on video?

Kicking off a long-ride…

This morning I parked my VStar at LAX …

 

 

and hopped on Southwest flight 643 from LAX to PHX to begin an 8-day motorcycle trip on Rte. 66.

Here’s the itinerary…

• Friday – I’m in PHX one day early (I misread the original email..doh!)
• Saturday – Pick up a couple of 2009 Dyna Glides (fully equipped for long road rides) and then we ride through the Tonto National Forest and up to Sedona, AZ where we’ll stay at a Fairfield Resort.
• Sunday – On to Abq to meet our long-time friend (and fellow cyclist) DSB.
• Monday – A LONG stretch across teh panhandle of Texas and across Western OK to our grandparents.
• Tuesday – A morning in OK with grandparents, then off to somewhere in KS.  Maybe to Lawrence to see Michelle’s grandma.
• Wednesday – Across MO and into IL.
• Thursday – On to Chicago where we’ll drop off the bikes and check into a hotel by the airport.
• Friday – 8:30 flight on AA1063 back to LA.

View Larger Map

My first stop here in PHX… was Scholotzsky’s.  They make a very unique sandwich that I first came to enjoy in Abilene 20 years ago.  They had one in Bloomington I think too…but it was on the other side of town, so we never went.

Today I’m just hanging out in the hotel room, blogging, emailing, and reading “Freedom (TM)” by Daniel Suarez.

Stay tuned for more updates from the road.  I think I’ll be able to blog almost every day.  I will also be uploading photos to Flickr from my iPhone.

Buenos Aires y me Cordizon!

 

Buenos Aires

I brought a group of 22 Graziadio students to Buenos Aires last week.  We had an amazing time touring the city, meeting local business leaders, and studying the economics, culture, and politics of Argentina.  It was an absolutely amazing trip.

After about four days, Michelle flew down and was with me for the last few days, then we stayed three days extra after the “official” program ended.  For a review and photos of the study tour see here. 

Here are some photos of Michelle and I touring the city and eating the wonderful food.

Here are a few observations about our trip…

• Unlike the other South American countries I have visited, Argentina views itself as a European country, not “Latin” or “Hispanic”.  It was largely settled by Italian and Spanish immigrants and maintains a largely Italian/Spanish/French identity.  One interesting anecdote from a professor here… he took a group of Argentine students to Darden (UVA) for a study tour in the US.  The instructor at Darden made a comment about how US culture is different from the “Hispanic” culture of Argentina and the students were visibly confused.  They had never considered themselves Hispanic and took issue with the characterization.
• Due to the unique identity (see above), the people, culture, and language are noticeably different from other SudAmericano countries.  For instance the “ll” (double-L) is pronounced with a “zh” sound rather than a “ye” sound.  Also, the people have a reputation in the region for being very arrogant and viewing themselves as different from the rest of the region (and superior).
• In 1910, Argentina was the 5th richest country in the world (today that place belongs to France).  Since that year, Argentina has consistently repeated a cycle of growth and revolution while sliding to the mid-50’s in total GDP.
• According to our instructors, roughly 50% of the national economy is “black market” meaning not reported to the gov’t for taxes.  There are many reasons for this… a distrust of the gov’t and banks leads to a cash-focused economy.  For instance, you can’t get a mortgage for your home…you must pay cash.  So you must bring $300K Ar PESOS to the seller and he must count them.  People tend to hoard their cash at home rather than keeping it in the bank.
• Due to the cash hoarding above, “breaking and entering” is one of the most common crimes in Argentina.  People don’t report their cash being stolen, because it would inspire an IRS investigation.
• For my more liberal friends who support populist policies of “taxing the rich”, you should visit BA.  You’ll see the good and bad of populist policies. On balance, what I saw here moved my opinion further from populism and more towards free markets.  I’m still a believer in government regulation to structure markets and protect the “helpless”.  But populism tends to destroy incentives for production.
• They eat dinner at 10-11pm here…everyone.  Not just the young, single, folks who are looking for some action.  We regularly saw families entering the restaurant at 10pm and staying until after 11.  The kids have to get up for school at 7am.  How do they do it?  And they also stay fit.  There was generally less obesity here than I see in America.
• The food was really good!  It was pretty bland with most meals consisting of a piece of pork or beef and some kind of potatoes. There were no whole veggies to speak of, but also much fewer processed foods overall.  One of our instructors argued that the food was bland because most of the topography nearby is quite bland…mild weather and flat terrain.  He thinks it requires mountains and temperature variation to create more flavorful foods.  Interesting. I think my brother would LOVE this place because of the plentiful steak in the local diet.  My favorite local item???? The empanadas.  Without question.
• The coffee culture is very European…lots of small cups of black coffee that are sipped for a LONG time.  One of my students found a Starbucks and brought a generous coffee to go to a meeting and it was noticeably out-of-place.
• One of the most notable elements of the lower GDP and economic weakness was the general unkemptness of the place.  It’s common to find trash on the streets, sidewalks in disrepair, and street signs missing.  It reminds me of John Q. Wilson’s theory of the broken window (the original article is in Atlantic Monthly from 1982, but I can’t find a public link) . 

Over all, this was a wonderful trip.  Now that it’s over, I’d like to learn Spanish before my return trip sometime soon.  I’d love to come here with Mom and Dad.