the queen travels: Tires around

Tuesday morning (March 18), we did a final tire check, gassed up and headed north in a most-sedate fashion, usually running a mile or two under the speed limit … mostly. Well, sometimes. Uh, yeah, we did. And we didn’t hit anymore gravel, either.

We made it with tread to spare, although not much. I got two new tires and was coming up on a 30K, and Jaz decided to do fluids along with her tire, so we’ll be ready to ride more, and my bike will be ready for me in July when I come back down to ride.

I couldn't help but take a photo of a beautiful red bike.

So, we spent a lot of the day at the shop, although we wandered out for lunch and a milkshake. But we got a lot of blog work done, thoughts on what the next ones would be about, and finally our two-wheeled steeds were ready for us, and clean.

Off we rode, right into rush hour traffic on the 101, and then the 10, and we just kept up and kept on going, until we were out of Phoenix proper. Along the way, about 61 miles out of the shop my engine light came on, went off, came on, went off. And didn’t come on again. I told Jaz I wanted to stop so I could call in the morning to see what I needed to do. We’re only about 75 miles from Tucson, which is closer than Arrowhead. I’ll think about all of that tomorrow.

All I know is that we’re meeting up with Henke on Wednesday at the shop. Yay. Will be good to see him again. He’ll ride with us for a bit. We’re expecting to maybe get to Bisbee and wander around. Hobbs and I had been there a long time ago and it would be fun to go back and a little more time and maybe the night. Another great day today, and another one coming up tomorrow.

Wednesday morning (March 19) I called Arrowhead and they said it might have been a fluke. So we headed the 60 or 70 miles to the Tucson shop. The engine light did not come on, so maybe it was a fluke. They ran the codes, but that was it. Henke showed up and we sat and talked there drinking coffee for an hour or so.

Jaz, Henke and me. What a great day to meet up with him and be able to spend some time. Sorry Andie couldn't make it. Next time, hopefully, we'll see her.

Off we went headed to Bisbee. About 20 miles out the engine light came on again, so we diverted to Sierra Vista where the shop ran a diagnostics test. A little cap had come off a manifold vacuum hose so they replaced it. The oil filter was also filled with some oil so they cleaned that, too. All while we were off having lunch. Great shop.

It was really nice visiting with Henke, but he needed to head home. So, a ride with him and a couple of long conversations were great, but it was time to part ways. He went home, and we headed the 26 miles or so to Bisbee.

Bisbee was a little copper, gold and silver mining town in 1880 that’s now a tourist town mostly. It was named in honor of Judge DeWitt Bisbee, one of the financial backers of the Copper Queen Mine, which offers tours these days.

There are lots of little stairways leading to apartments or the next street up. This one was quite pretty with designs in the stairs. Most are just made of stone.

We found a little market, and it's in an area that's all graffiti'd up. It was quite cute and it appears there are lots of hippie-type artists here selling their wares. There are many art galleries, and other touristy places so it's a fun town to walk around in as long as you stay out of all the shops. We partook of a root beer at a brewery that was quite good.

Our room at the Copper Queen was most inviting and quite large. There's also a wingback chair and another window not shown off to the left in this photo.

The Copper Queen Hotel is supposedly haunted so I told Jaz it would be fun to stay there. We wandered in to see if they had a room. Yep, and reasonable for two old gals. We had a difficult time finding parking, though, and ended up a block away on the street. Hope the bikes are still there tomorrow.

There's lots of old mining stuff to photograph.

And shooting some of it in black and white was pretty "old timey," too.

We found an ice cream and fudge shop with the best ice cream ever. It’s Shamrock brand. Don’t know if I’ve had it before; it was really good. Then we walked around town until way after dark taking photos. What a great place to walk.