2nd Annual CROV Fall Run Reports/ photos / Kingman Arizona October 15th & 16th

[VisionMeister]

Sure glad I trucked it down. I just didn't trust that 10 year old stator for a 1200 mile ride. I'm sure it was that last 94 mile freeway blast that took it out.
The mountain roads around Prescott were beautiful.
As in the prior CROV rides, the true joy comes from the great company and having the opportunity to ride together in new territories and share war stories.
Hope everyone made it back safely.

So Glen, was that you that lost a stator also? Those freeway miles were fast, especially when within sniffing distance of an ice chest full of beer.

Great ride.

[glennw]

Guilty....
I went to put it on trailer and the battery was dead...  :-\
GlennW

[ccoyle6731]

That will teach you not to sit around at breakfast and talk about how nobody had lost a stator.
                           Chris

[glennw]

I think I'm just going to buy a SV650....  :o
just kidding...
GlennW

[Ron_McCoy]

I think I have to take the blame for saying that stator problems were just a rumor. 

Ron

[h2olawyer]

Thanks for frying all those stators!  It's in the mid 70s here now & the light breeze is from the Southwest.  Y'all extended the warm weather riding season around here by at least a week.   ;D  Having eaten 2 stators in a 13 month span, stator problems are definitely more than just a rumor!

Sounds like a great time & I really wish I could have been there.  Hopefully, I can make it to one of next year's runs.  Who all made the trip?  How many Vs in one spot this time?  Photos?  Any roadside bombs (IEDs) around Bagdad?  How about donkey pies on the road to Oatman?

H2O

[glennw]

H20,
The spring run will be in Solvang ...
about 30 miles north of Santa Barbara....
Hey I won't need a trailer for that one!
GlennW

[Brian Moffet]

H20,
The spring run will be in Solvang ...
about 30 miles north of Santa Barbara....

I should be able to make that one!  (Give me those fried pastries!)

Brian

[ccoyle6731]

Here are a few pictures from the ride.
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Chris

//http://ccoylepictures.tripod.com/kingman_ride

[ccoyle6731]

If the hyperlink doesn't work this time, you will just have to cut and paste.
                  Chris

http://ccoylepictures.tripod.com/kingman_ride/

[supervision]

  Ha,Ha,Ha, pretty darn fun...  cool people, amazing views, the rock formations and the Motel 6  all made the trip worth the effort!  I'm glad you guys waited till I was long gone to fire up those stators  (wouldn't want my bike to get a wif of it, might start something).  Thanks Rick, Airazona is titts on a ritz.  Boy that Prescott is a nice city.   Dave

[glennw]

What a great ride.... no matter where you go with the Visions you get people asking what they are.....What is that? When did they make those?? Of course the answer is .. Where were you in 82 ??? Everyone rolled in Friday afternoon and we shared a very nice dinner.

Saturday morning after our group breakfast at the honorary CROV dining room in the restaurant.. we plowed through 50 miles of straight road to make our first stop in Wickieup...
They must have had a post office somewhere...?. Then the road started to curve, first on the high speed highway and then we turned off on the road to Bagdad.... we brought our terrorist with us.... Don on his Beamer... he just loved buzzing our little V's ... no matter how fast we were going. I had to do a diaper check after he went by me one time...
Bagdad was like going back 30 years... everyone was at a high school football game up the road from the gas station... we were there about 20 min and saw 2 people pull up. One guy had a 70's Chevy Pickup the was on it last legs....or set of tires anyway. Funny thing about Arizona... people were riding ATV in all the small towns we went to... right down the main drag.

Then on to Kirkland... it had a bar, a store and a railroad crossing... The road from Bagdad to Kirkland was my favorite... it had it all, from tight mountain curves to big high speed sweepers and a few loooong straightaways... and very little other traffic. I love pulling the helmet off and walking around with a stupid grin on your face for a while? after you park.... That's when I know I'm having fun..

Then it was off to Prescott (pronounced Pres-kit)...more sweet twisty roads all the way into town... A little more traffic but Rick bullied them out of the way for us! Someone decided to deposit an unknown quantity of fresh white latex paint in the middle of the groove around one corner... Ron and his new blue paint job got the brunt of it (of course). It's weird to be able to smell what you are about to run into.. and you think..OH MY GOD it's FRESH! Smelling that fresh paint made me pucker up as I went leaning into the corner. This happened the next day too on the way to Oatman where the apparently have a large Donkey population! More about this later.

After getting separated in Prescott for a while we regrouped for some tasty burgers downtown and headed back towards Kingman...When we got to Ashfork in turned into a high speed 95 mile romp down Highway 40... I didn't know? rain drops could sting so bad... but the beer awaited and it only rained for about 2 miles. Besides the faster I went the more my jeans dried!A few beers and lots of swapping stories later we had another nice dinner.. just a walk across the Motel lot..sweet!

They next morning after a breakfast buffet some of us headed off to Oatman... Craig's stator died just prior to that run... we loaded him up and we were off. The road to Oatman rocked! Very tight.. It's hard to believe this is HWY 66.. at one time the main road across the country!? Oatman is a throwback to the old west... there were at one point 50-75 bikes of every type lining the street.. (closed down for the 11 AM mock gun battle). Rick found a bag of carrots and soon had a mother and baby Donkey eating from his hand... he could have stayed all day.. but I was jamming him to get back to Kingman so I could get back home at reasonable hour. We sped in back to town and as I went to start it my V to put it on the trailer it had no battery left. Another stator bites the dust...Well it's not even one payment on a new bike and I don't know how I could have had more fun on another bike...

Thanks to everyone who showed up... You meet the finest people on the ROV site!
Here are the "awards":

Best Host: Rick G!? Thanks again Rick!
Long Distance & Biggest Yamaha: Coyle & Lori
Biggest SUV Bike: Don (again)
Newest bike: Ron's new ST1300 (used to and from Kingman)
First trip without a Laptop: Greg
Best paint: Ron's V
More:
CROV regulars: Ron, Sharon, Greg, Don, Dave, Craig & me
Newbies: Trevor (Dave's son, on a Sweet 80's VFR750) Chris (on his Katana), Coyle& Lori, and Rick

Stay tuned for the spring ride... in my back yard this time.. Solvang California..
Bring the wives and girlfriends (and the credit cards!)
GlennW

[h2olawyer]

Thanks for the rundown, Glenn.? Wanted to be there.? Will try to make Solvang in the Spring.? Isn't that where the first CROV ride was - the one with the building full of old bikes?? Guess I'll have to spend some time on Pashnit.com investigating the riding in that area.

Oh well, at least I may now be getting involved in a fairly major interstate water battle, so the trek out to Wray, CO was worthwhile.? Its the type of case that some lawyers can spend their entire career on, keeping them out of other silly mischief!? :D

The photo site linked by Mr. Coyle sometimes takes a long time to open.? Probably something in my security setup.? Looking forward to hopefully seeing more pics!? Thought Don was going to bring his V this time.? Guess Ron decided flat black wasn't fast after all.? ;D? Glenn's legs were probably drying because of the frying stator - not the high speed.

Glad everybody had a safe ride & the casualties were limited to stators & Rick's 'oops' - especially considering the latex paint incident.

H2O

[glennw]

H20,
The first run was in San Miguel about 125 miles north of Solvang. We found the bike collection on our way to Cambria.  Oh and Solvang has a real nice bike museum. It?s one guy?s private collection.
;)

[VisionMeister]

The Solvang bike museum was just featured in the latest Cycle World.

[glennw]

It will be a must see I guess.. Am I right about it being a private cillection? I have never been

[h2olawyer]

Solvang looks like a fun place.  Found the motorcycle museum's website:

www.motosolvang.com/

It is a private collection & it looks like we can get them to open for us if we can't get there on their schedule.

The riding looks good, too.  Looked at Pashnit (www.pashnit.com/motoroads.htm) for some of the roads in the region.  Pretty scenery & lots of twisties available.  ;D

Any tentative decisions on date - or at least month you're planning on?

H2O

[glennw]

Nothing yet, I'll try and figure it out what month...
by the end of October.. I'm thinking March or April.

[Ron_McCoy]

I've been there for the bicycle century which  is the first weekend in March and the weather is usually nice so any time after that should be good.

Ron

[supervision]

  I'd say we lucked out on the weather, thanks for putting  the pics. up Coil 

Trevor says he needs a BMW K1200R to ride the next time he rides with
Don...