Re: Ride South to Petro on January 16

Thanks for the update! 

On Thu, Jan 17, 2019, 6:31 AM Duane Switz <ddswitz@gmail.com wrote:

Another great day for riding developed right after a light rain the night before as 25 bikes and 33 riders assembled at the Chevron for the ride to Petro, a well known truck stop near the junction of I-8 and I-10 south of Casa Grande.  Our leader Duane had appointed Bob and Barb Shinnick and Jay and Dottie Stewart to lead the groups today, and Duane and Don were the tailgunners.  Check the photo of the ladies who rode today.  What an exciting day!  There were the usual traffic snafus, including moving-target construction on the Hunt Highway.  Our trip took us past new communities, then south to Eloy where parachutists were in the air.  Three different riders dropped off the first group for different reasons; the only lasting effect being a stator failure for one bike.

 

The Road Captains had a productive meeting yesterday in an effort to make it easier for restaurants to serve the meal for our ever-larger group.  One suggestion was to have the two groups of riders making different routes to the designated meeting place, and another was to choose two different nearby restaurants.  Well, the first option didn't produce results as our two groups arrived back to back.  Fortunately, the Iron Skillet was well prepared and able to serve tasty meals quickly; serving all 33 of us in half an hour!   There was plenty of chatter and good time spent at our destination as the riders enjoyed their respite.

 

There are many different roads across the farm and desert land to the south as the riders worked their way back home.  Riding thru Florence gives us a chance to pick up speed and see new territory.  One rider took in the scene at Eloy Airport, and Roy and Phil were dispatched to seek a tour of one of the many cotton gins working their way through this year's big crop.  Tours are restricted this year, and we just missed the available date.  So, we returned via Socatan and Riggs Road at 2:00 with 136 miles.

Saturday's tide will take us to Roosevelt Lake, always a popular destination. We will be going to 2 separate restaurants, with one group going to Butcher's Hook, with Dennis leading via the Bush Highway. The other group will go to Ma's Kitchen, with Garry leading via Globe.This is to reduce the size of the groups, so the restaurants can better accommodate us. Road Captains, please call the restaurants a day ahead of time to let them know we're coming.

The group led by Bob encountered a semi rollover at the 60/79 intersection on the way home. We tried to take a picture as we rolled slowly by, so that is the one with the red tarp that you see.