Rio Rico- Nogales area (Tucson, Yuma: for sale, real estate, cheap apartment)
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Wondering if you're still here in Arizona and enjoying yourself. If you've returned home, what did you find to do while here in Arizona?
Hello! Back in Seattle, apologies for not replying sooner.
It was a great trip, landed in Tucson and picked up the bikes from Big Boyz Toyz and were on our way.
We did an Airbnb in Tubac, way better than I was expecting and a heck of nice host, a retired teach from Nogales.
First trip was down 19 to 82 and a stop in Patagonia for a quick bite at Wagon Wheel Saloon. Next stop was in ghost town Fairbank and chatted with a nice historian in the school house. I would have liked to talk with him further but we had some miles to ride that day.
We got into Tombstone early afternoon, it looks good but other than a famous gun fight there really isn't much reason for that town. We did sit through a comical western show, no need to do that again.
We continued down 80 and hit Bisbee, that is a beautiful town and my next trip to AZ I'll have to make a day or two of it. The city layout was amazing and I don't envy the stairs some are climbing up to their homes.
We continued west on 90 through Sierra Vista, didn't see much of the town, basically just retail off the main road. Somehow I missed a turn and ended up at the entrance to Fort Huachuca. I pulled up behind my buddy as the guard was informing him that we needed to be wearing safety gear including orange vests to ride any further. He figured out we didn't intend to go there and directed us back to the highway where we met up again with 82 and headed back to the apt.
The highways on the total route were in great shape and it was smooth cruising the entire way. It was a good full first day in AZ.
Maybe we should have warned him about taking his gun into Mexico.
Ha! Didn't take a gun in but my buddy didn't leave Mexico unscathed.
We went down to Nogales and parked to walk across the border. Our first stop was the restaurant "La Roca" which I discovered on my earlier visit. It is so cool, built right into the hill. It's large and had a very professional staff, the best part is the small balcony to sit at. We had some delicious margaritas, guacamole, and another appetizer. I highly recommend people check it out if you go down there.
We went for a bit of a walk away from the border area, the vendors were a lot less aggressive the further away. We weren't there to shop much, we only flew down with a back-pack each so anything we purchased needed to be consumed before heading home. Our purchase for the day was a bottle each of Tequila.
Forgot to mention, we had a pizza delivered the previous night and the delivery guy got excited when we told him we were going to the Sonora side. He told us they have the best strip club that was a must visit. After another round of Margaritas we decided to take his advice and head in. After checking in with the Doorman we basically could hear "girls get ready, we got suckers coming in!" It was early afternoon and we were the only patrons. All I will say is the state was very dark, the girls very friendly, and they offered more than what we intended to go for. I did buy two rounds of drinks for our new friends and paid way more than I was expecting. We soon left.
So my friend not leaving unscathed? While walking the sidewalks there always keep your eyes forward. He turned to look inside a window and stepped into a path that had basically sunk 8 inches and turned his ankle and rolled to the ground. It still hurts 2 him weeks later. A fun day though.
First trip was down 19 to 82 and a stop in Patagonia for a quick bite at Wagon Wheel Saloon. Next stop was in ghost town Fairbank and chatted with a nice historian in the school house. I would have liked to talk with him further but we had some miles to ride that day.
We got into Tombstone early afternoon, it looks good but other than a famous gun fight there really isn't much reason for that town. We did sit through a comical western show, no need to do that again.
Next time you're down here, plan to spend a day at the Patagonia State Park because it is a beautiful spot. I camped out there when I first moved to Arizona. I'm not sure if you fish but, even if you don't, the trails in the park are great. Too bad you didn't get to The Velvet Elvis for pizza in the town of Patagonia.
Yes, the historians at Fairbank are wonderful, and I'm glad you enjoyed visiting there. Tombstone is quite the tourist trap. I went there when my children came for a visit, and once is definitely enough
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sockeye66
We continued down 80 and hit Bisbee, that is a beautiful town and my next trip to AZ I'll have to make a day or two of it. The city layout was amazing and I don't envy the stairs some are climbing up to their homes.
Bisbee is very scenic and green. When I went for jury service, I had to climb a few of those stairs so I know exactly what you mean! lol
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sockeye66
We continued west on 90 through Sierra Vista, didn't see much of the town, basically just retail off the main road. Somehow I missed a turn and ended up at the entrance to Fort Huachuca. I pulled up behind my buddy as the guard was informing him that we needed to be wearing safety gear including orange vests to ride any further. He figured out we didn't intend to go there and directed us back to the highway where we met up again with 82 and headed back to the apt.
Ah! You continued to head west when you reached the intersection of 90/92 and ended up on Fry Blvd. At the intersection you missed, 92 heads south through Palominos toward the Coronado National Monument then turns east towards Bisbee. Also at that intersection, 90 turns north then again curves west before there's a stoplight at another fort entrance where 90 again turns north.
Wow you really covered a wide area for your first day of visiting!
It was a great 1st day trip, our 2nd day of riding had a much greater adventure.
Since we headed East the previous day we decded to go West. Looking at online map and we planned heading to Arivaca then through the Wildlife Preserve and stop in Sasabe and heading back an "alternative" route (more on that later).
First thing is Wikipedia says Arivaca has 35,840 residents, I was surprised since it's far off the well traveled path. A good lesson to not trust everything Wikipedia prints.
We went north to hit W. Arivaca Road, what a glorious ride, smooth roads, great scenery, good curves and dips. Only block we hit was a very loaded hay truck that was kind enough to pull off to the side to let us pass.
Our first stop was Arivaca Mercantile staffed by two very kind women. My first question was "how much more of this town is there?" The reply was "don't blink". I mentioned Wikipedia stating 35/k + population and was told maybe 3500.
I mentioned our "alternative" return was Hwy 39 which goes through Ruby, a mining ghost town. The kindly woman gave a look of motherly concern and said "Well... I don't want to talk you out of it if you really want to do it but some of that's unpaved and narrows to one lane". We should have listened.
We purchased some juice, sandwich, cheese, and chips for the afternoon and headed further West. Once again, decent roads and scenery but suddenly found being pummeled in the shins with some kind of bugs, had no idea what they were. We pulled over to make sure my socks were up and pant legs all the way down, didn't want anything crawling up my leg. We made it to the visitor center and discovered they were freaking grasshoppers of a Kamikaze nature. Suicidal little hoppers that wanted it all to end soon. Is there a market for these things? All you need is a low net and cruise about 20 mph and you'd harvest like crazy.
Sasabe was our next stop, small with an almost ghost town feel to it. Was really only one place open, the Sasabe Store Adobe and Wholesale Mesquite Firewood. This place was cool. The proprietor was very lively and friendly. When asked what the population is she replied about 12 since we pulled in. This was a very General store, stocked with such a variety of items there would be no need for the long emergency drive to Tucson for staple goods. Chatting with the proprietor she shared that she also had the only bar in the area and offered to open it to show us. She opened up the back of the store and sure enough, a very cool and well stocked bar, but only opens for Friday nights. Quite the meeting spot for the community.
This part of the trip was great, met some nice people and other than the Kamikaze grasshoppers, very nice riding.
Location: The Circle City. Sometimes NE of Bagdad.
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Sockeye66, a article about your attackers.
Grasshoppers Threaten Southeastern Arizona Crops
An unusually high number of grasshoppers are causing damage to crops at properties in the southern part of Arizona, according to a recent report.
The Arizona Daily Star reported that the grasshoppers, which arrived at farms in Southeastern Arizona in September, have been munching on cantaloupes, corn, greens and other crops. The U.S. Department of Agriculture said the population surge seems to be isolated to that area of the state.
A University of Arizona professor told the newspaper that the increase likely is a result of three consecutive years of well-spaced rainfall during the summer monsoon. That allowed plants to flourish and provided more food and habitat for the grasshoppers, he said.
Grasshoppers, as their name suggests, usually prefer to eat grass, but they'll eat whatever is available if all the grass is gone. Arizona has the greatest diversity of grasshopper species in North America, the UA professor told the Daily Star.
There's good news for farmers, though, the newspaper reported: More grasshoppers likely means more birds that prey on them. And that could mean fewer grasshoppers in the area at this time next year.
Thanks motormaker, sorry to hear it wasn't just us being assaulted. All I can say it I'm glad I had a windscreen on that bike, probably saved me from eating a few dozen of them.
I'm scheduled back down in January, meeting my mother in Tucson and were going to look for places for her in the Tubac area, she's looking to get out of Yuma.
Don't know what the weather their is now is there but it's definitely Seattle winter here, cold, gray, and rain.
Sockeye, regarding Sasabe, which is truly, part of "The Third Nation!" (the US/MX border):
"The proprietor was very lively and friendly." That was Deborah. Her family (her granddad really), once owned both the AZ and the Mexican towns of Sasabe! There was supposed to be a major road going through both towns. The U.S. built its road, and Mexico "built" theirs as well. And even repaired it several times! Except there is no road to speak of! But, the money was spent!!
She's a lovely woman. I wrote a book about the border (can't put the name here, as it's a violation of City-Data rules -- it's considered advertising! See if you can figure it out from the first line of my post!) and she was in one of the chapters.
A friend of mine, who served in WWII as a fighter pilot in the Pacific (he's still with us!), worked in Sasabe as a cowboy for several years after the war. Roger has his doctorate from Harvard in international business.
While in the store I called Roger (who was in Cape Cod when I called!) and had him speak to Deborah. He knew her mom!!
Thanks Rich, Deborah is definitely the "lively and friendly proprietor". I'd be happy to meet her again another time. If she reads this forum, KC and I say hello and thanks for the great hospitality.
Back to our journey, we read about Ruby, the Ghost mining town and decided to take Hwy 39 back. As mentioned, we were advised by the nice woman in Arivaca that "some" of the road was unpaved and one lane. Also as mentioned, we should have take her advice.
We started and the road was good, stopped at Arivaca Lake and took some nice pictures and ate one of the sandwiches. It was warm at that time but went down fine. The road down and back was rough but only about 2.5 miles each way.
We headed west again on 39 and the road began to narrow, no issues until the pavement ended. At that point we were to far in to consider using common sense and heading back and continued on. Figured when we hit Ruby it'd give us a good chance to get some water in us and rest the hot running bikes.
Well, the only thing we found at Ruby was a closed gate to the access road, nothing going on there. We were hoping to play comfortable tourist but no comfort to be found.
We continued on and would stop every 30 minutes or so to cool the bikes. At some point I opened my saddle bag to find my Arivaca provisions to be hot and swollen (sandwich), in liquid form (cheese) and nothing but crumbs (Pringles chips).
That was good for a worried laugh. We continued on, the only cross traffic we ran past was Border Patrol (4 separate vehicles) and they weren't interested because we were obviously two dumb gringos that obviously had no business being there but were clearly not illegal aliens.
The ride was rough and not recommended unless you have an off road vehicle, but it was ruggedly beautiful and we took some great pictures.
Our challenge ended when we finally reached White Rock campground (and Hwy 289), I swear if my lips hadn't been so parched I would have kissed that welcome pavement. From there the ride was smooth and comfortable with more great scenery. It's a journey we still talk about and will continue to do so.
As mentioned, will be back down in January with mom and sister, won't be any motorcycling and much less Tequila but I'm fully expecting to enjoy my next visit too.
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