Overland Expo

This weekend the Howlers Vintage Motorcycle Club made an expedition to the Overland Expo outside of Flagstaff at Mormon Lake.

We started off from Prescott at 8:30am and stopped for lunch in Cottonwood, Az. I highly recommend this place!

After lunch, we decided to traverse Schnebly Hill Trail.

We went two miles up some very rocky terrain and my left leg gave out. We decided to stop for a break. It was hot and one of the guys was on his street bike, so we decided to turn around.

We took a water break once we got back to pavement

and continued on up lovely Oak Creek Canyon road instead.

Once we got to the Expo at Mormon Lake, we set up camp.

I have no idea what this thing is, but someone does some crazy overlanding in it.

This was just one of the interesting vehicles I saw at the Expo. 1940’s Willys (I think that’s the year)
Before I was born, my folks had a Willys pick-up truck that my dad built a camper on the back.

There were a lot of doggies traveling with their people, and plenty of water and treats all over the camp.

My folks were there with their lovely restored Avion cab-over camper and treated us to a dinner of home-made Indian food.

Arizona sunsets are amazing.

In the morning we went searching for coffee. There was a converted ambulance coffee truck close to our campsite! They even had soy milk for me!

We spent some time just hanging out at our campsite.

There were many vendors at the Expo, including a number of well-traveled authors. We had the pleasure of meeting Ted Simon, who wrote “Jupiter’s Travels

I made some new friends.

This guy and his dog enjoyed the warm afternoon with naps.

There were a number of characters at the Expo, including this fellow who was riding around with his kitten in a tank bag. The kitty was un-phased and seemed to enjoy the ride.

Nested among all the shiny adventure BMW’s, KTM’s, and new Urals, were some fun vintage bikes.

We spent the last evening hanging out at the Mormon Lake Lodge restaurant and bar.

Sorry for the dry update – the camping was great, but I didn’t get much sleep for the few days we were out and I’m still pretty tired. 🙂

Desert Daze Dual-sport Adventure

What a fantastic weekend!
I’m already planning my trip for next year

Thursday

We arrived at the Triangle T Ranch just in time for sunset.

Friday

Unloaded the bikes in the morning

And we joined AARG for a morning day ride.
I didn’t get very many pics on Friday.

Lunch stop in Portal:

Evening at camp:

Saturday

First hill of the morning was a lot of fun:

We weren’t far from Triangle T, but I’m not sure where exactly. Took a right off the main road just past Dragoon (I think)

Visited the Cochise Stronghold campground.

and went here (wherever that is):

A few miles to camp, (I think on Sybil road or Tombstone Rd?) one of our guys got a nail in his tire. Boo.

After a slow fix on the tire, a little further on… this hill didn’t like me so much.

Oops. I pissed off some big rocks.
Luckily my DR wasn’t injured and I only sustained a pretty hearty bruise on my right hip. Of course, I hit just below where my padding ended.

Pretty sunset.
I love the desert.

We made it back to camp and had a good time at the saloon looking over the map-on-the-wall

Sunday! Sunday! Sunday!

We found the lake

Ended up in Willcox, where most everything was closed except for Rodney’s fine dining

I made a new friend

and saw some art on the wall of the “Rex Allen Sr. Fan Club” walk-way

I’m not sure where we went from there, all I remember are some amazing vistas and catching air at one point.
What a great day!

Made it back to camp for sunset

Monday

We packed up to a mostly empty Triangle-T and drove back to Prescott, dirty, tired, and happy.

Holy cow I had a great time! Our whole group did.
Very much forward to next year!

(more pics here if you really wanna see all our silliness 🙂 )

First Birthday

A year ago yesterday, I started the “Howlers Vintage Motorcycle Club“. I had recently moved to a new little town and wanted to meet other vintage bike enthusiasts, so I figured what better way than to start a group? Well, it worked.

Here I am, a year later (holy cow, has it really been a year already?!) with a solid group of regulars, some good friends, a decent membership, and a pretty darn good logo (if I do say so myself 😉 ).

Earlier in the day yesterday I mentioned to a couple of my fellow Howlers that it was our first anniversary, and we decided to have an impromptu birthday celebration last night.

Howlers birthday cake and drinks

Happy First Birthday, Howlers VMC!

Howlers VMC logo