the bronx kid does 'zona

[gothamAlp]

my buddy AT, native of da bronx, and whose day job involves automobiles like this one, turned a day of meetings in PHX into a long weekend of hanging out in my new 'hood. given his italian predelictions, i was hoping he'd rent something like this, but fiscal sanity prevailed, and he rolled into our meet-up at alfonso's in payson like so:



no dirt for you! [and notice the racetrack bucket] but even without leaving the bitumen [good scrabble word] we had a fine time, dodging a few thunderstorms, hitting some of northern arizona's choice gastronomic venues, and riding some spectacular roads.

first, lunch at alfonso's. in the words of our friend sully, it was T for Tasty:


then, north & west back up to flagstaff, under threatening skies. here's the lookout over mormon lake, a favorite spot for ornithologists:


next morning, a ride up mt. humphreys, for the colors... and the twisties:






then brunch at flagstaff's best breakfast joint, the venerable martann's.


muy bueno!


saturday afternoon was reserved for beisbol: yankees lose and go home! mets win and advance! all is right in the world. that, swimming, tennis, and a friendly local saturday night poker game. sunday morning, we were back on the road, heading down through sedona to jerome before AT hit the road back to PHX for the red-eye east.

this is oak creek canyon road down into sedona:


i couldn't help but wonder how many people have thrown their friends overboard that they needed to post this sign:


further down in the canyon:


my heisman pose... post-fumble, apparently.


welcome to red rock country:


then down through cottonwood and up into the old mining town of jerome:


close-up for you historical marker fans:


and another:


time for another hearty meal:


with a nice view back down into the valley:


artsy-fartsy:


jerome is famous for going all-out on halloween. hence, i suppose, the haunted hamburger. the specialty of the house certainly looked good:


and here's the 'after' picture.


lots o' bikers in jerome on a clear sunday afternoon. their mecca seems to be the ol' hotel connor.


inside, it looks like so:


and across the street:


no expense spared to make these things as comfortable as possible:


bonus -- you can get your knives sharpened:


"i'm superfly TNT -- i'm the guns of navaronne"


and this one gives new meaning to the term iron-butt:


outside of the jerome, los dos amigos de la grande manzana mug one last time for the camera before going their separate ways.


and that, my friends, is the story of the bronx kid's two-wheelin' weekend under the sunny october, northern arizona skies. thanks for reading, and happy trails to ya.

[MundaneRider]

Yo Gotham, you really captured the essence (and flavors) of our trip K liked the road sign with the dude being pitched off the edge (thankful that I wasn't a real-life example). She also thought the iron butt bike was "interesting."

I fully expect to hear it from your ADV pals on my ride. Hey, a cheap rental's a cheap rental. Let's do it again. An Aprilia or Ducati should do quite nicely.

AT from the BX

[GB]

Nice rid and pics.. but this thing takes the cake:



Look at the clearance under the bike.. and I was thinking it's so low, no one can drop this bike.. but it looks like he's mounted peg shaped frame "sliders" or crash bars fore and aft... and the seat looks like a torture rack! Looks nice, if you're into this look..

thanks for posting!

[Rogue Scout]

Glad to see the TA back on the road.

Too bad you didn't have one of his employer's transportation devices to ride around in as well...........

[2 SPOT]

i was gonna say the same thing, back on the TA must feel good.

[gothamAlp]

yeah, she's got shiny new front spokes from buchanan's. tough to wait 3 weeks like that, but i fully intend to make up for lost time.