Los Lobos

The chairs at Arizona Snowbowl are no longer spinning and most of the tower pads are down, so it must be time to ride! Tuesday, April 11, 2006 was the beginning of three days of fantastic riding to and through the Coronado Trial. We began our trip with Larry and Jim leaving Mesa Drive around 8:30 a.m. to meet Mark, plus fuel up at Costco. We departed Costco about 8:55 a.m. about the time that BJ fired up his Road Hog in Flagstaff. Since Beej was riding down from Flag and we were riding up from Prescott we meet at US 87 and AZ 260. The timing was perfect. About thirty seconds after Jim, Mark and Larry arrived at 87/260 Beej thundered in. We were also greeted by the DPS Ranger helicopter that had been chasing Beej from Clints Well. At least that is what Larry thought. Actually Ranger was taking a detective from Flag to investigate a homicide crime scene.

After a short stop we headed off to Payson to meet up with Phoz who was coming up from The Valley to ride with us. As it turned out Phoz patrolled at Arizona Snowbowl in the early 80's and along with BJ was the first full-time paramedic to patrol at a US ski area. In Payson we had Mexican at El Rancho and headed out for Alpine.
We arrived at the Sportsman's Lodge in Alpine around 4:30 p.m. After checking in Phoz went on a recon trip to Ye Old Tavern hoping to find a pool table that he could use as an instrument of torture. Sure enough he convinced Beej and Larry to play a "friendly" game he called "Cut Throat". I think this guy may have potential to be intiated into a new gang being formed called, LOS LOBOS (Coronado Chapter 666).

That evening we had a great meal at the Bear Wallow Cafe. In fact I cannot remember not having a great meal at the Bear Wallow. We had all our meals there while in "base camp". They had great red enchilada sauce (New Mexico style) and green chili!

Wednesday morning after breakfast Los Lobos headed out for the much anticipated Coronado Trial. Larry was feeling so smug being in "the lead" of the prestigious Los Lobos, when he noticed in the rear view mirror that part of the gang had disappeared. We pulled over and Jim went back to investigate where Beej and Phoz had gone. Sure enough "eagle eye" Phoz had spotted a hardware store where he could purchase a hose clamp for his dropping tailpipe. I am not going to poke fun, as I had to do the very same thing last trip to The Trail! I will note, however, it seems that Harley Riders are much more adept at spotting welding shops, hardware stores and Road Houses!!!

We were off once again to hopefully spot one of the illusive Mexican Gray Wolves. In fact it was this relentless search that gave our group of hose clamp challenged riders the gang name of Los Lobos! Our ride took us through some beautiful riding country. The weather was perfect and you could have not asked for a better route. Not one complaint at least for know.

In Glenwood that smooth talking duo of Beej and "Chops" got the Road House owner to open up the Blue Front Bar & Cafe for some beverage research.
After leaving Glenwood fully hydrated we hightailed it to 3 Way where Larry proudly revealed a historical marker, the Clifton drive-in movie screen!! After lunch at the Kopper Kettle and no Lobo sightings we headed off for the final accent to the Arrow Tree.

Finally we arrived at the Arrow Tree, which is located 1.3 miles from any point Larry designates. It was the nadir of our trip, with the exception of our mascot Lona Loba!
The next morning we made our way back home via Greer, AZ where we stopped at the Greer Lodge for JIM'S coffee. What a beautiful setting and lodge. All pitcherables for Los Lobos will be collected here from Lona Loba.
We had a great ride. There was not one stretch of the road that was not fantastic. This brings me to the major complaints of the trip:

1. Too many twisties
2. Too much Mexican food
3. Too many Road Houses missed
4. Too much snow (we hate snow)
5. 1.3 miles to everywhere

If you want to print photos from the trip you can go to this link.