Trip to Yuma

[SmithSwede]

I scored a work related trip from the Dallas area to Yuma, Arizona.   I naturally took the Guzzi V7 Stone.  Was great to do a long road trip after all this - coop up.   

Took a slight detour to spend the night in Tombstone.  It is a surprisingly peaceful place today.  I only got into one gunfight, and a minor affair it was.   









Strangely enough, the unfortunate Mr. Heath was lynched in Tombstone, but was raised in my town of Terrell, and was re-buried locally






Yuma is a strange place.   Looks like desert, but actually incredibly fertile and productive farmland.   The secret sauce is water.   The place is laced with canals like this one. 





Might as well hit California, since I was next door.





Coming back I hit a brief but violent rain storm near Tuscon.   Was blessed to learn what a desert smells like after a rain. 

Then nasty, shifting, gusty winds from El Paso to Abilene.   Dust storms.   Lots of 55-60 mph riding in 4th gear. 

I’m back home now but still coughing up dust. 

[oldbike54]

 
 
 Dusty

[groundhog105]

Great ride.  Tombstone is a really interesting town.

[Tom H]

Did you get to see the prison while you were there? Lots of history.

I have stayed at the fair grounds. Interesting to see a few nav lights at night and a ear piercing roar over you head as a jet lands what seems like feet above your head..

Tom

[nick949]

Great pictures - thanks.

Nick

[JJ]

Great adventure and photos...Thanks for sharing!

[Gliderjohn]

Sounds like you had most of the elements of a good motorcycle adventure. I do imagine those winds got annoying.
Tombstone and the most of southern AZ is pretty interesting and great varied scenery.
GliderJohn

[dxhall]

The ol’ Bisbee massacre —-

The Bisbee massacre (a.k.a. the Bisbee murders or Bisbee raid) occurred in Bisbee, Arizona, on December 8, 1883, when six outlaws who were part of the Cochise County Cowboys robbed a general store. Believing the general store's safe contained a mining payroll of $7,000, they timed the robbery incorrectly and were only able to steal between $800 to $3,000, along with a gold watch and jewelry. During the robbery, members of the gang killed four people, including a lawman and a pregnant woman. Six men were convicted of the robbery and murders. John Heath, who was accused of organizing the robbery, was tried separately and sentenced to life in prison. The other five men were convicted of murder and sentenced to hang.

Unsatisfied with Heath's sentence, a lynch mob forcibly removed Heath from jail and hanged him from a telegraph pole on February 22, 1884. The other five men were executed on March 28, 1884. They were the first criminals to be legally hanged in Tombstone. The graves of the five murderers is part of the popular Boothill Graveyard tourist attraction in Tombstone.

[JJ]

Oct. 2012 - My last motorcycle visit to historic Bisbee, AZ, with my buddy Marko (Kawasaki), and my old Triumph 1050 Sprint GT.  Great little town!  Would like to return again someday when all the - insanity finally subsides... (*SIGH*)

[ampm7]

Tombstone and Bisbee are great destinations, lots of history. I made the trip a few years ago only not on a Guzzi but my Kawasaki Drifter 1500. Like to go back...       


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[Canuck750]

Thanks for posting this

I miss riding in the desert country, been at least 5 years since I have spent a night in tombstone and your comment on the smell after the rain, what a great sensory memory, that put a smile on my face.

[SmithSwede]

Did you get to see the prison while you were there? Lots of history.
Tom

Yep, I explored the Yuma Territorial Prison.   I had already bought several books on Tombstone and the associated outlaws.   But at the prison I learned about Pearl Hart.   Wow, what a character she must have been.