Weekend Ride to Yuma, Arizona
March 2, 2002

Submitted by
Steve and Josie Morris, Torrance, California
Photos by Josie Morris

March 2, 2002, Saturday morning, at 9 AM we met at a Los Angeles area for breakfast. With full tummies and full gas tanks, we are anxious and roaring to go through the country roads of Southern California.

Mike and Heidi Betschart lead the way as we headed southeast from I-10 to I-15 and made our first stop at Temecula for a gas stop and stretch our legs. We had 8 bikes, consisting of 6 Ventures, 1 Gold Wing, 1 Harley and 11 people. We were thoroughly enjoying the comfortable temperatures in the 70s and clear blue skies.

We had a nice leisurely ride winding our way on secondary Highway 79 through high chaparral and through the mountains and over Sunshine Summit at "chilly" 49º then rode on to County Hwy S2 through Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. If you are lucky you can see bighorn sheep up on the buttes above the highway, but not this time. The colors of the mountains were spectacular with ocotillo and other desert plants starting to bloom. Mother nature continuous her wonders as we rode through the open desert highway.

Then we traveled into Imperial Valley, which is known as the winter vegetable garden of America, along Salton Sea and into Brawley for lunch and gas. We got to know Chris and Cathy Talbott, the Gold Wingers, who were friends of our members Ken and Nadine Robbins. Then Gary Spero, the Harley rider, came along for his first long ride with our chapter. Our other single Venture riders were Joe Zezulka and Scott Richardson.

The prediction for the weekend was strong winds throughout the desert areas, but so far we had only experienced a little breeze here and there. While crossing the spectacular scenic dunes of Algonones Dunes State Recreation Area, which is reminiscent of the Sahara Desert, we got blasted with 60 mph cross winds that made it a little difficult to look around and enjoy the scenery. Whoa, what a challenge riding sideways for 5 miles and our necks stretched to the limits! Thank God everyone did okay. The Dunes are sometimes called the L.A. Sandbox with scores of dirt bikes, dune buggies and others flitting through the sands. What fun!

We finally arrived in Yuma about 5 PM and checked into our motel. It was 68º with just a light breeze and the promise of a beautiful sunset. We rested for a while then went to Josie's favorite eatery, the Cracker Barrel, for dinner and had great food with great company! What could be better? Well, our tummies were warm and full as we returned to the motel for some much needed rest. As we watched the Weather Channel we could see how our friends in Chicago and throughout the Midwest and East coast were wet and freezing their buns off!

The next morning, we had trouble finding a restaurant that didn't have an hour wait for breakfast. Since we didn't want to spend our time waiting we ended up at Burger King for a light breakfast. Then Mike and Heidi then lead us to the famous Yuma Territorial Prison State Park where we went on a self-tour and learn the history of this prison that was used from 1878 until 1909. It was very interesting to learn what type of crimes the inmates, men and women, were imprisoned for, e.g. polygamy, adultery, robbery, fornication, murder, assault, etc. We couldn't stay to watch the old west "shoot out" that was to start at noon because we had to get going so we could enjoy the ride back home during daylight hours. Too bad, maybe next time.

The trip home was pretty much the same route with a little side trip into the town of Borrego Springs for lunch at a quaint Mexican restaurant called Pablitos. It was excellent food. Yummy. Now that we were well fed again and feeling good we were ready to ride with plenty of daylight going for us. A little wind on the way home but not like the gusts at the Dunes yesterday! As we exited the valley going up the mountain road we experience Mother Nature's awesome geological panorama with colors and formations sliced through with great winding roads. We were jamming along, each listening to their music or talking to each other on their CB and enjoying the ride and smiling as we gave our motorcycle a workout. Finally we arrived at Temecula to gas up. It was time to say our farewells and cheers to a great weekend. The ride was terrific and the camaraderie was great. We emailed to make sure everyone got home safely and we all did! It was a BE HAPPY DON'T WORRY weekend.

We all had a great time and look forward to the monthly weekend rides we have scheduled to Morro Bay in April, to Sequoia in May and to Calgary, Alberta for the 18th Annual V-Daze rally in June. This will be the first time V-Daze is held in Canada.