DAY 7 Trip To Tucson Arizona 4-26-09

DAY 7, Sunday, 4-26-09, we had plans to go up to Gates Pass, thru the Saguaro National Park, stop at the Horseshoe Restaurant in Picture Rocks and then to the Steak Out Restaurant in Marana Arizona and then back home. On today's ride were Bill & Jackie, Jason & Kim, Dale & his daughter Marie, and me. Scroll down for the ride today & REMEMBER: IF YOU WANT TO SEE THE PICTURE BIGGER, JUST CLICK ON THE PICTURE...





Today started off with Emily playing my secretary and taking a call from Janice back in Texas..

Emily talking to Janice and telling her how well behaved I am...

Dale arrives with Marie, his daughter. Here is Marie gearing up for today's ride

Marie & Dale by the Triumph they will be riding today

Marie & Dale & the Triumph

The back of Dale's vest

The front of Dale's vest. He was with the 3rd Marine Division in Nam

Today's crew: Marie, Dale, Kim, Jason, Jackie & Bill

Same riders, same line up.... Marie, Dale, Kim, Jason, Jackie & Bill

The side of Jackie's helmet...

Getting ready to head out

Jackie & Bill as we stop to gas up

Dale & Marie heading on down the road

Dale & Marie on the Triumph rolling on...

Jason & Kim on their Harley as we head out to Gate's Pass

Bill & Jackie up front, Dale & Marie behind him and Jason & Kim in front of me

Some Saguaro Cactus and other desert growth as we head up to Gate's Pass

Saguaro Cactus on the mountains & hill sides.

We catch up with and fall behind other bikers as we all continue up...

Another hill side with Saguaro's

Nearly there....

At Gate's Pass, Bill & Jason get their pics taken by Jackie & Kim, while Marie sheds her leathers..

Jason & Bill at Gate's Pass

Bill & Jackie at Gate's Pass with Bushmaster Peak behind them

Bill & Jackie by the Harley's

We got talking to a biker named Jerry at Gate's Pass and he took this pic of us. Left to Right: Bill & Jackie, Jason & Kim, me and Marie & Dale

Bill & Jackie, Jason & Kim, me and Marie & Dale at Gate's Pass Arizona

This is Jerry & his 09 Harley Softail Custom. Thanks for taking our pics Jerry. It was great meeting you and ride safe...

Here we are talking about our route when we depart Gate's Pass. Bill, Jackie, Kim, Jason, Dale & Marie

The Plaque telling about Bushmaster Peak

Bushmaster Peak, Arizona

Bill and Dale talking to Marie prior to our leaving Gate's Pass

Kim & Jackie at Gate's Pass

Kim, me and Jackie with Bushmaster Peak behind us...

Bill & Jackie and their Harley

Kim & Jason and Bill & Jackie

This is Michael & his 05 Honda 11300 VTX. Michael stopped and talked with us at Gate's Pass. Great meeting you Michael and Ride Safe...

Kim, Jason, Jackie, Bill, Marie & Dale wait for me to quit talking with Michael so we can leave...

We leave Gate's Pass and head on thru Saguaro National Park enroute to the Horseshoe in Picture Rocks Arizona. Dale is in front of me and Marie is now riding with me because I have a backrest. She was afraid she was going to fall off the back of the Triumph...

Up front are Bill & Jackie followed by Jason & Kim and Dale...

Marie, now leaning back on the backrest, is enjoying the ride...

Traveling thru the the Saguaro National Park

Some of those Saguaro's are 15-20 feet high

We get to the Horshoe Steakhouse & Saloon at Picture Rocks. Here are Kim & Dale under the sign. For more on the Horseshoe, see this link: http://picturerockshorseshoe.com/

The Horseshoe Steakhouse was one of the stops on a poker run and we arrived right in the middle of it...

This is Evelyn & John, friends of Bill's, who were riding on the poker run

Evelyn & John at their Triumph

Kim & Jason check out the menu

Jackie & Kim at the Horseshoe Steakhouse & Saloon.

This is our waitress, Georg, a.k.a. Debbie, Sally, Theresa, Carol, Susan, Janice etc. She said to put this under her picture on this post. So we did and we never did find out her real name.. She was a lot of fun though and had a great sense of humor...

Marie & Dale

Kim & Dale

Some of the bikes on the poker run

Dale & Kim. Dale and Jason & Kim are all good friends...

A couple more bikes in the poker run arrive

Kim perches in the shade before we head out

Marie & Dale at the Horseshoe Steakhouse..

Jackie & Bill at the Horseshoe Steakhouse, prior to our departure

Bill was looking at this 03 Triumph

This is an 07 Saxon

This is Travis, owner of the 07 Saxon

This is Rob, owner of the 03 Triumph

As we leave Picture Rocks and head to Marana, I get Bill & Jackie in the mirror

Jason & Kim up front followed by Dale and then Bill & Jackie in front of me

Dale heading toward Marana

Looking forward at our next destination up near those mountains

This is one of those pictures that just happened. As I took this picture of Bill & Jackie, I didn't know that Dale had come into view in the mirror until we were checking the pics later.

Bill & Jackie rolling along....

Dale still solo as Marie was riding with me & still leaning on the backrest of Ms. Clone

Kim & Jackie talking while we sit out a light

Kim starts grinning at me because the light was fixin' to turn green and I was still clicking away... Can you say "left behind"?

Dale in my mirror

We get to the Steak Out Restaurant in Marana Arizona and we head inside

Sometimes the price to pay for a great ride is a sore butt. Here is Kim showing us what a great time she was having..

Kim & Jason inside the Steak Out Restaurant

The waiter takes our picture. Left to Right: me, Jackie, Bill, Marie, Dale, Kim & Jason

After lunch, Jackie & Kim have a chat out front while we get things ready to go.

The Steak Out in Marana Arizona. For more info, click this link: http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/byauthor/288666

Getting ready to head back to Tucson....

Another price to pay for a great ride is being tired. Upon returning home, apparently Jackie took this picture of Bill & me as we crashed in place, he in his recliner and me at the computer. This will conclude Day 7.

I had a great time today and enjoyed riding with everyone. We enjoyed meeting Jerry, Michael, Travis, Rob and Georg, our multi named waitress. All great people.. I look forward to seeing what DAY 8 will bring..

Scroll down for more rides, events & posts and don't forget to click on the "older posts" link at the bottom of EACH page for more rides and posts. Check out North Texas Bikers (1) at http://www.jjskewlstuff.blogspot.com/ for rides, events & posts from January 08-November 08. Until next post, ya'll be careful out there, ride safe, keep the rubber on the road & pray for our Troops................JOHN