Gophers and Cheese

After returning from my trip to Arizona, I was greeted with my grand prize for winning the Lady Hump 2013 Blogosphere Challenge .  I was simply blown away by the bonus custom artwork. Both the front and back of the padded manila envelope contained features that were pleasant surprises for me (and likely many US Postal Service employees too).  The first was the hand-drawn gopher-unicorn hybrid creature, the "gopheicorn", seeming like it was ready to pounce right off the envelope from behind that giant piece of cheese. The second was more subtle,  I blurred the full return address, but in addition to writing a blog, Lady Hump is apparently an edible marshmallow undergarment company.  Who knew? Inside the envelope was my very own copy of Unicorn Amator.  While I have not had a chance to look at all the photos in detail, I have flipped through the whole thing and I can say it does one thing really well... it makes me want to move to Southern California....

I woke up just before 6am on Monday 3/11.  I took a shower, packed my things, and loaded up the bike for the last time.  I found yet another good place to eat and had breakfast at US Egg .  The sunrise was beautiful as I pulled into the parking lot. I had the half & half for breakfast, which is half protein pancakes and half potato skillet.  Protein pancakes are a signature item of theirs and contain blueberries, granola, cinnamon, and almonds.  Everything was great. From there, I rode back to Buddy Stubb's Arizona Harley-Davidson and got there just before they opened at 8am.  I unloaded the bike and snapped some photos. After riding 3 of the 5 days in the rain, the bike was absolutely filthy.  I felt bad for whoever had to clean it.  It probably required an entire tube of chrome polish. According to the Google maps I've been posting for each day of the trip, I covered a total of 1,433 miles which (according to Googl...

From Apache Junction, I headed up to Tortilla Flat, AZ located in Tonto National Forest .  The road was extremely scenic and curvy with low speed limits, switchback curves, and one-lane bridges.  However, the pavement was like a washboard and I felt every bump.  It didn't matter - this ride was really the icing on the cake, a really nice end to a 5-day adventure. When you get to Tortilla Flat, there's a restaurant, and bar, and a couple of shops.  I had some prickly pear cactus gelato - phenomenal on a warm day.  I realize pink ice cream is not very badass but it was tasty and I wish I had ordered 2 scoops.   The road continues onto Roosevelt, AZ but it switches from paved to gravel and I heard it was not very motorcycle-friendly.  I wasn't planning to ride it but as it turns out, the road out of Tortilla Flat was washed out.  Cars and trucks could pass and I even saw I guy on an Can-Am ride through it (I wish I took a photo) but no 2-...

Gophers and Cheese is 3 years old today!  The blog currently contains about 600 posts and I would guess 3,000-4,000 original photos (but I'm not going to count).  Thanks for visiting!!!

The Viking Chapter Antique Motorcycle Club and the Vintage Japanese Motorcycle Club (VJMC) will be hosting the 2013 Antique Motorcycle Show at the Minnesota State Fairgrounds in St. Paul from June 14th to June 15th, 2013.  There's a swap meet too!  Note that the VJMC's show is only on the 15th.  Visit my Guide to Local Events page for links to blog posts and tons of photos from recent years.

Chopper Art Show 2, featuring original works by David Mann , will be held at the NE Minneapolis Armory from 10am to 6pm on May 18th, 2013. You can see some photos from last year's show in my blog posts here: Chopper Art Show - Part 1 Chopper Art Show - Part 2

The 3rd annual Full Tilt Boogie Chopper Show 2013 (aka Full Tilt Chopper Show) will take place at noon at Tavern on the Avenue in St. Paul on July 13, 2013.  Check out my Guide to Local Events page for blog posts and lots of pics from the last 2 years.  I highly recommend attending and it falls right in between two other great shows, Rumble on the Deck on July 11th and the Bearded Lady Motorcycle Freak Show on July 20th.  In fact, I highly recommend attending all three!