This thread is the documentary of the travels of our mascot. Each post is a leg of the trip, with a map showing that portion of the leg. Special thanks to Tripper who is making the maps, Ironhead for helping out with the Pens, and the Flag idea.

To post to this thread, email me the pics, the EXACT route you took to Tripper, and I'll add it to the thread.

Members who have helped so far...

Pilot1996, Tripper, rgerber, billnourse, albqjim, Oldgeezer, harley rulz, 12Stones, Bastardmaker, Pococj, Big Ted, n2spd, Steveokla, Mikester48, and Skos.

Here is the entire trip of the flag so far...

Updated 7 June 2006 Mascot has traveled 6361 miles.

 

Flag left Yuma at 9:20 on 3 April 2005.

Kelly and I were running late due to a variety of reasons, so we had to hustle. It's about 125 miles from Yuma to Salome, and we were supposed to be there in 40 minutes. Beautiful day, about 70 degrees when we left. We headed North on US 95 to Quartzite, jumped on I-10 for about 12 miles to exit 31 and got off on US 60. Beautiful road on US 60, two lanes, beautiful mountains, cactus, and little traffic. We were pushing 80 MPH the whole way to meet with Tripper (I should have gotten his phone number, but as it turns out the cell phones don't work there anyway).

Just prior to Salome, we flew threw a swarm of bees, peppered the bike, freaked us both out, but no damage done, I have to clean the bike, that's about all. Must have been a 1000 of those suckers, and it felt like we went through a hail storm of blueberrys!

Met with Tripper in Salome and sent the flag on it's way.

Here's the map of our route:



Here is a pic of the hand off:

 

Flag left Salome at 1130 on 3 April 2005.

The following is Tripper's account of his ride:

Starting out at about 7:15 or so the weather was about 45 degrees. I bundled up pretty good with chaps, woolen scarf, and leather jacket. I wanted to take my ¾ helmet but I noticed a crack in the fiberglass shell and ended up wearing my ½ helmet. The panorama dropping down into the low desert from Yarnell to Congress was breath taking. The drop is about 2000 feet in 8 miles and is a series of s turns and switchbacks. After Congress, I hit the wildflowers. Purple, yellow, red, orange, and several shades of green whizzed by at 75 mph so I slowed down to a more sedate 60 and just enjoyed the view. The wildflowers, of course, had side effects: Bugs. Sure was glad for my face shield. I turned on to 60 and started into the Great Arizona Outback. To an old desert rat like me, I worked in Area 51 for some number of years and raced desert in the 60s and 70s, such a place has a beauty all its own. To most folks, the desert appears dead and desolate, but what do they know anyway. I arrived at Salome at 9:50 and took off all my cold weather gear. By 10:30 no sign of Mac and I decided to have breakfast before heading back. I had just paid the bill when a motorcycle pulled up out front. As I was opening the door, there stood Mac and Kelly. We had quick cuppa Joe, took some pics, and then it became time to leave as the winds in my home area were to pick up to 20-30 mph in the afternoon. The trip back proved to be a bit more hurried than the journey out. Back through the wildflowers, my face shield picked up a sufficient number of bugs so that the view was limited to 3 or 4 clear spots. This time I attacked the climb out of the valley with vigor. Not very many panoramic vistas are in evidence climbing. The road winds down into Peebles Valley with some fine horse ranches lining the road. I turned off 89 at Kirkland Junction for the climb into Prescott. The wind picked up about now and I slowed down to 60 mph but heck the speed limit is 50 mph. By the time I reached the home stretch, the wind was gusting up to 25 mph. I made it home just in time. All in all a most excellent ride.



Here is a map of the route:

 

The following is an account of Trippers ride.

I had an uneventful trip across town. I live on the Northwest edge of town and Dick’s office is on the East edge of town. We passed the flag with pictures (Dick should be sending these) and sat down over a cuppa Joe and swapped war stories with Dick and his lovely Wife, Nancy. The flag has completed the second hand off and is in Dick’s capable hands for the next leg to Laughlin.

Here is a map of the route.



Picture of the passing of the flag from Tripper to RGerber.

 

The following is the account of RGERBER's ride:

We left April 20th, 2005 from "Preskitt", AZ. about 0915 on a sunny 44 degree morning and headed North on Arizona 89 into Ashfork. After picking up Historic Route 66 West, we pulled into Seligman at 1045 for a bite to eat and snapshot, and then continued West on Old 66 arriving in Hackberry at 1300 for another snap shot. Then on into Kingman with a stop at Mother Road Harley Davidson for a picture of the flag. We pulled into Laughlin at 1415, and hooked up with Bill about an hour later for the handoff.

Here is a map of the route.



Picture of the passing of the flag from RGerber to BillNourse.

 

The following is the account of BillNourse's ride:

Left Bloomfield about 7:00AM on the 18th and traveled to Mesquite,Nv the first day. Left Mesquite on the second day and went to Las Vegas, then Primm,Nv and stayed the night. Went to Primm to ride the rollercoaster, but it was closed.

Went from Primm to Barstow, Ca. to see the Rt 66 Museum. It was closed. From Barstow, we went to Needles via Ludlow, Amboy, and Essex on old Rt.66. Part of that road is really rough. Had planned on lunch at Roy's Cafe in Amboy, but it was closed. I was beginning to think we would get to Laughlin, and it would be closed.

In Laughlin we met up with Rgerber and got the Mascot, and then spent the week with vendor shopping, poker runs, and a trip to Oatman,AZ.

Woke up Sunday morning to a cloudy sky, and evidence of recent rain. We started home through Kingman, and then on old Rt. 66 to Seligman. At Seligman it started to rain and things only got worse. By Williams, it was snowing hard, and visibility was nothing. We had decided to get a room in Flagstaff, and wait it out, when the sun showed it's face for just a minute.

We left Flagstaff, and in 30 miles the snow had turned to intermittent rain and wind.(25 to 35mph). We had that for the rest of the way home, and it was pouring when we pulled into the garage 12 hours and 500 miles later.

Here is a map of the route.



Here is a pic of Bill getting ready to head to Laughlin meet rgerber.

 

The following is an account of billnourse's ride to Midland, TX.

Left home about 10:00 on Friday 13, to go to Albuquerque, and then on to San Antonio,NM to take the Mascot to Oldgeezer, who by the way, turned out not to be as old as he thought he was.

We went a scenic route which took us on mostly 2 lane highways through Abiqui, NM, Espanola, NM, Sante Fe, Cerrillos, and Midrid, then to Albuquerque.

We spent Friday night in Albuquerque, and on Saturday met Jim(abqjim) and his wife Winny.
Jim suggested that we should take a scenic route to San Antonio instead of going down the Interstate. Thanks for that Jim. What a nice ride. We went on Hwy 337 down the Eastern side of the Manzano Mountains. Beautiful scenery, and several quaint old Spanish settlements with the typical old Catholic church. This took a little longer, but was well worth it.

In San Antonio, we met Pat(Oldgeezer) and his wife Lynne (another great couple), and had green chili cheese burgers at the Owl Bar and Grill. This place is a little hole in the wall that is world famous for green chili cheese burgers.

After signing the Mascot, taking pictures, swapping stories, and planning for other meetings in the future, we all went our seperate directions home.

All in all, a very good experience. I hope others that are involved in the travels of the Mascot find it as rewarding as I have. Jim, Winny, Pat and Lynne, thank you.

Here is a map of the route:



Here is a pic of Bill (billnourse) and Jim (albqjim)



Here is a pic of the hand off:

From left to right Bill (billnourse), Arleen, Jim (albqjim), Winny, Pat (Oldgeezer), and Lynne

 

Here is an account of Oldgeezer's ride:

Lynne and I left Midland after work Friday afternoon and rode a couple of hundred miles to Roswell, New Mexico where we spent the night. Of course, Roswell is famous or infamous for the UFO crash that occurred in 1947 and the theme of the town is extraterresterals. Darn it, we didn't see any little green men wandering around on this trip though.

Saturday morning, we headed west from Roswell on highway 70 to Hondo. At Hondo, we took 380 which runs through Lincoln, NM home of Billy the Kid's last escape, then Capitan, home of the original Smokey the Bear to Carrizozo. The ride through Capitan winds through the foothills of the Lincoln National Forrest.

After gassing up in Carrizozo, we continued on 380 to San Antonio, a ride of 65 miles. We were first met with rolling hills which opened up into huge basins. In the middle of the first basin is the Valley of Fires which is a two mile wide stretch of lava beds. The terrain then goes from lava to sand then finally into good old New Mexico dirt. The Rio Grande River runs just east of San Antonio and was running at its banks due to the Rocky Mountain runoff. This 65 mile ride is one of the most breathtaking in New Mexico.

We had a great time with Bill, Jim and their wifes and enjoyed the best green chili cheeseburgers ever. By the way, Bill foot the bill for the burgers, so I reckon the young guy rule no longer applies. After a bit of visiting and a photo session, we headed back toward Roswell.

We rode back on 380 to Carrizozo but took highway 37 then 48 to Ruidoso. The road from Carrizozo to Ruidoso took us through the mountains with a tremendous view of Sierra Blanca peak to the west. After stopping for gas in Ruidoso, we headed out through the Hondo Valley back to Roswell.

Our plan was to head back to Midland on Sunday, but we were hammered with severe thunderstorms and wind so we stayed Sunday night in Roswell.

Monday morning, we headed out under totally overcast skies. The temperature was in the high 40's so we were thankful we'd brought all our gear. Roswell sits in the bottom of the Pecos Valley where the Pecos River flows. The Pecos' head waters originate in the mountains just outside Santa Fe, New Mexico and eventually dumps into the Rio Grande in west Texas.

Once the climb out of the valley is complete, the terrain is high desert but sandy due to being below the caprock. Fourty miles from Roswell, the road takes climbs up the caprock. The caprock is an interesting phenomonon which occurs in Texas and New Mexico and was created when underground pressures pushed the earth upward. Some portions of the caprock are more cliff like while others have created deep canyons.

The sun finally came out in Seminole, Texas and we enjoyed the wonderful west Texas scenery of sand, sage brush and mesquite the rest of the way home. Our journey covered 760 miles round trip.

 

Here is an account of Oldgeezers ride to meet harley rulz:

I left the Vietnam Memorial at the Midland Airport at 9:00 this morning after the Run For The Wall wreath laying ceremony. Took highway 158 to Sterling City then hit 87 which runs through San Angelo, Eden and into Brady. I met Craig and his wife and their friend Turner at the courthouse square in Brady. After some Texas hill country barbeque, we rode down to Mason on highway 87. At Mason, Craig and crew headed on for Boerne. Not wanting to miss an opportunity to ride the Texas hill country, I took highway 377 through Junction down to Rock Springs, then took 41 highway to highway 83 back through Junction to Ballinger. At Ballinger, I hit highway 158 which runs through Robert Lee and Sterling City back into Midland. Got back to the house at 9:00 pm. Round trip miles 620.

Pictured left to right are harley rulz, his wife- Kayla, and Oldgeezer.

 

Here is an account of Harley Rulz ride to meet Oldgeezer:

Well I have to say it was a great ride.Kyla, Turner and myself had a nice ride and it was great to meet and visit with Pat (thanks again for lunch Pat).We left Boerne around 9:30 and met up with Turner in Comfort Tx.We rode up Hwy 87 through Fredricksburg Tx(a very nice and busy German town)and then on to Mason and Brady.We only put on 240 miles due to the heat on the way home around 100 deg.We had a good day and I look forward to meeting someone else with Mascot.

Here a map of of his route: