better living | travel

HIGHWAY ROLLERS

It’s throttle up for a fun trip on ’cycles

By DAN HENDRICKS

SPRINGTIME. A spate of sunny, warm and clear weather is an irresistible draw for a road trip. And what better way to go than by motorcyle?

Some friends and I decided on a four-day excursion touching on three states, but covering less than 1,000 miles and costing less than $1,000.

Planning to make Laughlin, Nev., our “base camp,” we decided to rendezvous at 9 a.m. at Cajon Junction in the Cajon Pass, then proceed to Lenwood, just outside of Barstow, to top off the gas tanks and have breakfast.

After a pit stop at the rest area at Goffs, we then stopped for a gallon of gas at Needles (enough to get us to Laughlin and over to Bullhead City, where gas was a “bargain” at $3.19). In Needles, the price was more than $4 a gallon.

We planned our stay at the Aquarius and Harrah’s from Sunday through Tuesday nights, when rates at all of the Laughlin casinos are cheaper than during weekends. Arriving at our hotels at 1 p.m. Sunday, we were pleased to find our rooms were ready and spent the rest of the day looking forward to an up-scale dinner at the Open Range Restaurant at Harrah’s.

Tops on the menu was a surf ’n’ turf selection for $44. Adding a potato side was another $6, vegetables $4 and something to drink $2 — a substantial amount for dinner. We skipped the potatoes and vegetables, settled for iced tea and the $38 ribeye and prime rib.

The meal was perfect, but one couldn’t help but think of the $6 buffets of days gone by.

After breakfast Monday, the itinerary called for a visit to the quaint mining town of Oatman, Ariz., where burros meander freely up and down the main street. In days of old, the burros were instrumental in hauling ore carts from nearby mines.

Nowadays, Oatman is a draw for tourists with lots of shops, eateries and daily activities staged by resident “cowboys.” Oatman is a great place to travel back in time. It’s hard to imagine that the narrow two-lane road through town once served as the main thoroughfare for travelers coming and going from east to west.

Continuing along the Mother Road of Route 66, we headed down the hill into Kingman, Ariz., for a cruise through old town and a late afternoon supper at the Cracker Barrel, a wonderful chain-type general store and restaurant with home-cookin’ — a delicious way to end the day.

On Tuesday, half the group had to return home, so that left an open day for the rest of us. One option for the day would be a trip to the Skywalk at Grand Canyon West, a destination owned and operated by the Hualapai Indian tribe at the Grand Canyon’s western rim.

The Skywalk is a horseshoe-shaped structure extending 70 feet out over the canyon at Eagle Point. The Colorado River can be seen some 4,000 feet below. What makes the structure unique is that it features a transparent walkway and sides, so it’s somewhat unnerving at first to look down and see nothing but space. It’s worth every hesitant step.

A number of tour packages are available at a variety of prices with some including lunch, off-road tours, river rides and aerial tours.

The Skywalk is roughly 92 miles northwest of Laughlin, and 21 miles of that is unpaved. I wouldn’t recommend the trip on or in any open-air vehicle.

Utilizing some other manner of transportation is no problem since there are more than 30 tour and transportation companies that service Grand Canyon West.

To see pictures of the Skywalk and Grand Canyon West, book reservations, view a list of activities or receive maps and directions, visit www.destinationgrandcanyon.com or call (877) 716-9378. Visitors should plan a full day for this adventure.

On Wednesday, it was time to head home. We departed Laughlin at 8 a.m. and chose to take the southern route (Highway 95), enabling us to pass Lake Havasu City, Parker Dam and have a late breakfast at Vidal Junction before crossing the 92-mile expanse west to Twentynine Palms.

Thanks to recent rains, the desert was a blooming carpet with colors of purple, lavender, yellows and white. I never realized how exhilarating it could be to zip along the highway on a motorcyle and experience the sights and smells of the open road.

Because the desert was in full bloom, we opted not to take a trip through Joshua Tree National Park.

Instead we traveled on Highway 62, went through Twentynine Palms and later met Interstate 10 for the final leg home past Palm Springs, Hadley’s Date Nut Farm, Morongo Casino, Yucaipa and Redlands. Our adventure ended at 2:30 p.m. at home in Highland.

In all, we covered 624 miles and spent $560. Not too terrible an expenditure ... in fact, reasonable enough to look forward to another mini-trip in the near future.