Saturday, November 05, 2016

It’s The Journey

 

While we were thinking of a good place for lunch, Duane remembered a bbq place we’d tried a couple of years ago.  We managed to find it in Old Town Cottonwood.

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Hog Wild BBQ is just a little hole-in-the wall joint with some outside seating.  This is just about the whole restaurant.  There are a couple of tables behind me and a restroom outside.

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My pulled pork sandwich and potato salad turned out to be giant sized.  I could barely eat it all.  Even Duane had to abandon most of his bun!  The flavor was first rate—some of the best bbq we’ve eaten anywhere.

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After lunch we all waddled out to the bikes, suited up and headed for the hills.  We retraced our ride through Jerome, and back around Mingus Mountain and back through Prescott Valley to Prescott.

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From there we took our usual cutoff on Iron Springs Road for the ride through Skull Valley.

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Taking a stretch break at Skull ValleyIMG_5428

Just after our stretch, we reconnected with AZ89 and retraced the rest of our route through Peeples Valley, past the antique shops in Yarnell,

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and back down ‘the hill’.  We were glad that the downhill lanes were open again (see Old Is New Blog).  The view is better from here.

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We pulled out of the park at 10 this morning.  By the time we were headed for home it was late afternoon.

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We pulled into the park at 5—a long but very pleasurable day.

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I invited everyone over for home-made ice cream for supper.  Smiley had previous plans, and Jan and Doug came over later, but Brock, Leola and we enjoyed our supper while the sun shone.  Yum!

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The temperatures for our ride changed with the altitudes, of course.  We started out at about 2800’ in Congress, went up 2000’ feet to Yarnell, up to 6000’ just outside Prescott, and up to 7000’ in Jerome.  The air temp hovered in the 60’s but the breeze was probably in the upper fifties, especially when the sun disappeared behind any of the huge clouds that decorated the sky all day.  Whatever it was, it convinced us to wear several layers.  We all managed to stay comfortable and enjoy every twisty mile of beautiful scenery.

A day of rest on Saturday.

Louise and Duane

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