The high for the day was 85F at PHX, so when I left home at 1100 I was wearing mesh, and never regretted my choice. The overall mileage was 226 miles, NONE 'officially' dirt, altho' the road from Hwy 70 to the dam, then back via the LONG way was pretty rough, covered w/ sand and gravel in many places.
The trip started w/ about 30 miles to the Florence Junction and the transition to Hwy 60 to Globe via Superior, Top-of-the-World and Miami, another 30 miles, then S on Hwy 70 to the cut-off to the dam on an Apache reservation. The road in isn't TOO bad, but bordered w/ possibly the heaviest concentration of broken glass along the road I've ever seen (and AZ has about the HIGHEST amount of broken glass in ditches I've ever seen!) including yards. Wonder where the kids play...?
The Coolidge Dam was opened in the '30s (at the opening Will Rogers quipped that if he owned the reservoir "he'd MOW it...!", as there's not a lot of water there) - it dams the Gila River. It's very "art-deco" in the style of those years - check the pics.
There was quite a bit of water going out the bottom - more than I've seen before - and I left going S and E towards Bylas, another reservation town about 30 miles away from the dam, and on Hwy 70 again.
Heading back towards Globe on 70 I passed an airport across from an Indian Casino, where there's been a parked amphibian airplane for AT LEAST the last three years (Grumman Goose?), beside an Expeditior in sad shape. I stopped in Globe for a $1 ice cream at McDees, then continued the hour and a half to home, arriving about five hours after I'd left.
Another GOOD AZ ride...!
The trip started w/ about 30 miles to the Florence Junction and the transition to Hwy 60 to Globe via Superior, Top-of-the-World and Miami, another 30 miles, then S on Hwy 70 to the cut-off to the dam on an Apache reservation. The road in isn't TOO bad, but bordered w/ possibly the heaviest concentration of broken glass along the road I've ever seen (and AZ has about the HIGHEST amount of broken glass in ditches I've ever seen!) including yards. Wonder where the kids play...?
The Coolidge Dam was opened in the '30s (at the opening Will Rogers quipped that if he owned the reservoir "he'd MOW it...!", as there's not a lot of water there) - it dams the Gila River. It's very "art-deco" in the style of those years - check the pics.
There was quite a bit of water going out the bottom - more than I've seen before - and I left going S and E towards Bylas, another reservation town about 30 miles away from the dam, and on Hwy 70 again.
Heading back towards Globe on 70 I passed an airport across from an Indian Casino, where there's been a parked amphibian airplane for AT LEAST the last three years (Grumman Goose?), beside an Expeditior in sad shape. I stopped in Globe for a $1 ice cream at McDees, then continued the hour and a half to home, arriving about five hours after I'd left.
Another GOOD AZ ride...!