Today was the first day of my retirement, so I slept late, and when I got up I put my robe and slippers on and brewed myself a cup of tea and curled up in my recliner with a good book. NOT.......
I got up early, checked the weather, suited up and took the 650 to breakfast. After a stack of pancakes with bacon and a couple cups of steaming hot coffee I was ready to put some miles on! My destination today is the rural farming / ranching area of Arlington Az ( it would be a stretch to call it a community ) Haha!
After swinging through the town of Buckeye I head west on a forgotten highway. The old US 80, the former highway to the Arizona town of Gila Bend. The old highway is a two lane , meandering road that follows the Gila River and the mountain foothills. This highway has been replaced with a modern high speed super slab.
I'm riding through farm land and cattle ranches, natural desert on one side of the road and vast expanses of farm fields on the other side. It's not hard to see that time has forgotten this old highway.
There was a great blue heron trying to catch his breakfast here in this irrigation canal when I pulled up here.
The irrigated fields also attract huge flocks of snowy egrets. I also saw roadrunners and buzzards were constantly circling overhead. ( Did they know something I didn't know? )
The Palo Verde Nuclear power plant is just about six miles from here, I am passing thru the fall out zone.
These are the kiss your ass goodbye sirens. If you hear these go off, go to the fridge, get yourself a beer and go outside and work on your tan!
And now the destination, the historic Gillesspie Bridge. Built in 1927, this was part of a 1909 territorial legislative effort to connect the major Arizona cities with direct routes to facilitate US Mail delivery.
The bridge is 1662 feet long and was both the longest bridge and largest steel structure in Arizona. The bridge underwent a 7.3 million dollar rehab in 2011 and is listed on the National register of historic places.
The Gillespie bridge crosses the Gila River, and this is looking from the bridge, you see the remains of the Gillespie Dam. Built in 1921 by Frank Gillespie to supply water to his cattle ranch Paloma Ranch. It was the largest privately funded dam in Arizona and it stood until 1993, when a flood on the Gila River washed it out causing the largest dam failure in Arizona history.
At this point I was standing on an observation deck that was built during the 2011 renovation, and I hear gunshots coming from down somewhere in the river bed. Yahoos shooting at God knows what. Pretty soon I hear a PING! Something hit the roof of the structure I was standing under. Ok time to go, I quickly put my helmet on and head for home. All in all a terrific day, and a great way to start a retirement!
I got up early, checked the weather, suited up and took the 650 to breakfast. After a stack of pancakes with bacon and a couple cups of steaming hot coffee I was ready to put some miles on! My destination today is the rural farming / ranching area of Arlington Az ( it would be a stretch to call it a community ) Haha!
After swinging through the town of Buckeye I head west on a forgotten highway. The old US 80, the former highway to the Arizona town of Gila Bend. The old highway is a two lane , meandering road that follows the Gila River and the mountain foothills. This highway has been replaced with a modern high speed super slab.
I'm riding through farm land and cattle ranches, natural desert on one side of the road and vast expanses of farm fields on the other side. It's not hard to see that time has forgotten this old highway.
There was a great blue heron trying to catch his breakfast here in this irrigation canal when I pulled up here.
The irrigated fields also attract huge flocks of snowy egrets. I also saw roadrunners and buzzards were constantly circling overhead. ( Did they know something I didn't know? )
The Palo Verde Nuclear power plant is just about six miles from here, I am passing thru the fall out zone.
These are the kiss your ass goodbye sirens. If you hear these go off, go to the fridge, get yourself a beer and go outside and work on your tan!
And now the destination, the historic Gillesspie Bridge. Built in 1927, this was part of a 1909 territorial legislative effort to connect the major Arizona cities with direct routes to facilitate US Mail delivery.
The bridge is 1662 feet long and was both the longest bridge and largest steel structure in Arizona. The bridge underwent a 7.3 million dollar rehab in 2011 and is listed on the National register of historic places.
The Gillespie bridge crosses the Gila River, and this is looking from the bridge, you see the remains of the Gillespie Dam. Built in 1921 by Frank Gillespie to supply water to his cattle ranch Paloma Ranch. It was the largest privately funded dam in Arizona and it stood until 1993, when a flood on the Gila River washed it out causing the largest dam failure in Arizona history.
At this point I was standing on an observation deck that was built during the 2011 renovation, and I hear gunshots coming from down somewhere in the river bed. Yahoos shooting at God knows what. Pretty soon I hear a PING! Something hit the roof of the structure I was standing under. Ok time to go, I quickly put my helmet on and head for home. All in all a terrific day, and a great way to start a retirement!
.
