The Don Puccio's Excellent Adventures

All,

I rode from the Grand Canyon to Phoenix yesterday.

The Arizona mountains are so different from the northwest's. Its amazing how the smells of the dessert take me back ... have you ever smelled the dessert after a rain? Just like music can take you back, smells can do the same.

All the way i was watching the clouds and the rain and dark clouds surrounding my path. I was thinking about the old Navajo woman who told me, "go where yo want those clouds don't cool." I had decided to ride into the rain as is, no rain gear, no coat, skull helmet, just ride in and take it. Now i lived in Arizona for 8 years so i know the rain is like here. It is NOT like Seattle rain. It pounds you and drenches you in seconds. The whole point was being soaked does not matter here because the rain is warm. I used to love running in the rain in college at ASU. I was only worried about visibility. I traipsed through the mountains between cloud bursts and never got rained on.

So, next adventure; as i was nearing Phoenix, in construction with concrete blockades on both sides of the freeway lane i was in, a car came by and told me my headlight was out. It was dusk, i had just spent half an our watching the sunset. Also there was a dessert dust storm blowing into Phoenix. (see pic) You can see it? Moving left to right on the ground sorta pinkish in the sunset. I have seen these before and they are deadly dangerous in a car. On a Harley I was not planning on riding into it. It was dark. Riding a Harley at night with no headlight was not in my plans so I got off at the next exit and found a hotel and got a room. For those of you who know Phoenix, I am near Pinnacle Peak road. That used to be this place way out in the dessert where they had a cowboy steak place that would cut your tie off and nail it to the wall if you wore one. We'd always get an old tie and let them cut it off just for fun. Anyways, now its on the edge of the city. Amazing!