Articles

2012 SEAT Overnighter in Springerville

Details: Written by Deryle & Wanda Mehrten

The heat in the valley was intense over the SEAT Overnighter weekend, the 8th through the 10th of June. Temps in the 100s were predicted and they were definitely right up there. Good thing the temps were in the 70s and 80s up on the Mogollon rim, so much nicer.
Wanda and I rode up Hwy 191, The Coronado Trail. As usual The Trail didn’t disappoint for excitement and outright danger. A herd of deer was our first surprise. Never can tell which direction screwy deer will jump, and when there are eight or nine of them, it gets exciting right away. The real scare was the excessive amount of crack sealer on the highway between mile marker 200 and about mile marker 212. Very scary, enough that I sent a letter to ADOT asking for some consideration for us two wheelers.
Unfortunately Saturday the wind came up and spoiled our plans to ride around Big Lake and on the newly paved portion of Hwy 273. Ron Miller camped at Big Lake and told us of 30 plus mile per hour winds. It was a good day to spend in Springerville and the newly opened XA Bar with their 24 beers on tap!
Reed’s Lodge, SEAT HQ for the weekend, is a quaint Mom and Pop motel with a gift shop that highlights John Wayne. It was the perfect place to spend the night – right across the street from Booga Reds where we ate dinner Saturday night. Booga Red’s does great Mexican food, it was a hoot. Diane and Allen did some excellent door prizes before everyone left. Good company for sure.
Our ride home took us down Hwy 180 where we got a bird’s eye view of the massive New Mexico Whitewater-Baldy fire. We stopped at the Leopold Vista and could see flames, scary stuff. The fire was visible all the way down to the Mule Creek turn off and beyond.
We gassed up in Lordsburg and came home via Hwy 80. Most excellent ride. We love those SEAT Overnighters!

Art Jacobson checking in Saturday afternoon.