The big loop.....

7:27 am - Tuesday - January 30th - GNHS - 48° F, 94%, wind 3 mph out of the east......crystal clear, blue, sunny skies today with a forecast high of 72° F.  On this date in 2019 TLE and I were at Beaver Street Brewing in Flagstaff, AZ having some brews......

TLE and I began our day Monday with another of those 1 mile out and back walks, averaging 3.4 mph....

Post walk picture

 .....and then began to get ready for our all day adventure with Phil and Jeannie....an almost 70 mile excursion in one of our 4 seat Polaris Generals.  We were in the General and on our way by 10 am.  Our goal was to complete the entire Chiriaco Summit Loop, with a stop at the summit for lunch......

....at this point (below) we've driven around 15 miles along the Coachella Canal Road, and are nearing the point where we turn eastward to begin the long climb to Chiriaco Summit from some 150' below sea level to 1,706' above sea level.....

....we've now gained enough elevation that we can see the Salton Sea in the distance (below).....

.....the drive to the summit takes about two hours with a few stops thrown in along the way....we probably stopped three times to take in the big view....which had us arriving at Chiriaco Summit around 12:15 pm.  There is a wonderful cafe there called the Chiriaco Summit Coffee Shop....it is really much more than that with a full menu, and alfresco dining.....

.....I had their Chiriaco Burger (why not, right?), and TLE their Ortega Burger (onion rings included on both)......

.....Philip  got their Corned Beef Hash (breakfast is served all day), and Jeannie their Patty Melt....we all got onion rings, and we all loved our selections.....

....we sat there enjoying the quiet ambiance of their outdoor dining area for over an hour before deciding it was time to begin heading for home.  Chiriaco Summit is just over 1/2 way along the loop, and to get back to GNHS we had to  pick up the Red Canyon Jeep Trail about 1.5 miles from the restaurant.....TLE managed to get a short video of part of our journey along that trail.....

.....riding along the Red Canyon Jeep Trail was the highlight of this long loop.....you stay high for quite a while affording wonderful 360° views......

.....we made several stops along the way to take in the enormous views, and eventually the Salton Sea came back into view......

There's the Salton Sea in the distance!  We must be going the right way!

....by the time we reached the old train trestle it was around 2:20 pm, and we had just shy of 30 minutes left on our journey......

.....and by 3:10 pm we arrived back at the COA office in GNHS....WITHOUT INCIDENT!  The ride was wonderful, and the plush ride of the 4 seat General was greatly appreciated by all.  We returned with over 70% of our fuel remaining....these Generals get great gas mileage!  Without the 'Ride Command' program that comes with these Polaris units we would have gotten lost more than once, but we just kept ourselves on the blue line, and never made a false turn.  This was our first time driving the Chiriaco Summit loop, so having access to 'Ride Command' was priceless for us, and now we can tell our customers what to expect along the route.

We all headed home to rest before reconvening down at the hot pools/tubs at 4:30 pm to enjoy another sunset soak, music, and laughter....I managed to catch the tail end of a very subtle sunset.....

....we were all still full from lunch so we retired to the 'dining/gaming deck' around 5:15 pm for a spirited game of 'Phase 10'.  Philip and Jeannie have never played 'Phase 10' so there was a long learning curve for them, and we didn't finish the game until almost 10 pm.....I came from way, way behind (I was 3 phases down at one point) to win on the 1oth and final phase....the cards definitely favored me this night....

......what a blast we had....there was good wine, great Pico De Gallo and chips, and lots of laughter, and kidding.....a typical Hockwald gathering.  I cannot begin to convey to you here how much it has meant to TLE and I to have this precious time with my brother and his wife....we are so sympatico!  By the way, Philip will turn 60 in about a week.....Happy Birthday little brother!

Thanks for stopping by!