Fountain Hills Ride 4/19/2009

Fountain Hills has been on our list for a while now. A day ride that easily got Mrs. BAM prepped for the coming season of several planned trips. Total mileage for the day was 114.

This particular ride started out from our home in Peoria, AZ with no particular scenary until we actually got to Fountain Hills. The particular route we took once in Fountain Hills led us through neighborhoods filled with incredible homes and amazing views.

One of several problems with this ride was the fact that heading South on the 101 we were detoured off the highway and ran into way to much traffic for a Sunday jaunt. My guess is that the detour cost us nearly 30 minutes of time which provided nothing but total CAUTION for fear we would be clipped. This nearly happened while trying to exit off the 101 detour. It amazes me no matter how many signs they put up in advance, advising that lanes are narrowing down to one, that there is always that one freakin jerk that plays the "I didn't realize" game... Well it nearly cost us big time as we headed into a slight skid but as always, the Harley kept it's cool and we moved on.

Anyway, once we arrived into Fountain Hills, noted for it's World renowned fountain, we were greeted by a pond with no running fountain. WHAT GIVES!!!! So after thinking this may be like the fountains in Vegas that go off every 20 minutes, we waited. Nothing... So we took a few picks of the local pond and then off we went to the Italian restaurant we picked out in advance. As we turned the corner to the restaruant we were greeted with a "Sorry, we're closed". Again, WHAT GIVES!!!!

We didn't have a frisbee on hand but as you can see, they have the park / pond set up to play some frisbee golf..

So off in search of another restaurant. So that you know, Fountain Hills is a town and not a city. My guess is that they hold true to this "small town" attitude as there was hardly anything open on this Sunday ride. So we were left to ask a gas station attendant where there might be a local establishment we could eat at. He directed us to "Streets of New York" which was located about 4 miles from the notorious fountain in a strip center.

We finally arrived and decided to order their popular New Yorker pizza. I have to say that it was one of the better highlights of the ride. The pizza we consumed was pretty top notch. After scarfing down a 10 inch pizza, we decided to make an unplanned stop to one of our favorite Harley stores on the way back home - Buddy Stubs.

As we made our own detour, and arrived we were greated with a closed gated and found that they were closed as well! WHAT GIVES!!!!!!

At this point we threw in the towel and headed home. Regardless of all the short changes we got, it was worth just getting out on the bike and taking in the sound of the pipes and wind..

I have read plenty on Fountain Hills from other riders and they rank it as a decent ride. But in my opinion, I would have to only give it 2 REVS. There just was not enough to take in and do at this particular location. My guess is that several of these riders continued on past Fountain Hills to get to the better part of the ride which is to Apache Junction and Tortilla Flats.

Sorry Fountain Hills.

Rubber Side Down!

BAM