Superbloom...

 

That's what the news and weather people here in the Phoenix area are calling it - with all the rain and cool weather, they are saying, "The desert will be full of colorful blooms."  I got out on the CTX to see it for myself.

Spoiler alert: I didn't see anything resembling a Superbloom.  Oh, there were some yellow flowers (weeds?) in places, but I didn't see hardly any blooms on the cacti.

But, the riding was good - sunny, temps in the low 70s, a light breeze out of the east (after a windy morning), and I took the back, curvy road to Wickenburg.  It took some time to get to the good riding; not because of the distance, but the traffic was working against me.  I checked the Maps app before pulling away, and there was a LOT of red around the Interstate Exit closest to us.  I took side roads to the next exit to the west... and found myself stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic trying to get onto the Interstate.  Road construction had it down to one lane, so all that weekend traffic getting out of Phoenix made for a mass of vehicles.

My fuel level was down to 2 bars; with about 65 miles or so to get to Wickenburg, and not sure when I'd get out of the Interstate traffic (only 14 miles to go on the Interstate), I figured I better stop at the TA Travel Center at that exit.  With all the traffic, I wasn't the only one thinking it would be good to top off.  As luck would have it, the pump I found free (the only one) wouldn't take the credit card... I had to go inside to pre-pay... or wait for who knows how long to get a space at another pump.  Of course, there is the conversation: "How much are you going to pump?"  I said, "Two gallons."  His response: "Two gallons?"  Me: "It's a motorcycle - notice the helmet I am wearing?"  Him: "I'll put $10 on your card and it will refund back whatever you don't use."  Me: "So I don't have to come back in when I'm done fueling?"  Him: "Nope.  It will automatically refund what you don't use."  Me: "Fine."  This bullshit negates the pay-at-the-pump premise.

Finally able to get off the Interstate and onto the 2-lane road, I was immediately in the middle of the desert.  And no "Superbloom" to be seen.  I did mount a 360 camera to the bike, and brought my new gimbal to use with my iPhone... not a lot of "flora and fauna" but I did get some riding video and clips of the desert.  Alas, it is still the issue with "wifi interference" to get the video clips downloaded from my 360 camera, so that will have to wait until tomorrow.  I am in the process of downloading what I shot with my iPhone... that, too, will take a while, but at least it is happening.

So, there won't be any "Video at 11:00" (that's newscaster talk), but here's a "grab" from the video I took before heading out...

That thing coming up from the left handlebar is the 360 camera - it is mounted on an extendable "selfie stick" (the best way to use a 360 camera).  No way to mount the gimbal on the bike.

Looking through the phone video, I did get a couple stills of some flowers and cacti...

More video when I can get it downloaded.