Bell Rock and the Adobe Village Graham Inn. (Click image to enlarge)

Here, the BMW K1200 GT is in its element. The heaviest of the three bikes, the GT weighs in at 680 pounds wet, and for long hauls, it is by far the most comfortable of the trio. The GT is long-legged, with a 61-inch wheelbase, and has the most upright seating position of the bikes. This makes fewer demands on the lower back but more on the rear end. Compensation comes in the form a plush, more forgiving, electrically heated seat. You can almost finish off the 5.4-gallon fuel tank before squirming sets in and relief becomes a persistent thought.

	(Click image to enlarge)

Other touches enhance the GT’s image as a luxury tourer: heated grips, an electrically adjustable windshield, and, best of all, an electronic cruise control with a set-and-resume switch. The cruise control feature may seem novel or trivial, but it does make long hauls less strenuous and more enjoyable. You can also amuse yourself by setting the cruise control at an adventurous speed and seeing how long you can handle the curves before having to intervene—because of spent courage or in response to a sharp rap to the ribs when your passenger finally figures out what you are up to.

Passing through Payson, the road transforms from an intimate tree-lined, two-lane blacktop into a wide-open, four-lane interstate framed by grand vistas, large boulders, and high-desert scrub trees. We begin a long, gradual descent into the desert far below, and from this elevation, the horizon spreads out before us. It seems as though you can see all the way to Phoenix, still some 70 miles away. Familiar looking saguaro cacti stand tall with arms held high and begin to gather like sentinels along the road, growing into a low desert forest as we drop down into the land of perpetual summer.