ABQ - Las Vegas (NM) - Taos - Santa Fe - ABQ Loop

I stayed at the motel down the street so I didn't have to throw my son out 2 nights in a row, and he could get his time travel machine working. The original plan, which is not usually the actual thing, was to have a leisurely morning coffee and wait for the BMW shop to open and then maybe clean the bike up and do a quick trip up to Grants to visit a guy I have been pen-paling with. But, Once I started the bike up and pulled onto Rt25, I had to go for one more ride. It was 40 degrees so pretty cold, but I had plenty of layers so I decided to ditch the plan and just head to Las Vegas NM and go north over the hill to Taos. Only one hitch. I traveled for a couple hours east basking in the cool morning sun and it occurred to me that I had not seen any signs for Las Vegas for, well, 2 hours. Hmmmm. I stopped and sure enough I had taken 40 east instead of 25 north, yes, for 2 hours. But I immediately realized there was a road that went through no-mans-land north to Las Vegas, where I could continue on to Taos. Another meditative morning clearing the noggin.

The road from Las Vegas to Taos was twisty with lots of small towns that looked like old ski bum meccas. I could see a lot of snow on the peaks and sure enough as I climbed it got colder and colder and then the roadsides got more and more snow covered. There was a lot of sand in the road from previous storms I suppose so I had to take it real easy in the turns. There was a few miles that I watched for ice since it was definitely below freezing and there was water in the road. I had to wait a half hour for a road crew to finish work up, and there was one car in front of me who kept the flag guy busy the whole time. So no chatting with the flag guy.
I got to Taos and tried to go north into the town proper but there was a lot of traffic and I saw a busy burrito truck so stopped for lunch. The size of the crowd was correct for how good this guys burritos were. Yum..
I headed south toward Santa Fe and did not realize how far it was, but the road was smooth and not much traffic going south. I decided to skip Sante Fe and took the bypass that directly fed into Rt25. I texted jake and he was not getting home early so I decided to take the Turquoise Trail (Rt14) which I have been on a couple times. It goes on the east side of a small range so the sun kept disappearing and the temperature drops fast here when the sun goes away.

Warming up in the soon to set sun.

I pulled over at a nice big roadside paved area and just sat in the sun as it started disappearing. I go back to Rt40 and then back to Jakes place. He got back around 6 and we walked a long way to a Chinese restaurant he wanted to try. Nice long cool walk with your son is a nice way to end the day.
I check the odometer and it looks like I put about 3100 miles on this trip. My plane leaves tomorrow mid-day so maybe I can take a small ride in the morning, or just sleep in. Final odometer reading after Jake and I rode to breakfast the net morning as 90518 and it was 87368 when I started so 3150 miles total.

Globe AZ to Albuquerque NM (Wrong turns are always better!)

Another early morning since the day is so short. I must say, sleep has not been a problem. They gave me a great big new handicapped room so very spacious (for a Motel 6). I had a couple cups of coffee and no oil check since there is no flat spots on the hillside where this motel is located, but a check later on says it was a little high, but fine. If you want to see a big mine, go to Google Maps, turn on satellite images and look for Globe, AZ. I only saw a small part of it from the road. Actually, if you poke around Arizona, there a lot of mines.
So the plan was to take Rt 60 east and stay on it all day but old Rubberneck Ric missed the turn and ended up taking Rt 70 (only off by 10) and headed south east instead of northeast. It was quite some time time later I discovered this, but it turned out great. I passed the big town of Safford in a large area that appears to grow a lot of cotton? Who knew they grow cotton in Arizona, but there it was, huge cotton fields and those giant tractor trailer sized bales of cotton mechanically picked just like the ones I saw in George a couple years ago. The soil looks pretty black and fertile, which is a surprise, and they appear to have water from somewhere. Jake said New Mexico got a lot of rain this year so maybe these guys did as well. I got to Lordsburg way down on Rt 10 and then ricocheted back up Rt90 back up to Silver City. Now I was expecting the usual tumbleweed town with one tired gas station, but this is a booming little town, full of Prius', yoga stores, art shops, coffe places and most importantly, a Bernie Sanders command center! This town, as the name implies, was built on the silver mines back in the late 1800's and still has a mine nearby (copper I am guessing), but somewhere along the way got popular for what appear to be tree huggers. I stopped for coffee in a local bar / diner and a guy qith a big cowboy hat, boots, etc chatted me up. He lives on his dads ranch which raises beef, but he and his dad are city boys from Los Angeles, so I am guessing they have enough money to make it a hobby. What self respecting calf roper would be sitting in a bar at 11am. I stopped back at the Bernie store and the folks inside were very excited to have someone from Bernies state right there in their campaign center. They said people are curious about him and never say anything bad about him, but just don't know much about him. I bought a Bernie shirt for Jake with red and green chile peppers on it, future collectors item for sure.
They also told me I had to take Rt 152 to Truth or Consequences (it's a town) and they were spot on. That is one twisty road with 10 and 15 mph turns all over the place. What a great ride up through forests and deep canyons. Wow!!
It took a while since there are so many turns, but eventually I stopped at the overlook for a pic and then headed down the other side. I got to the other side of the range and it flattened out a bit, then back to hot and flat. Again the roads are in great shape, but watch out for rocks in the road through the twisties.
Harry Chapin came back but only one all day so not bad..
I was a bit disappointed to get to Rt25 which leads back north to ABQ, but it was time. I checked the map and i was still 150+ miles south of ABQ so crank up the tunes and up the highway I went.

Once more I pulled into ABQ a little after dark, got a motel and stopped by Jakes just as he was getting home from work. We walked across town to find a place with great pizza and beer, then walk back, say goodnight and back to the motel. Another great long day. Tomorrow I may stop at the BMW shop and see if I can get a tuneup now or net spring. The BMW is getting "chatty" so it might be time for some well earned TLC. And maybe another nice long ride..

El Cajon CA to Globe AZ

I have been half dreading and half looking forward to riding back across nothingness, but ti turned out to fly by. I set the alarm for an hour before sunrise so I could get a good day in. Riding back through what I did last night explains why it seemed so dark. There is not much going on in this part of California which surprises me because i am only 20-30 miles from San Diego. Lots of wilderness left down here. A beautiful day and I put layers on, but soon started shedding them as it warmed up. It got into the 80's today which was perfect. Lots of border patrol action with the tell-tale white trucks parked here and there on sand dunes and overpasses. Like the trip west on Rt 10, I had to stop on Rt 8 at a security check and both times they just asked if I was a US citizen and waved me on. I guess no place to stash anybody on the beemer. The laundry flapping out the back probably convinced them I was too much of a yokel to do anything illegal. So I can ride for hours and hours and not get tired. The indian bead seat helps a lot and I have had it for 10+ years at least. Not sure why all the fish line and week whacker line has not let go by now but best to leave some things alone. Laundry was dry by the time I got to Gila Bend so I stashed it away. Tips for all of you, it's best to have cool undies in good repair if you are going to parade them on the interstate, just sayin..
I saw a lot of something green growing (thanks to irrigation) but will need to research it. Also saw some huuuuge solar projects, flat panel PV and one gigundo trough mirror type that was feeding steam turbines. They certainly have land galore out here so might as well fill it up with solar. Also a lot of wind turbines all over. But not much else..

I have been interested in going on the old Rt 70 back to ABQ and the entry point from this end is a town called Globe. This town was somewhat of a mystery because it actually has hotels in it, but does not appear to be a tourist town. Something going on up there. I caught Rt10 back west just far enough to get Rt 387, 87,287, then Rt 70 to Globe. Miami and Globe are co-joined towns that have very active copper mining going on, as well as other mining, so it is a big hopping town up here. Lots of food places and lots of hotels. So being Sunday night I had my pick. I walked down to a local Mexican place which was packed. Turns out a rodeo had just ended this afternoon and the town was emptying out and people were catching a byte before leaving. It is in the 60's here tonight and again, pitch black after the sun went down at 5pm. Tomorrow I am hoping to get back to ABQ to see my boy.

Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle

Today was epic!! My clutch hand and brake hand are both sore from shifting and braking all day. These California roads are a) in perfect shape, b) not busy at all, and c) beautiful. It is such a contrast when changing from the desert floor to the mountains in population and temperature. Why people aren't flocking to the mountain tops is beyond me.
I got a late start because I had to go find more oil (synthetic 20-50) since the beemer consumed some yesterday. While I was at it, it has bothered me that if I had a flat in the desert, which I will have 2 solid days of, I do not have much to repair it, so I got a small pump and a can of (hold your nose) Fix-A-Flat. I know, but I m not staying out beside the road if I have a flat. I have a tire plug kit (tubeless) that came with the bike, and I have never used, but just in case.. And now I am at peace.
And Harry and Sue must have patched things up because I think I poked at the iPod enough this morning that I did not hear a single Harry Chapin song all day (que heavenly noises). Now if I could just sneak some EL&P or early Elton John (not the later smultzy crap), or some good old Black Sabbath or Alice Cooper into Deb's music collection. But other than that, awesome tunes all day.
I went back through Idyllwild again since the road is so amazing, and then up to San Bernadino and found the little crooked road that goes over the mountain via Big Bear Lake.
The first part of Rt18 is bizarre in that it has the same 15 and 20 mph hairpin turns, but you also have 2 lanes of cars going through the hairpins side by side! And every Honda Civic driver things he is Mario Andretti to boot. I just chilled and let the circus go by and found a dead spot to lope up the hill in. They all turned off to go to Crestline anyway and I had the rest of the ridge pretty much to my self.  And I kept twisting up and up and up. There is a small ski town near the ski area up there, and beyond that is Big Bear Lake, which is a good sized town. The Lake is pretty much empty, I assume from the drought and it is odd to see all these nice houses and camps overlooking a gravel bed. Bet the water skiing is pretty rough.
So down the other side which is also twisty until you get to Lucerne Valley where you go right and drive across the desert floor seemingly forever with no real signs telling you how far anything is. I ended up back at the wind turbines where i was yesterday. My last trick was to find the mountain road that goes from Palm Desert (crazy rich development with florescent green lawns) up over the top. I found it and this time the "Porsche packs" were racing each other to the top through the twisty roads. One thing I had to watch for was rocks in the road. And these suckers are big ones. Not sure how a Porsche would fare if they hit one of those babies.
Again, the contrast between what is going on in the valley and the mountains is striking. The mountain towns seem like nice little communities and if you don't open a gift shop or fake old time store of some kind, people just sort of drive through and leave you alone by the looks. There were a couple towns that had a lot of tourists in them, and they were pretty cute.
This is a pretty large piece of California up here and I rode through forest land, pastures, horse paddocks, and some pretty nice open meadows.

The sun started setting as I descended down to Rt 8 and it was pitch black by the time I got down there. Rt79 intersects the interstate where I will spend my day tomorrow heading back east, and I had hoped there would be a hotel nearby, but it was not to be. So I checked the map and the nearest hotels were west almost all the way to San Diego, which is not that far as it turns out. So I found hotels in El Cajon.
So an awesome day of twisties. I am actually kind of looking forward to the zen trance of the desert tomorrow, and my hands need a rest anyway.

Buckeye AZ to Hemet CA

Half a work day and then FUN!! I left the crappy overpriced hotel (and only one around) by 7am and had a cool ride for a couple hours, then stopped for coffee in Blyte CA. The temp stayed around 50-60 but it was very sunny. The iPod kept playin the same several songs over and over and I think "Shuffle" must be Check for "Harry Chapin" because I must have heard the "Taxi" song 4 times. Harry and Sue, just get over it and get together. At first I felt sorry for you two, but after hearing it that many times it just seems petty! Jeeze.
The temperature got up to 80 or so by the end of the day so extremely pleasant. You notice a difference as soon as you cross into California in the "public wealth" of CA vs AZ. Everything seems better kept, roads are better, gas stations tidier, cars are cleaner, just seems better somehow? Maybe Calif is doing something better, but you see a difference as soon as you cross the border. I took another break in Indio and then another to take some pictures of the turbines in San Gorgonio pass.

There are turbines of every vintage here. I can remember when the little ones were the big ones and driving through the pass on I10 is very cool. Some real old ones were in various states of repair but 90% were turning and making power.
I finally had enough "work" getting here and now it was time to play. I saw a really crooked road that went through the San Jacinto State park, and it did not disappoint. The road was in good shape and nary a straight piece for 25 miles or so keeping me in 2nd, 3rd and sometimes 4th gear. I forgot how to use the brakes since I have been travelling across the desert the last 2 days. I pulled into a town called Idyllwild, which is an oasis unto itself. All kinds of places to eat, sleep, shop and drink all stuffed in this one little isolated town. Gotta bring Deb back here. I texted here and she said it was a trail town for the PCT (Pacific Crest Trail).

Then down the other side that was just as twisty and smooth as coming up. I started below 3000 ft and climbed to 6200 ft, then down below 2000 ft on the other side. A  tiny bit of traffic so basically had it all to myself.
The plan was to go go south at Mountain Center, but some how I went west instead so I ended up in Hemet, which is a good sized town. It was too early to stop so I figured I'd keep heading west and ended up hitting Rt 215 and rush hour was beginning to build. I went south and got off at Rt79 which took me back east and into the mountains, but I got stuck in rush hour traffic briefly in Temecula. Drivers are very good here by the way and not as aggressive as back east. I broke through the traffic and ended up back in Hemet, got a motel and then walked to a Mexican cantina for supper. It was so nice that I walked around Hemet and enjoyed the sunset and warm air. Now that I have had a taste of the mountains, I do not want to go back across the desert to ABQ. So play day tomorrow!!

Las Cruces NM to Buckeye AZ

Today I had clear cool weather so a good day to get some miles in, all business today! I fell asleep really early and slept right through until 6am. I was on the bike at 6:30 with a temperature about 40, so regular Vermont fall riding duds. The sun was just up and here the morning sun is not as luxurious as the sunsets. Very white and crisp, and with the cooler temperature, everything felt fresh and crisp as well. The cord for the iPod crapped out so I had to find a new one today, but still enough juice for this morning. My wife has great taste in music by the way, since it is her iPod..
Today was a work day, putting in miles, and I had to stay south for the temps (too damn cold up north), so Rt 10 is about it and it was actually a very relaxing, meditative day. I stopped for coffee in Deming and chatted up a retired educator who gave up on Florida and moved to Deming for the weather and people, but was thinking about Baja next to escape the cold of Dec, Jan, Feb in New Mexico. Guess it's all relative.
On to Tucson where I did a "getting lost downtown" tour of the city, which is beautiful with lots of outdoor spaces and bike access all over. I stopped for coffee and just "people watched" and soaked up more sun.

Then west where I saw the airplane "boneyard" just west of Tucson. Someday I'll stop and take the tour, but not today. On to Phoenix and just in time for rush hour. The beemer is air cooled and does not relish sitting around in traffic so the engine got a little hotter than normal, but was fine. Then west with not much idea of how much further I would go. The sun was setting and I saw a sign for then next town being 90 miles away. Quick stop and look at the map and headed back a few exits to find a motel (or travel a couple hours in the dark to a hotel maybe).
Met a guy at the motel who was installing solar trackers, which is what my company makes, so had a nice chat about how quickly solar was coming on-line. These states have so much sun drenched land that is unused, they should dedicate a whole county to solar and export power!
So 400 miles and change today, beemer is running great, giant truck stop next door, so off for some food of some kind. Tomorrow west again?

Eastern New Mexico tour

I slept like a baby in Jake's bed (thanks Jake, you are back in the will). Jake and I had more ponderings this morning over a leisurely breakfast which is a treat for me. It seems the physics world has the same personality types we do in the working world. Those that get the spec and do the work and those that connect all the dots. Both completely required and both drive each other nuts. By me a beer sometime and I will elaborate further.
The weather got worst (or the predictions) to the west so I decided this morning to head east and spend a day on the uncharted eastern New Mexico side of the state. I took Rt 25 north to Rt 40 and then east until I got to the road that goes all the way from Sante Fe to Roswell (and beyond to Texas I suppose). Temperature was warm enough not to wear bike pants so just a couple layers and those nice warm BMW leather gloves my lovely wife bought me many moons ago. Like my wife, they are hot!
Today I added music which makes a huge difference. My friend Jeff turned me onto listening to earbuds a few years back (thanks Jeff) and it is great listening to tunes while riding.
Many moons ago, they hired a teenager to sit on a bulldozer with a compass and make a road from Santa Fe to Roswell. The alternative explanation, only because it goes to Roswell is it is long and straight to land alien spacecraft, but the teenager explanation seems more plausible. It sure seems that way because Rt 285 is straight and unused pretty much and 4 lane. The added bonus today was a brutal cross wind that blew up my right nostril all day. Man that wears you out. There are a couple tiny towns in between but not not much. It was sunny and warm. Roswell is a pretty big town actually, I stopped for coffee and checked the map and the plan was to go to White Sands.

I took Rt 380 to Rt 70 and soon ran into rain. I rode 2 hours in the rain and the sky finally broke open around White Sands, but, the wind was blowing so hard that the sands were up in the air. My bike has a layer of white sand on top of the rain residue (gotta do a clean job in the morning). I had just enough time to make it to Las Cruces before sunset (5pm) and I pulled into the hotel tonight to watch the sun drop, so perfect timing.
Crappy dinner at the Cattleman's Steak House next door, but the beer was cold and welcome. About 3 people in the place.
So tomorrow I hope to actually head west toward Tucson, but final decision is in the morning.

BTV to ABQ

Coming off the hill toward ABQ from Mountainair.

Early flight from Burlington, went in to work and tidied up a few things, then the taxi was there 20 minutes early so what the heck. The early am drivers are chatty and this guy grew up logging in the kingdom (sorry, Kingdom). He had no change so I over tipped. (BTW, he taxi in Albuquerque is half as much to go twice as far..).
Two flights, BTV to Atlanta and ATL to ABQ. Tiny gate change (plane was broken) but other than that, no problem. The guy I sat with on the first flight retired from Vermont Yankee and told some great stories. The best was the A10 Warthog story (military planes). Two A10s were for some reason flying up the Conn river and one decided to buzz the plant, doing a loop around the big stack down there. I guess he got his butt chewed on that.
He seemed bitter it closed, but was retiring anyway. Nice guy.
I met a fire jumper that worked for BLM (Bureau of Land Management) that hit a dog on his motorcyel, and then sat next to another BLM woman on the last flight. Must be a convention?
Jake is real close to the airport so cheap taxi to his place. I rolled the BMW out of the garage and started it up. Everything looks perfect (gotta do a mouse check, they like to build nests in the airbox, cuts down on mileage, make a bad smell..) Jake came back for lunch so we caught up for a bit and he headed back to work (he bikes it). So what the heck, I better take the beemer out and see if it still runs.

I was going to head north, but the traffic was backed up so got on 25, headed south and opened her up. Clear sky with just a few tiny clouds and 70 degrees. Jake was not back until about 6 so I had 3-4 hours. Rode to Socorro and stopped for coffee. The bike runs smoother than I remember. There is no other way to get back so I thought I would go east on 60 and sneak up the back side of the mountains behind ABQ (sorry for the "ABQ" but I get tired of spelling it). I took Rt60 and about half way to Mountainair realized the sun was dropping fast behind me. So much for long days I guess. I stopped in Mountainair and checked the map. Nothing but a gas station and a bar by the looks. It was 50 50 on whether to continue on, but I thought riding in the dark on the unknown back side would not be the smart thing to do. And I would get a better sunset heading west. And I did.
Back to Jakes and we rode out of town to a Mexican place that was great. Back to his place buzzing the ABQ street on the beemer with Jake at night. Met the new roommates who are great, and seem like a group that have fun together, all thanks to Craigslist. Good first day. I may head south to Las Cruces tomorrow as there is some weather due west of here today. Then west to Tucson. Good night!

The Beemers last day

The whining started just about dawn. I knew this was going to happen, happens every time. The Beemer must have overheard me talking about my flights and it was going on in the garage about being abandoned again. So I gave in and decided to give it one last good drubbing. Jake had to go to work and save the world again so I went looking for a helmet to rent for the afternoon. The wonderful guy at PJ's motorcycle shop just gave me one and said bring it back tomorrow, no charge. OK, I gotta take the nicest guy award away from whoever got it last and give it to PJ's. Jake will have to ride his bike up there tomorrow and return it. Wow!
So Jake's roommate Adam said take the Turquoise Highway to Santa Fe, which I realized I had been on before and it was indeed a great road. It goes through Madrid where the movie "Wild Hogs" was filmed. I took old Rt66 from PJ's and turned onto Rt14 (aka Turquoise Highway) and rode it all the way to Stanta Fe. SF was a tangle of traffic so instead of fighting it and going to Taos, I went north west and then followed the signs to Los Alamos.

 I stopped at the gate but nobody was around. Judging by the cloud behing the gate shack, they were doing some testing I suppose.
So off toward the Jemez Mountains which is twisty roads and a couple of huge natural meadows high up in the mountains. This time I was stopped at the real gate and I had to present my drivers licence to pass. This is new since last time I went through here, but they were very pleasant about it. Nice chat with another road crew guy as I waited for some new pavement to be put down, which was not rally ready for traffic when we went through and the beemer got a good undercoating.
It was nice and cool up high in the mountains and I realized how nice when I got back down and it was 90+ and humid, which a few people mentioned. The heat was ok, but they complained about the humidity. So back to Albuquerque but this time I took some back roads through all those developments on the west side of the Rio Grande. Some are actually pretty homey with some food crops and horse pastures and stuff you would not find up out away from the river (like cactus and lizards). So back east and onto Rt25 then back to Jakes place. He got back from work just after I pulled in so he put on some road clothes and donned the new helmet and we decided to  head back up to Madrid and have dinner at "The Hollar". It cooled off by the time we got there so dinner was great. I had not eaten all day so I got a salad with chicken on it and I ordered chocolate cake and coffee for Jake and I to split, but it was the size of your head and it nearly split us.

So we decided to climb the mine tailings across the street and instead of coal, I found gold. Actaully I found an Apple II computer with (wait for it) a floppy drive unit that took 8" and 5 1/4" floppies. Wow!! I designed cards that fit inside this puppy 20+ years ago and findly remember nights spent writing 6502 code for it. I'm choking up here so I gotta move on.
We climbed back down from the tailing and under the gate with multiple no trespassing signs (oops) and back to the restaurant.
Madrid was actually less busy than I thought and there were 3 or 4 other bikes in the yard, but they were mostly local guys.

So back toward ABQ with the sun setting to the west of us and then it got dark real fast. I took the interstate, Rt40, to make better time and avoid all the local traffic. Jake navigated me back through the side streets and I pulled the beemer into the garage where it could rest for the next couple months before I come back out and take it on another adventure. I packed everything for tomorrows early flight, which included all my motorcycle gear so I can ride back home on my little dirt bike. Sure am gonna miss the beemer.
Another great, and this time last day on this great trip. The final Odometer reading tonight was 87368 and I left Vermont with 83296 so the beemer carried me 4072 miles in 10 travel days. It has bee wonderful and once again, everyone you meet is great and would do anything for you. There is endless more to see so maybe I can get back this fall and do another loop somewhere..

Flagstaff to Albuquerque

First stop Macy's for a wonderful cup of coffee. I have been here a couple times and it a cozy place with nice baked goodies as well. Prefect start and it's a short walk from the hotel.
Flagstaff is a pretty ok town. Northern Arizona University is here which has 25K students which means it has all kinds of places to go out to, all kinds of sporting goods places and all the other things that go along with a college town. I also saw a sign coming in yesterday saying it was the first STEM city in the US, so it committed to Science technology Engineering and Math through government, business and education. Nerd heaven. And I could ride my motorcycle year round and start each days ride with a cup of Macy's coffee!!
I had a nice walk through downtown again. My cranky knee is much less cranky and I stopped taking the Alleve stuff a couple days ago. The beemer is very therapeutic, maybe I could write it off as a medical expense? I hear the new ones are even more so..
So I had this great plan today with a fun destination, but it was not to be. Somehow my little iPhone map appeared to tell me that I could take Rt 99 south east and wiggle through Arizona and get to Pie Town, home of Pie-O-Neer Pies and the Good Pie Cafe and other pie related business. So I rode to Winslow (did not stand on the corner this time) and headed down Rt 99. and the first sign I see is a large one saying they do not plow it in the winter, only maintain it so much, do not patrol it on the weekend, etc.

They could have saved some taxpayer money with the good old "I'd turn back if I were you" sign from the Wizard of Oz. The first 20 miles were pretty ok, but the only person I say was guy in a truck burying something next to and abandoned tank of some kind. OK, not that weird. Then the sign saying the state did not maintain this road any more followed by a county maintenance sign. The only maintenance I coul detect was they did a nice job mowing the grass growing up in the cracks in the pavement, but still ok. The another 20 miles or so and the county announced they stopped maintaining the road, and I suppose since there was no other signs, you kind of could fill a pothole or 2 your self if you felt so inclined. And the potholes were a plenty.

It was about this time I say the cutoff to Heber which looked a little less traveled than this one. And no cell service out here, so I decided to keep weaving through the potholes and maybe hit a bigger road. I went another few miles to where the road ended and continued on a dirt goat path. There was a trailer back in the woods, but I was worried I'd interrupt their Pagan rituals so decided to just turn back and go back to Winslow. Somewhere there is a retired BMW engineer I want to thank for over designing this piece of machinery between my legs so it does not break down in places like this..
So back to Winslow and having wasted a couple hours by now, I decided to just hit the interstate all the way to Albuquerque. The only excitement was 2 pretty good thunderstorms on the way. The first one came in bird dropping sized drops and I hid under a bridge and got my rain stuff on. It only lasted 20 minutes or so and was almost delicious in that it dropped the temperature by 20 degrees and my wet gloves made my hands wonderfully cold from the evaporative cooling. I almost took my rain stuff off, but I could see another big thunderstorm up ahead and was treated to another 10 minute downpour. After everything dried off, I stopped and took off all the rain stuff and by this time I was only 20 minutes outside ABQ. I found Jakes place and was a little early.

We had a nice long stroll with Jake's summer roommate Joe, who is also a quantum guy. We had a couple if cold ones and a nice dinner inside garage doors so when the lightning and thunder came, we were just outside the reach of the raindrops. So nice long walk back catching up on the physics world and crash. Tomorrow Jake has to work so I'll poke around ABQ and maybe we can go for a ride or walk after he gets the time travel thing a little closer to completion. Life is good..

Monument Valley & Grand Canyon

Goodbye Colorado! The mountain twisties were a nice break from corn & soy and soy and corn. Now on to the next chapter in the American Tour. The southwest!. I had bad coffee and GMO infested other stuff at the continental breakfast and then lit out of there. I knew I wanted to hit Monument Valley today so southwest it was. No oil consumption yesterday so my 18 year old girl is happy. I had 2 mornings when I had to add a little oil so not sure what was different on those days. With 86K on the clock, she is not as young as she used to be, but it still feels like a brand new bike. And I do wonder many days when I am skimming along roads with absolutely no traffic (or hope for help), what might just go "clunk" some day. I stopped and bought 2 bottles of water just in case. I bought new earbuds a few days ago that work great. For some reason my ear canals are tiny and the first pair died (one side) and the second pair just kept falling out which is dangerous when you are whistling along at 70 trying to stuff an earbud back in your ear, inside your helmet. So I bought a pair with volume control (rare these days) and a handfull of ear canal adapters. These work great and block all the air noise. I have finally perfected the vision / helmet system. The beemer has an electric windshield so I can tilt it up and down to just ehr ight angle that balances noise and how much air you want to get, and of course it's cool to tilt it down when you pull up next to a harley at a stop light (instan windshield envy>>). My helmet has a flip down visor that I stuck a piece of black tape (3M 33+ or course (ask your electrician)) and it is always up except at the ends of the day when the black tape shields your eyes from the rising or setting sun. The other time I put the visor down was when it rains so my face doesn't get bead blasted by rain drops. And then my latest find, safety glasses ( shaded and clear) with built in reading glasses so you can stop and look at the map without taking your helmet off. Perfection.
I run these desert roads at 55 to 60, much to the dismay of many others who blow by me at 80+. But I do it all day, much the turtle of the hare and turtle story. So a few stops to hydrate, which you need to do since the air is so dry and constantly blowing by you through my new neon mesh jacket.

Monument Valley is gorgeous but it is hard to take a picture mid-day but here it is for posterity.Yes I was taking a picture while riding. Sue me.
I saw a big herd of antelope grazing beside the road and as always I watch out for them always. I learned a few years ago not to try to out run them, They are fast! Best to just brake and let them do whatever they like.
It got hotter as I got further south so I stopped and looked at the map and decided to go northwest to the Grand Canyon to cool off. It was much cooler and the west entrance had nobody around.

Again, the pictures were not great but I shot this one anyway, mostly because of the crow sitting on the rock, who did not seem the least bit interested in me. Reminds me of a Fellini movie or maybe Hitchcock. I asked him what his name was and he said "Cawl" so I assume it was Carl with a Brooklyn accent (It was at this point I remembered to hydrate more).
The south entrance to the park was a zoo scene so I did not go to the village. I have been to the canyon now 3 times this year so felt I could miss the lodge and village.
So it was cooler up here and I went out the south entrance where there were cars piled up to get in, so I assume they are coming up in the afternoon to stay overnight. The road south of Grand Canyon is high altitude and pretty flat and as you approach Flagstaff, you gain altitude, which made it even cooler, just pleasantly so. The wildflowers were everywhere in purple, red and blue. I had tried to call the hotel we had stayed in before but they did not answer the phone this morning, so I made a reservation online and sure enough, I had a room (or I should say closet) waiting for me when I got here. And the price was more than twice what we paid last spring. This is high season so the hotels fill and the prices go up. But I like this hotel because it is right downtown in Flagstaff so you can walk to all the places and not have to drive, which means more than one beer, which I needed tonight (remember the hydration thing). I walked to the Beaver Street Brewery, which I had been to before and had a great salad with walnuts and chicken, etc. Gotta lay off the Mexican food for at least a night. I met a couple from Tuscon who confirmed that coming to Tuscon in the winter is a perfect time. Another couple from Mesa, AZ were in town mountain biking, and said the same, come back in November or February. Sounds like a plan. I topped the night off with a long walk around down town. Flagstaff has a college and a large science community, so nerds in bars. I really like the feel of this town, and you can't beat the weather. Adn I found out there is a ski area nearby. Hmmm.

OK, so now the secret to why I am in Flagstaff. There is a coffee / bakery place called Macy's where I had the second best cup of coffee (the best was in Edinborough, Scotland), and tomorrow morning I will be there with my hands wrapped around one of those big cups. And then on to Albuquerque to see my boy, Jacob.
And tonight I get to listen to trains go by as my room is next to the tracks!! 392 miles today.

Aspen to Cortex CO

All those miles in the flat midwest made my tires a little less round than when I started so today was a perfect day to "sharpen" them up. I think the GPS on my phone is still unwinding. It was a whole day of nothing but turns. My neck hurts from gawking at the beautiful mountain vistas. Troy made breakfast and we went over the route for the day. The beemer oil was perfect so i loaded up and said goodbyes. Thanks to Troy and Chris for putting me up and since we almost never see each other, it was good to get acquainted with Chris and catch up with Troy.
For the high season, there was not all that much traffic. The beemer has plenty of power so it is easy to pass folks if things back up anywhere. This route is perfect in that I got to ride the upper part of the Million Dollar Highway (RT550) which I had not been on before, but turned off before Ouray which I have been to. The other roads and passes were stunningly beautiful. I picked up a little drizzle and wore my rain stuff the last half of the day, but it was very light so no big deal.

I got into Cotez a little early and was going to go west to Utah, but when I called around the motels in Montecello they were either booked or really expensive. So good excuse to be a bum and turn in early here in Cortez. And finally found a good Mexican restaurant! Hot shower, and catch up on the blog.

Scottsbluff NE (flat) to Aspen CO (not flat)

Today was the end of riding on the plains. I looked forward to mountains, but there still is something beautiful and peaceful about the big flat middle of America. I headed due west to soon cross into Wyoming and head to Cheyenne. It's a little iffy where you will get gas but not too bad. Today I came the closest to panic about gas when I pulled into one of the tiny towns and saw no gas station. I asked at a garage and they said the only thing they had was a couple tanks with self serve, but it was 10% ethanol. Sure enough a cement slab with 2 pumps (diesel & gas) were just down the road. It was only 85 octane, but my beemer can run on camel wizz if required so it ran fine. And these folks are so welcoming, I would have no problem asking anyone if they had a can of gas somewhere. Next stop road construction. The WYDOT was putting oil on the road and then sprinkling the red gravel over it and brushing it into the oil. One of the highway guys, with the classic giant cowboy mustache stopped me and said it would be a while. He then walked over to his truck and came back with an ice cold bottle of water (hows that for service!). When he saw I was from Vermont we did the whole comparing our states. And he reminded me that Wyoming proudly has fewer people (584K) than Vermont (625K). He says he can call his representative or senator and they will actually talk to him. I have not tried that, but that may be true. We agreed smaller is better. He also warned me about Cheyenne since the Frontier Days rodeo was going on. I have been to it a couple times before so did not have a desire to stop.

I stopped for coffee just outside of Cheyenne to decide where to go. The north routes would take me too far north so I decided to run down Rt25 toward Denver then decide to go to Estes Park or keep going to Denver. Denver won out and I turned west on I70 and traffic came to a standstill due to a truck on fire further up the road. I originally wanted to get to Grand Junction and head south through Utah, but then thought I could stop in Aspen and see my nephew Troy and his wife Chris. I messaged then and they immediately said come on up to Aspen. I rode past all the backed up traffic on the little strip of pavement on the median side and finally cleared the backup. Troy suggested I go over Independence Pass and was that a nice treat at the end of the day. Denver was very hot but the temperature cooled right off as I climbed the mountains. I pulled into Aspen and it was hopping. I called Troy and he rode his bicycle over to where I was and lead me back some blocks to his house. A cold beer and we walked downtown to get the tour of Aspen. This town has population 5000 or so and Troy says it doesn't grow because it is pretty real estate limited. It is a pretty wealthy town, but they have a lot of public space and everybody was out and about.

We walked through the John Denver park which is beautiful with a semi-natural amphitheater and a creek running through it with a dog beach. Yup, this town pampers their dogs (and for good reason). Summer and winter are the high seasons with tourists and skiers respectively. Sounds like if you want to visit, spring and fall are the off seasons, but September has better weather. I got here just after a lot of crappy weather and it was a beautiful night to walk around town. We go a couple drinks and food in one of the gazillion places you can eat, but this one was one of Troy and Chris' regular places so I met some of their friends and co-workers.
A nice evening walk back from town, and the soft bed called me into sleep. Another great day, and the big change from plains to mountains.

Lake Andes SD to Scottsbluff NE

Greg gave me a tour of the area this morning. We had breakfast at the local diner, which being a small town is also the gas station, bait shop and grocery store. He took me across the dam to where the original fort was in the 1850's and there is a cool graveyard and info center. These pioneers were a tough bunch and a lot of them died of various diseases. We then went to a friend of his' farm which appears to be a typical "diverse farming" setup with crops, goats,and they are just setting up a 500 head feedlot to raise beef. Looks like you typical Vermont farm, but everything is bigger. We then went to some land that Greg is setting up for wildlife. It is a perfect balance of wetland and prairie grass with some assorted domestic "food" crops for the critters. You can tel this is bird country. I have been being dive bombed the last couple days by birds and we say a beautiful pheasant this morning. Also saw a badger, which we do not have at home. This corner of SD is not your typical prairie spot but much richer with wildlife. Thanks for putting me up Greg and giving me the nickel tour.
So I had so much fun on Rt 1 yesterday, I decided not to tax my brain today and just stay on Rt18 which goes due west. Very little traffic and smooth road. I saw move birds and a deer. This bottom part of SD has the reservations on them and you can usually tell by the election signs with Indian names and the lack of national chain stores. I stopped for gas in Pine Ridge which did have a large Conoco station where I filled up and got a drink. I got pan-handled by one of the locals who told me he just got out of jail for the day and needed gas for his truck. Good story for a buck, hopefully not for beer.

The original plan was to stop in Hot Springs for the night, but it was still early. Cheyenne was a little too far away, but Scottsbluff NE was perfect at 2 hours away. And it's probably time to start thinking of going south since i am supposed to end up in New Mexico. So another late day perfect weather ride south with no traffic and great vistas and smooth roads. The last 40 miles I ran alongside a big banks of thunderstorms with lightning and the whole works, but it stayed south west of me so I had ugly black stuff on my right, and blue sky and big puffy clouds on my left the rest of the way to Scottsbluff. Got a hotel and found a Mexican food place down the street with nice cold beer.

420 miles today.

Peoria IL to Lake Andes SD

Another perfect weather day and nearly perfect traffic day, as in almost none. I started around 7:15 and rode all day. This is a cake walk out here. The tiny county roads are mostly all paved and everything goes north-south, east-west. So all I used is the compass attached to the underside of the mirror. I tried to contact Debs hiking buddy, Flip, but he was in Colorado so I decided to just wiggle all day north west toward Lake Andes where my cousin Greg lives. I had told him Weds so I had plenty of time. Illinois is pretty  nice and mostly corn & soy. But I noticed a difference when I got into Iowa. Everything is much tidier in Iowa. Several times I saw people mowing next to the cornfield with no intent of feeding it to anything, just mowing it so it looked nice. The towns are also tidy and well kept. Lots of classic Mayberry RFD scenes where boys with baseball caps and girls with white jumpers were riding their bikes around town. And the businesses in most towns seem pretty healthy. I got a late lunch and kept wiggling toward Sioux Falls and suddenly I was there. It was 6pm and my GPS said Lake Andes was only 2 more hours away so I called Greg and he said come on down.

I took Rt 18 which is a small but smooth road with almost no traffic and 65 mph speed limit. I cranked the beemer up a bit and it ran smooth as silk.
This corner of South Dakota is a real surprise. There is still a lot of crops, but there is also some wheat being grown which looks golden in the late day sun. But there is also a lot of rolling countryside with trees and wetlands. There are birds everywhere and I was surprised over and over with birds swooping in front of me. I stopped 10 miles before getting to Lake Andes and called Greg so he could meet me someplace obvious and I followed him the few miles to his house on the reservoir behind the dam. Greg has lived in SD or MN for a long time so answered most all of my questions. He had cold beer (thank you, thank you) and we sat the rest of the evening catching up on his deck overlooking the water and a few glimpses of the night sky. Perfect way to end the day. Huge thank you to Greg for putting me up.

 I rode 674 miles today, and the beemer didn't use any oil, good girl..

Bowling Green OH to Peoria IL

Wonderful wonderful day. I can't explain it to non-motorcycle folks but my cheeks are sore from smiling all day. It was a perfect temperature and the sky was clear, the corn and soy is growing, the little towns are busy and very little traffic on these little 2 lane roads. I slept like a log after the long day yesterday so did not get going until 8:30 or so this morning. Last night I found Rt 24 which would take me a long ways across the mid west through small towns. I like to find roads that go a long way so I don't have to deal with stopping and checking where I have to turn next. My little brain can just keep one road number in it at once. So Rt 24 it was. And it was a winner. I did some even smaller side roads a few times (not on the map since I don't remember where they were), which is really easy since everything is square. There was a big storm front that would meet me near Peoria (and it did), but the rest of the day was just big puffy clouds or clear sky. Traffic was very light and drivers are really decent. The crops look really healthy compared to the trip I took a couple years ago (3?) when they had drought conditions. Illinois had all the signs of having had floods this year with standing water in several places and "Thank you flood volunteers" signs here and there. I rode for a couple hours and then stopped for breakfast at a local diner. Lots of retired folks (pretty much all guys) catching up. The knee is doing great and I do my standard standup routine every time I hit a small town which helps a lot. Alleve every 6-8 hrs (no heart attack yet). The routine is the same all the way across. Go 55 for 20-30 minutes, then 35 through town (and they do have police checking), then 55, then 35, then 55 then 35.
I saw a lot of wind turbines all the way across and took some excursions to find them. Perfect fit since they can still grow corn and soy underneath them.

I added a few tablespoons of oil this morning to the beemer, which worked really hard yesterday. None required tonight since we took it easier. This bike is perfect for this cross country stuff. Smooth and quiet.
Now the bad news. The little diners are disappearing. It must be either the Subways or the combo gas station / mini-marts that are doing them in. Sad..
I saw a little piece of Rt 66 so it must be around here somewhere.
When I pulled into Peoria, big ugly black cloud banks were in front of me. So a quick stop and radar check and I decided it was time to call it quits. Super 8, hot shower, laundry and a walk, then a nice salad and piece of coconut cream pie. Tomorrow I head north through Iowa and maybe into South Dakota depending on the weather.

384 miles today and all is good here in Peoria..

Oswego NY to Bowling Green OH - Long Hot Day

Friday I rode from VT to Oswego. Deb's dad lives in Oswego so I have been making this trip for 30 years. I went the "Hauge Route" this time just to mix it up. This was the test day to see if my knee would hold up. A few weeks ago I twisted my knee and after a week in pain, went to see the doc. She first thought it was something torn, but x ray'd it and said "Good news! It's just arthritis". Jeeze.. So she recommended Alleve, which my wife told me was on the list of pain meds that cause heart attacks. Oh the choices we have to make..
So the Alleve worked pretty well and Saturday I spent going to Debs grade school and high school re-union. It was fun to watch people re-connect after 40 years and I met some really nice folks and heard about all they had been doing for the last 40 years. Life kind of bumps everyone forward along different paths.
So Sunday I got a leisurely start with the goal being getting as far west as I could to avoid the congestion of the cities, which meant interstate. I did start with a nice lake run through the fruit belt. They grow cherries, potatoes (not a fruit, I know), pears, apples, and lots of stuff we do not grow in VT.
I decided to skip Buffalo and cut south instead. It got muggier as the day went on and the Alleve was working great (no heart attack yet). I had planned on going to Akron and then heading across the corn belt on 2 laners, but the radar showed big nasty thunderstorms down there so my only choice was staying as far north as possible which meant staying on Rt 90. So that worked but I got a 3 minute downpour, which I go my rain duds on for, so no big deal except it's 90 and muggy so it's best not to keep them on. And then Toledo. A giant ugly black front appeared and I got off the next toll exit and as I sat in the line to pay the toll, the boomers just rolled over us and I asked the toll guy how to go south, he said Rt 450, which I bolted on after finding it and high tailed it away from that mess. Once I got south enough to miss it, I turned west again. It's all flat and clean and friendly looking here. Big farms and people relaxing on their front porches I assume talking about how big the corn is this year (it sure looks big). I rolled into Bowling Green and got a motel, then went for a walk and found a sports bar where I had a tall sudsy one of the local brew, some so-so Mexican food, and then walked back to he hotel. I had to chase the polar bears out of my room and chip the ice off the shower head since they had left the air conditioner on full blast all day. My eyes were closed by 8:30. Long hot 550 mile day, but I'm here.