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!