This is a brief tale of my indirect ride to Inzane Taos with DDT as my tour guide. I don’t know why he took on the task of dragging this extreme novice motorcycle trekker along on that journey, but I am so very grateful that he did! He taught me so much about packing lightly but also adequately to handle whatever weather might be encountered,......and about navigating around less comfortable weather,......and ........well, just everything about motorcycle trekking beyond just a 3 day weekend. But much more than that! He led me to places and sights that I would never have known about otherwise. For all of that I am so very grateful!
My Big Motorcycle Tour 2019
Dancing with the rain
Day 1
I rolled out of my driveway about 9:30 Friday morning May 10, officially beginning my “epic” motorcycle trip around this great country and some of Canada. My odometer reading 50738.6. After a couple of stops for fuel and a last minute fix for a banking glitch, I was on my way to Calvert City, Kentucky where I was to meet Bruce. Our grand tour would begin from there.
The temp was a fraction above 50 and the sky was black but the forecast was showing a very low probability of precipitation. I was confident that it was the best time to go. I ran 4 lane to Gordonsville to save some time and then got on 25 to Gallatin. After a short hop on 386, Long Hollow Pike over to 41, and thus I avoided that nasty cluster in Nashville. I rode north on 41 through Adams and on into Kentucky. I was not sure just how to get to Calvert City so I programmed my phone GPS to direct me just after I got on 41. After 35 or more “directions” to “turn left”, I finally complied and let her lead me over to 24 and on to Calvert City. The sky was still black and the temp never exceeded 60. No rain was actually encountered though.
Day 2
We rolled out of Calvert City about 6:30 in the morning. The sky was black and the temp was 52. We were hoping to ride north quickly enough to get ahead of a storm west of us that was headed north east. The idea was to get ahead of it and let it pass behind us. That didn’t happen! First it was just a few sprinkles but that eventually became a steady drizzle. The temp never gained but began to drop slightly. We gave up! We stopped in Salem, Illinois for the night and studied the weather forecasts for several different possible directions to travel from there.
Our hope had been to ride into Minnesota and then over into South Dakota. That was shaping up to be wet and wet and more rain still!
Day 3
Bruce was awake early, studying the weather and routes, mumbling and studying more. Finally, we agreed that the best plan to get away from rain was to blitz south. We did! By the end of our ride this day, we were in Dexter, Missouri and were seeing some blue in the sky. It rained there that night but was over it by the next morning when we pulled out.
Day 4
We rode to Pine Bluff, Arkansas, again, mostly on big roads to move us quickly further away from rain, but also some 2 lane through a lot of farm country. Lots of fields with trenches, dikes, and gates for flooding and draining the fields. It was interesting to me. Now we were getting into warmer temps and I was finally shedding some layers of gear. The sky was blue here! Yay!
Day 5
Was a very nice ride over rolling country roads on our way to Mena, Arkansas where we got a room for the night and then rode up the Talamina Trail and back. Wow! Some very scenic views along that road and enough twists and elevation undulations to keep this WV hillbilly feeling right at home. Nice! While up there, we stopped at Queen Wilhamina State Park. 2600 feet above sea level.
Day 6
Rolled out of Mena heading north. After a stop for breakfast at a small town diner and a chuckle over the headline in the local paper, we rode up on Magazine Mountain. The locals call it Mount Magazine. Then we rode rt7, the Pig Trail, and met some other motorcyclists at an overlook from the trail. We followed one on a Can Am to a motel in Eurika Springs, Arkansas where we spent the night. After a couple of cold ones and a Texas Cheezesteak sandwich, all was well.
Day 7
Rode to Ponca, Oklahoma. Just east of Cassville, we passed a house and barn both of which were veneered in heavy stone. I hate that I did not get pictures. The card in my go pro was full when we pulled out this morning. I will have to pick a couple up at my earliest opportunity. I had a couple of warning shots over the bow! I had become so engrossed in seeing the sights that I was not giving much attention to the road and thus, I didn’t see a dead carcass in the road till it was just one foot in front of my front wheel. Evasive maneuvers don’t do much when the front wheel is already dead center on top of an animal carcass. A little farther down the road I clipped another animal! I did see it just because in time to keep from hitting it dead center but not in time to miss it completely. Made a promise to myself that I would pay more attention to the road. Changed my oil before turning in for the night. Odometer at 52369.2
Day 8
From Ponca we headed south to Pampa, Texas. First through cattle country which gave way to long stretches of more open rougher terrain with short green bushes and few trees. There was a light smell in the air of something similar to pine.
Day 9
Laundry day! We took a break from the road this day and washed and dried our clothes. My lounge around sandals were falling apart and I like them so picked up some industrial adhesive from Wally World and repaired them.
Day 10
We had thought we would go to Lubbock, but rain was closing in there so we turned and went to Clovis, NM. We later learned that, if we had gone to Lubbock, we would have been there during a tornado. Did I mention that my tour guide was doing an excellent Job of dancing us around foul weather? His ride took us past several meat packing facilities with the accompanying cattle pens loading thousands of bovine stock. You didn’t have to look, your nose was well aware.
On the way to Clovis, we took a detour into Palo Duro Canyon. I was thinking this was all prairie when almost suddenly I found myself looking into a large canyon much like the Grand Canyon. It was a nice detour and the drive took us by several rustic campsites. I liked it!
In Clovis, we got a room for the night and turned our attention to getting a good steak. A little way down the street from the motel was a KBob’s and that was just perfect. While Bruce did the normal thing and ordered a ribeye, I might have committed sacrilege. Here, deep in the heart of beef country, I ordered a piece of fish! It was a very nice chunk of salmon, … but still, fish! Our meals were both perfect and perfectly prepared. The service was excellent as well.
Day 11
Up in the morning and we rolled out! With rain popping up in our path, we doubled back a bit taking us through Roswell before turning farther south. There was a swift drop in temperature as we rolled over the top of one of the peaks.
Eventually we rolled into Ruidoso Downs, New Mexico where we spent the night.
Day 12
We got up early to an outside temperature that had risen all the way up to 37f. We grabbed some bacon from the breakfast bar, geared up, saddled up, plugged in, and rolled out. A short distance out of town, Bruce turned off the main road and onto a small country road he had learned about from a local on a previous ride through this area. This was a pleasant road winding through a valley of farms and trees and it took us to rt 82 just outside of Cloudcroft. We stopped in Cloudcroft for Bruce to warm his hands since his gloves were not heating properly. It was still before 9 and most of the shops had not opened yet but one was open and the folks didn’t mind us soaking up some of their heat while they busied themselves with unpacking and stocking their, new to them, store.
I liked this town. Leaving this town was even better though because the views from the road on the way down that mountain were absolutely breathtaking!
We rode around Alamogordo rather than through it. I could see the white sands long before we got to it. That was a place that I had been wanting to see so Bruce accommodated my wish and stopped at the visitor center.
From the White Sands we ran the interstate to Deming, New Mexico where we spent that night.
Day 13
Again a rather cool morning start at about 49f. We skipped the motel breakfast, geared up and rolled out. Almost immediately, we turned north off I10 and onto a fairly straight road with desert foliage stretched out on each side. The views were awesome and continued to be for many miles. I stopped at one point to get out my phone and take a photo since my GoPro was full when we started this morning. Bruce had not stopped, but later as I was catching back up to him, he pulled into a small diner and we ate breakfast there. The temp was moving up and we were sweating by the time we arrived in Safford, Arizona. We were early and had to wait for the motel to get our room ready. You see, this is Wednesday and this coming weekend is Memorial Day and motels are already getting busy with the holiday rush. So Bruce has planned and booked rooms through the first of June in order to keep us from spending a night or more in conditions that we would find unacceptable.
Day 14
We woke up to a light rain. It was really just a sprinkle, but a persistent one. The radar showed more intense rain to the west and northwest of us. That storm was moving northeast, right directly across the path we had planned to take out of here this morning. Bah humbug! Well, it did seem to be moving quickly so would probably pass over soon and we could just delay our departure a little bit. We did. It did but when Bruce checked radar again, there was more appearing behind that so we grabbed our gear and took off.
We went north on route 191, it used to be route 666, known as “The Beast” or “The Devil’s Highway”. People complained and they changed the number. Undaunted, we headed out across it. Wow! Was Bruce testing me? Was he getting bored with rather straight effortless roads? Or was he trying to show me yet another piece of breathtaking American scenery? I don’t know,….but I do know that road is unfair! Mighty unfair! We rode up past a mine that was huge. Beyond huge! Across part of the mine and on up the mountain we rode through tunnel and hairpin turns, along steep rock cuts and ever deeper abrupt drop offs. The road was challenging,…..too challenging to look at the breathtaking views. The views were too alluring to not look at them. Perhaps the Devil did design this road. We rode on and I did my best to keep my main focus on the road. The temps kept dropping as we kept climbing the mountain. We pulled over at an overlook near the top and Took a few photos. I was noticing a grayish look on one side of the trees and my curiosity soon revealed that it was in fact ice. Yes, the rain that had delayed our departure this morning had actually been freezing up here. I remarked to Bruce that I was thankful we had delayed our ride up this way. We had not encountered any ice on the road but, making note of the ice in the trees, we slowed our pace a little.
Making our way down the other side of the mountain was easier. We stopped at the Bear Wallow Café for lunch. Well, we stopped for pie but had lunch instead. I liked this down home café. Obviously not left wing, liberals, or progressives. The signage made that clear.
We rode on to Show low, AZ and checked in to our room for the night.
Day 15
From Show low, we rode over through Holloman and into Winslow for the obligatory foto op on the corner. The flatbed ford was there and diagonally across that corner was a guy playing a guitar and singing……and talking to the people around.
We fueled up and rode south on 87 into Payson, AZ where we spent the night. Just outside of Winslow, a sign warned us that it would be 51 miles to the next facilities. It was a nice stretch of road starting out through desert flatland, transitioning to some scruffy trees, and eventually into evergreen forests in the mountains. This was also National Park land.
Day 16
From Payson, we rode 87/260 north, then turned west on 260. We rode through forested National Park land and prairie land on into Cottonwood.
At Cottonwood, we turned left onto route 89A. I could see this road was heading toward a steep mountain and I could see a housing development hanging cliffside on that mountain. The road climbed steeply with switchbacks to aid it’s journey. We got to the development, but it was actually a town! A town built on a cliff and having switchbacks on Main Street! The town is Jerome. We rode on. There is a sign that indicates this is “Mingus Mountain Scenic Road”. It is a narrow road clinging tenaciously on the side of jagged rock faces of a sometimes narrow canyon and sometimes a high ridge with views of many miles. There are no guard rails, just the certain knowledge that going off the outer edge of the road would be followed by a long and rapid decent of hundreds of feet with an abrupt end on the jagged rocks below. It would be very difficult and time consuming for emergency crews to reach anyone so unfortunate.
The views from this road are indeed spectacular! A word of warning though. These views are like a Chinese finger puzzle, but for the eyes. Once you start to look, you can’t take your eyes away from them. This will be a problem if you are also trying to pilot a vehicle over this attention demanding and unforgiving road.
Eventually we arrived at the regular route 89, turned right on it and rode it to interstate 40. After a 1 exit hop on route 40, we began to ride the old and famous Route 66. We stopped at Delgadillo’s in Seliegman, Arizona. What a fun burger stand it was! We each ate a hot dog and I wandered around looking at the old cars that were part of the décor of this old time drive in restaurant.
Back on the road, Route 66 and west into Kingman, Arizona where we spent the night. The motel chosen for this night was originally built in the 20s and the guy running it was very informative of the history of the local area. A bit eccentric maybe, but pleasant. The rooms were all “Park at the door” style and were painted on the outside with old cartoon themes. We were assigned to the Buggs Bunny Sheriff room. This was actually a suite with a kitchen, although the kitchen just had the standard tiny fridge and microwave. It did have a nice kitchen sink so I guess that qualifies. The shower was kinda like the root cellar in an old house though. Did I mention that there was no coffee at this motel? Not even in the office! My riding companion loved the “one of a kind” information laden ambience of this motel but he hated waking up to no coffee. In the morning, he was wasting no time getting on the road in search of some proper caffeine!
Day 17
Unfortunately for my riding companion, we rode past several closed stations before finding an open fuel stop some miles down the road. After he had been properly awakened by the ingestion of coffee bean tea, we took a 1 exit hop on route 40 and got back on Route 66 heading west into Oatman, Arizona.
Route 66 was straight here and almost boring except for the view of mountains across the prairie and in the direction we were headed. 22 miles to Oatman according to the sign. The straight flat roadway began to change, first sweeping turns then tighter and the elevation began to undulate as the scenery became more intriguing.
It seemed an almost sudden change from the flat straight road to a narrow twisting road undulating above a canyon floor with protrusions scattered around and the views took on a closer and much more vivid detail. As we rounded a bend in the road, donkey checked us out before jumping off the side of the road and instantly out of sight. Yes, there were piles of fertilizer on this road, kind of like reverse pot holes and placed in about the same random order.
By now the scenery was breathtaking in it’s awesomeness! Once again I am trying to pilot my motorcycle on a road that demands my attention while, at the same moment, trying to snatch a glimpse of views that don’t want to let my eyes return to the road. Oh the perils of a wandering biker! I was not expecting this and my video camera is off! I did make a couple of stops to jerk my phone out and snap a photo or two……then shove it back in my pocket, jerk my gloves back on and ride on.
Sitgreaves Pass was on the way to Oatman.
Looking toward Oatman from Sitgreaves pass.
We got to Oatman before the businesses had opened, except for the café whose cook wasn’t due for another 20 minutes. We took a couple of photos around town before sitting down in the café to wait for breakfast.
Oatman is a throwback kind of mining town with donkeys in the street and rails to tie your donkey if you plan to be shopping for a while. I have been told that they even elected a donkey as their mayor. Probably a smart move!
I made darn sure my video was on when leaving Oatman. This video won’t be as good as what I might have captured on the way in to Oatman but still Otta be great.
Well this was an impromptu side run to Oatman so back to Kingman and our route northeast toward Utah. This is going to be a very long day in the saddle.
We rode north on
Prairie land on both sides of the road eventually gave way to mountainous terrain as we approached the Hoover dam area.
I looked over to see a road packed with cars on their way to the dam. Just after that we stopped at a convenience/info center for that recreation area and I informed Bruce that no way no how was he to lead me onto that dam road and all of that dam traffic!
We took the lakeshore drive away from that info center. It was a pleasant ride although we were racing the rain. The rain had begun closing in on us as we approached the Lake Mead (Hoover Dam) recreation area. The bad thing was that the rain was heading the same direction as we were and we already had a lodging reservation there so no early stop would be made.
It was a long way out around Lake Mead and beyond to our exit from the LMNRA. A lot of gorgeous scenery was passed on the way. The valley of fire state park was off to our left and the mountain side was in fact fiery red!
We were almost in Las Vegas when we turned onto interstate 15 and raced on still ahead of the rain but not by much. Traffic was fairly heavy as you would expect on a holiday weekend. But what a surprise that road turned out to be! The scenery was great! Also, a few miles of this road cut through what I believe is an arroyo. A very narrow but extremely deep channel carved out of solid rock had been slightly widened at a couple of the narrower places and was, for the most part, just wide enough for the 4 lanes of traffic to twist and wind through. I wanted so much to stop and get pictures but traffic would have made that dangerous and besides, we were still running from the rain, no time to fool around!
We arrived in St George, found our house for the next few days, unloaded, went out for groceries, and crashed for the night. It had been a long and amazing day.
Day 18
We did nothing! We laid around, checked emails, posted some social media, I prepared and we ate meals, and we just took a general break from constantly riding somewhere.
Day 19
Repeat of yesterday
Day 20
We did our laundry and posted on social media.
Day 21
8:30 am kick stands up and we rolled north on I15. We turned east on 9 and rode through Zion National Park. My GoPro ran out of battery on rt 9 before we got to Zion. I had misplaced the power cord I have fixed to plug it in while riding and without that, the battery only lasts about 75 minutes. I have 2 of those cords and believed both to be in the trunk but without removing the T-bag from the passenger seat, it is difficult to get my hand in there let alone rummage through all the stuff in there to find a very short piece of USB cable.
I did get a few photos with my phone.
However, after traveling ¾ of the way thru Zion, I could not stand to miss anymore and stopped and retrieved a cable for the camera. Video was on!
After Zion, we caught a short hop on route ? and then took route 12 east. From 12 we stopped at Bryce Canyon which was really busy!
I wasn’t inclined to stay long amongst the crowd so we jumped back on 12 and the scenery all along 12 was awesome. We saw snow just off the road in the higher elevations and I got a couple of good photos with my phone. There was a stretch of 12 that runs on he top of a rock ridge just the width of the pavement. From either side of the pavement, there was a very deep and steep drop. We rode 12 all the way to Torrey, Utah where we spent the night at the Broken Spur Restaurant and Inn. I had a very large piece of prime rib for supper. It was delicious!
Day 22
It was cold and windy when we woke up around 6:00 am and breakfast wasn’t served till 7 so we had no inclination to get rolling early. We both took a nap and woke about 8am. Time to eat the donuts, or eggs and sausage as it turned out. Then it was off on route 24 which turned out to have plenty of scenic views of it’s own to reveal. We stopped at an overlook and I got some pictures.
We ended the day riding 191 south thru Moab and into Monticello, Utah where we spent the night.
Day 23
Day ride for me! Bruce is going to be doing some maintenance on ALI and catching up on posting and napping.
I started out late, about 9am, and headed north on 191 thru Moab and turned in to Arches National Park. Being Saturday and nice weather, of course the park entrance was busy. I had to inch forward for a quarter of a mile before getting my turn to show the nice lady my “geezer pass” and get the map and the nod to move on. With that behind me, I rolled a few hundred feet to the visitor center and dismounted for a recon of the facility. I retrieved my water bottle and made sure the water it was full and not stale. I took my time here.
I rolled out of the visitor center parking lot, pointed the front wheel up the hill, and pushed the go button on the GoPro. The road started out with a steep climb along very tall solid rock on the one side and a serious drop off on the other. It led steeply through a couple of hair pin turns before the climb eased a bit, not much but a little bit and the terrain became a little less steep on the sides of the road. There are several pull outs and I used a few to grab photos the GoPro was not going to capture.
I made my way to the Fragile Arch area deciding that I would skip the longer walk to the arch and instead take the shorter walk to the overlook of that arch. It made sense to me that an out of shape 72 year old man with a few heart conditions probably should not get out in the hot sun and begin a 3 mile hike. So I rode past the trail head parking for the trail to the arch. After getting parked, getting out my outdoor breeze hat, grabbing my water bottle, and walking over to the trail head, I was surprised to find out that this short 100 yard walk was also going to be uphill by 200 feet! Yikes! Well I was there and had already walked a good 80 yards from my bike so……..doggon shame to turn back now, even though I also just found out that the 3 mile hike was relatively level. So I plodded on and the path turned abruptly upward. There were some steps but most of those were well worn and and of varying pitch. Mostly, it was easier to walk, no, hike around them. Most of the path was narrow and quite a few folks had made the same mistake I had so it was good to be friendly and courteous. I stopped twice to let my breathing return to a more normal rhythm but my cardiologist would have been proud of my accomplishment! I did reach the top and was disappointed at having worked that hard for that distant view. I focused on the imagined compliments of my cardiologist, and started back down. I did make sure to take a few photos just for proof that I had actually climbed up there.
Once back to the bike, I stowed my hat and water bottle, donned my helmet and gloves, and rode back through the Park and back to Monticello. It was a fun day.
Day 24
I topped off with gas since I forgot to do that the night before. Bruce waited patiently. Then we rolled out of Monticello, Utah and headed for Cortez, Colorado. We arrived in Cortez way before time to check into our room, but we had planned for that and went on through Cortez and stopped at Mesa Verde National Park.
After checking in at the gate, I love my golden pass, we took the right fork and made our way to the fire tower. I took some photos from the tower, then walked back to the parking lot, woke Bruce up, and we headed on. We then rode to the trail head for the “Long House”. I wanted to see those cliff dwellings, but I just didn’t feel up to a ¾ mile hike with 150 feet of elevation change at that time. I chose to pick up a small pamphlet instead and call that good. Bruce was struggling with the thin air at this elevation. I was feeling a little more exhausted with the thin air but not too bad. Anyway, we headed down off that mountain and back into Cortez where we checked into our room before going for dinner.
Day 25
We took our time getting out and rolling. We were planning a fairly short ride over to Montrose. We had thought about riding rt 145 over to Telluride, but with the recent damage from rock slides, there would be a lot of construction and gravel that way so We decided to take rt141 instead. This road was new to both of us. Route 141 started out rather flat, rolling through a lot of farming country, then suddenly dropped into a canyon. The view was beautiful! When we got down to the bottom and began rolling along, a sign appeared designating this as “Disappointment Valley”. I began to laugh loudly within my helmet! This was certainly no disappointment to me! It was quite a way along that valley floor with a few more signs declaring names for other parts of that valley. Eventually we rode out of that canyon and took rt 145 from there over to Montrose where we spent the night.
Day 26
We got up early and got rolling by 8am. We skipped breakfast because we had a plan to meet Valkorado (Seth) in Hotchkiss for breakfast at Zacks.
After a large country breakfast, we headed off on rt 92 toward Gunnison. This took us by Black Canyon and across Blue Mesa Dam. There were a lot of eye candy views along the way. I did get a few photos. Rain was visible in three locations ahead of us as we were riding and stopping along 92 but somehow it managed to stay out of our way.
When we rolled into Gunnison, we checked into our room and unloaded the bikes. A while later, Seth came back with his honey Cheryl and they took us to a barbecue place in town. It was good! After much talk and story swapping, they dropped us back at our motel and we settled in for the night.
Day 27
Up and away we went, up through Lake City and over Slumgullum Pass. The top of the pass was cold and a little drizzle of rain/sleet tried unsuccessfully to dampen my spirits. We rode on across Wolf Creek Pass and down to Durango where we spent the night in an overpriced, adequate, but barely so, motel by a stream that was flowing fast and muddy. I was a bit concerned about just how high it might get overnight. Bruce was not very. Happy about the accommodations either. This is a large and busy tourist town though.
Day 28
We got up early and headed across route 550, The Million Dollar Highway. We stopped in Silverton for breakfast.
I spotted “bacon steak” on the menu and of course I could not resist that! Never had I heard of it before so Bruce and I both ordered the bacon steak breakfast complete with biscuits and sausage gravy. Quite a meal! We both left some on the plate. I only tried 2 bites of the biscuit and gravy. It was really good but I was full. This after thinking that I would just have a glass of juice and maybe a couple of regular strips of bacon. Ah but I am out here to explore. What’s a thousand extra calories now and then when it is in the interest of knowledge? Ha!
From Silverton, we rode on into Ouray stopping at an overlook for photos.
In Ouray, we made a U turn and headed back across 550. Bruce was thinking we might spend that night at a different motel in Durango, but I suggested we just roll on through and ride another hour south to Farmington, New Mexico. We did and that put us out of the heavy tourist area. We got a nice room for a more reasonable rate and Farmington put us closer to Chama, which is where we were booked to spend the next 2 nights. The temp was in the low 90s when we arrived in Farmington.
Day 29
We took our time getting up and out this morning. Having only about a 2 hour ride to make our way to Chama, there was no need to rush. It was a pleasant ride, once we got out of town and on the open highway. The terrain and foliage is different here than where we had been in Colorado. There was still some Rocky Mountains but not as high and the foliage was more lush. There were many wells and some collection/distribution sites along this road (64). The weather was warm and I was comfortable with my river shirt under my Speed and Strength Jersey and my True Spec pants. Both Bruce and I were enjoying the nice scenery and easy pace to the point that we were zoning out.
We arrived in Chama in time to have a nice gourmet BLT on Texas toast with a side of fried onion rings at the High Country restaurant and bar. We took our time before vacating the table. When we did, we went outside and sat on a bench where we both had a nap. Then we went down the road a mile or less and checked into the Elkhorn Lodge where we would spend 2 nights before heading on into Taos. The Elkhorn was a nice setting. No air conditioner, but we didn’t need one! They had told us we wouldn’t. The room was paneled with tongue and groove, obviously old but well kept, the bathroom was spacious enough, and there was a bench on the porch by the door. Fishing is a big thing in this town. Hunting too, I think.
There is no laundry facility at this lodge but we had planned the stay here to be laundry and relaxing days. The one laundromat in town was at the other end of town. I gathered my laundry and went. It was a nice clean place and the dryer did a good job.
Day 30
I was really lazy this morning, I didn’t bother to even sit up in bed till 7am. Bruce was already awake as usual. I made my morning call to my wife and when I finished, Bruce suggested breakfast so we walked to the restaurant next door. It was good.
Day 31
It was an easy ride from Chama to Taos so we took our time. Good thing too! Two elk,....not at the same time, and a deer all tried to share the road with us. There was a good sized snake on that road too. One of the elk ran along the side of the road beside me for 100 feet or so and turned toward the road about three times in that space. I think it was sizing me up! I twisted the throttle and got out ahead of it! Whew! That encounter was close enough cause a little chill in the bones!
We rolled in to Taos and secured our room at Inzane for the next 5 days.
Days 32 thru 37
Well it’s Inzane you know! I did what I usually do at Inzanes, I looked at lots of Valkyries, I talked to lots of good folks, and one day I took my bike for a stroll through the local countryside.
Days 38 thru 41
The weather was looking to be very unfriendly to our thinking of heading north and crossing into Canada, also, my wife was beginning to complain a lot about my being gone so long..........so we made the decision to make a speedy run east and back to home. Temps were now hovering around 100 during the days so it was a grueling 3 day ride but I made it without complaint! What trouble is a couple of rough days after all that I had seen and done for 5 weeks?
Bruce had proven himself as a very capable “tour guide” and road trip companion. I had an amazing time seeing a lot of the beautiful scenery in this great nation. My only complaint was that I was having to stop. But that did not and does not keep me from feeling very lucky and grateful to have made that trip!
Returned to my driveway with 57537.4 on the odometer. This was by far the longest single ride that I have ever done on a motorcycle.
Bigwolf
