Tucumcari 09
What an awesome journey! Can you spell R-A-I-N !! Well I’m here to tell you this desert rat got her share of it in the 6 days we were on the road! We had a great time again and had the pleasure to meet new folks and the pleasure of many old friends!
Kendall & I left home Thursday morning a little later then we wanted .. but still enjoyed an awesome ride. Cleared Showlow about 11:00 a.m. and into New Mexico a little after lunch. Just past Quemado we headed north and found ourselves headed right into one hell of a thunder storm. Discussed rain gear and opted to just put on our rain coats. Rode along another 5 miles and promptly stopped and put on our pants! LOL
Within a mile we were smack dab in the middle of a down pour! I’ve always loved riding in summer rains … it wasn’t all that cold other then the mountain area we were riding in …. Dummy me I left my good gloves and only had my fingerless --- tips of my fingers did get a little chilly but other then that it wasn’t bad!
Most of the way into Albuquerque was rain … sometimes light sometimes heavy. It was almost humorous ride 15-20 miles in rain and then 15-20 miles in the sunshine to dry out!
Rain finally ended in Albuquerque and the rest of the way into Tucumcari was a sweet ride. Arrived at the Blue Swallow about 9:00 p.m. Seems that no matter how hard we ride or which direction we go we are destine to take 12 hours to get there! LOL
Got a good nights sleep and had breakfast with Bandit Friday morning. Lynn-Del & Wizard rolled in about mid day followed close behind by Misfit, Lil’Bit & Green Dragon. Throughout the day and evening most all the other rides rolled in. We had the pleasure of meeting Early Bird who rode in with Lynn-Del & Wizard.
Saturday was another wonderful day of riding in Eastern New Mexico. Made the loop out Route 66 to the Wind Mill farm, back down through to Logan where we had lunch and into Tucumcari. Nice ride with again sprinkles and rain. There was not a single day that Kendall & I didn’t ride in at least a little bit of rain!
Saturday night a group of us had dinner together down at K-Bobs and enjoyed great fellowship. As usual you get a group of Valks together and they draw attention! Or is that us that makes everyone look? Hmmm
Wizard had a little mishap and was in need of a starter switch; so I lead Lynn-Del out of town to meet Bandit, Valkhound & Willow to pick up the part. Nice little down pour right at sunset made for a brisk ride! Both Lynn-Del & I got to the top of the ridge only to discover both of us was probably on the bottom end of our tanks! Luckily neither ended up out and made it back into town without any problems just at dark:thirty.
Wizard had the bike fixed in a matter of minutes after we returned! Worth while journey to retrieve the part!
Saturday night we invaded the Custard Shop and about 20 of us right at closing boosted their sales for the day! Owner was very thankful and gracious to accommodate us with everyone walking in at 7:55 p.m. when he was ready to close at 8:00!
Sunday morning was another great adventure! Bandit’s Pastor is moving to a new community and he invited anyone who wanted to join him to attend services to thank him for his dedication to the community and to wish him well. We ended up with a total of 19 bikes and about 24 people. As with our 1st attendance in Grady the community in Melrose was very welcoming and pleasant. Not many places you can bring a group of 24 bikes into a community church and be welcomed the way we have been.
Don --- thank you again for the unique pleasure of joining you for services. You are a great brother, friend & person. It is our pleasure to call you family.
The ride back to Tucumcari was as interesting as the services at church. Bandit rode us around the area to give some of the new people who hadn’t been with us in the past the opportunity to see the farm lands. All total it was just a little over 120 miles but unfortunately a few of the Valks ran into fuel issues. Primarily it was ones running hotter pipes (6x6) others didn’t have any problems (I never even hit reserve)
Nonetheless --- you guessed it ---- we hit R-A-I-N coming back into Tucumcari! I guess it’s just the nature of the adventure --- Memorial Weekend in Tucumcari = RAIN!
BBQ was handled by Vicky (Mrs. Bandit), Bill & Terri (from Blue Swallow) and what an awesome job she did! We had steak, baked potato, salad, dinner rolls and cake baked by one of the Teachers from Vicky’s school. Bill did an awesome job handling the grills and turned out steaks to everyone’s liking with amazing speed! Lunch was fabulous!
Sunday evening was a little more leisurely with everyone standing in the garages avoiding the …. Guess? RAIN! LOL We literally just finished lunch when the storm rolled in and just opened up the sky and POURED RAIN!
Monday morning it was time to say our Good-byes and many of our dear friends parted from ways with us. Upside is that Inzane is just around the corner and most EVERYONE will be there! It was awesome to know it will only be a couple months till we see them again --- instead of another year!!
Once again we took a group with us to head out. Lynn-Del, Wizard, Early Bird, QOTFU, Duct Tape, Bandit, Valkhound, AJ (a friend of Bandit’s), Kendall & I headed south for a continuation of our adventure.
Bandit took us through Ft. Sumner to Billy The Kid Museum; down through Roswell, up over the mountain on highway 82 to Cloud Croft & into Alamogordo for the night. If you’ve never made the trip you want to add this one to your list! Highway 82 that brings you up to and through Cloud Croft is an awesome ride! Beautiful country!
Tuesday morning we left out of Alamogordo down Highway 70 to pick up I-25 north. A small detour took us out to the Pistachio farm in Alamogordo where several of us packed up some delicious Pistachios.
Off I-25 we picked up State Route 152 which took us through Hillsborough, San Lorenzo and into Silver City. The road was breathtaking with switch backs; curves, mountain turns and beautiful country scenery! Large portion of the highway was at 30 mph speeds due to the curves and mountain terrain; other parts were a stead 50 – 65 mph.
Silver City was lunch break at Sonic. Not often you find a Sonic without any outside eating area --- so we sat on the Valks while we munched on some burgers! The rest break was much needed after the morning’s journey. The route out of Silver City would be the end of the journey together. We rode north on State Route 211 until we crossed the split for Mule Creek which brought Kendall and I back into Arizona.
Bandit’s group continued on to Reserve and around to Socorro for the night. Kendall and I headed west to Safford, into Globe and down the mountain to Florence and into Coolidge. It actually turned out to our advantage because the …. you guessed it .. R-A-I-N we ran into cooled it down enough we didn’t MELT as we made out way home.
All total we rode 1619 miles while on our journey. I kept track of the mileage and fuel but don’t have the information readily available (I’m on the road in New Mexico again … didn’t get to stay home but a day or two before it was time to leave again)!
If you would like to peruse some photos … I’ve uploaded what we have to Kodak site and the link is below. Oddly enough many of the pictures look like those that Maris took … except I did notice we don’t have the GREEN TWINS in all our photos like she does! LOL
Thanks to everyone who joined us in Tucumcari this year. To those that we missed … YOU WERE MISSED!! We are looking forward to our 4th Annual Celebration and hope to see old friends and some new friends! Bandit & Vicky --- Thank you for being such wonderful host/hostess and allowing a bunch of ruffians into your neighborhood. Bill & Terri from the Blue Swallow --- Thank you for opening your hotel and allowing us to gather & celebrate at your place. Each year you add more and continue to amaze us. No where could we ever be as welcomed and comfortable!
If you’ve not gotten your reservations for 2010 --- HEADS UP ---- rooms go fast! #1 thing is to contact Bill & Terri to ensure the room you have reserved remains set aside for you … and if they can’t accommodate you at their place … they’ll ensure you place at the Safari or some where close!
Thanks again to everyone! It wouldn’t be the same without each & every one of you!
