Day Four

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An amusingly consistent comment from folks when I told them that my buddy was joining me for this trip was “Who is crazy enough to want to vacation on the kind of schedule you keep?” I bet poor Dirk was thinking the same thing this morning. Though we got in late last night and only got a few hours of sleep I insisted that we had to be on the road at first light in order to make it to Vegas at a decent hour. I was up at my normal O’dark thirty saying we need to get moving. Dirk was a good sport and, though he was tired he got his butt out of bed and we were able to get on the road at first light.

We had ridden in after dusk so our only view of the city Espanola had been the neon signage along the main drag on which the hotel was located. This morning we got to see that Espanola is a dry and dusty town located on the banks of the Rio Grande and surrounded by mountains; Sangre De Christo mountains to the east, San Juan mountains to the north, Jemez mountains to the west and the Rio Grande valley finishes up the four points of the compass looking south towards Santa Fe and Albuquerque.

Redondo peak in the Jemez range east of Espanola elevation 12,254 ft as seen from the east bank of the Rio Grande as we were about to get on route 84 north to Chama.

We gassed up and were rolling north on route 84 at 6:04 just ahead of the sun peeking over the Sangre de Christo mountains over our right shoulders. It was a wonderful sunrise, first a dusty red that soon revealed cloudless blue skies overhead. The morning air was crisp as we climbed up towards Tierra Amarilla where we would meet up with route 64, our passage route west into Arizona. We stopped in Chama for breakfast at a roadside diner that proved to have not only tasty food but also fast and friendly service.

A cool rock formation on route 84 between Espanola and Chama

Another rock formation along 84

And another .....

Yup, he likes his rock formations! Don't you just love that desert-blue sky?

Nacimiento peak in the Jemez range, elevation 9,801 ft as seen over the north end of the Abiquiu reservoir along 84

You guessed it, another rock formation :-)

Conejos peak elevation 13,172 ft and Montezuma peak elevetion 13,150 ft in Colorado as seen on route 64 just south of Ensenada New Mexico

I like this view over the fence

And this one over the trees and meadow

An old Ford in Chama, New Mexico where we stopped for breakfast and gas. Aren't old Fords cool? Hmm, I resemble that remark ....... the old part. Anyway, I think the owner said it is a 1951 vintage. Whatever, you should have heard those pipes sing when he drove off!

After topping up we headed west on 64. After 64 and 84 split east of Monero, we picked up the pace. No, I will not share the rate of travel but I will say that the rather brisk pace we maintained had us smiling in our helmets! We made good time to Farmington and stopped at an Auto Zone to pick up some oil for Dirk’s bike after which we gassed up the bikes and shed a layer or two as we prepared for some desert riding.

Our resting steeds when we stopped in Farmington, NM for some oil.

As we took advantage of the little shade we could find next to the gas station building a guy on a bicycle rode up and struck up conversation with us. It turns out that his sister lives in Toledo and he was excited to talk to someone from the same state in which his sister lives.
While I was getting the bike ready for the next leg I noticed that one of the support brackets for the windshield had broken and at first I thought of replacing it with the spare I had but on second thoughts, given the miles we still had to go, I left that task for later. It would mean riding with a lot more wind noise but I could handle that for the remainder of this day.

A mountain that is not named on my map but it is west of Shiprock New Mexico near the New Mexico and Arizona state line.

Our next stop was the Four Corners monument which marks the one point in the United States where four states share borders. The monument is in the Navajo nation and is run either by the Navajo nation or the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Dirk did some shopping at one of the kiosks and we sat down for fry bread tacos at one of the food vendors.

At the four corners monument, my bike on the left in Utah and Dirk's in New Mexico

The exact point at which the four states of Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona and Utah meet.

We were soon off to Kayenta, Arizona where we gassed up for the desert crossing to Page, Arizona where we would top up before dropping into the Colorado River valley near Marble Canyon. We stopped there for Dirk to take photos of the Navajo Bridge monument and put on another layer for the climb up the Vermillion Cliffs to Jacob Lake, the gateway to the North Rim of the Grand Canon.

I really hope you like rock formations as much as I do! This is along route 84 west of Farmington.

No prizes for guess what this is!

The settlement of Tsegi Arizona overlooks this cool canyon.

Dirk caught on film going slowly!

A rock formation near Kaibito along route 98 in Arizona

And another

The ride up from Marble Canyon on the Colorado river to Jacob Lake was fun but we got stuck behind some five-under-the-speed-limit kill-joy in a little Volvo on the way down the curvy descent on the other side into the high desert in Utah. We were fast running out of daylight and the temperatures were dropping fast. Dirk pulled past me and pulled over. I had not taken off my heated gear so I was nice and toasty but I did need to put my sweater back on. As we descended into Hurricane, Utah we were rewarded with spectacular views of a huge snow covered mountain that is not named on my map. We were on the freeway with precious few minutes of daylight left.

We tucked in behind a speeding Cadillac and enjoyed the 11 mile descent into Arizona through the Virgin River canyon. From there it was a fast cruise into Las Vegas. On arrival into town the GPS miss-routed us onto the strip although our hotel was on the other side of the airport. We were soon back on course and checked in.

We learned that the closest restaurant was the Applebee’s next door but when we got there they had already closed. I was so exhausted I didn’t care whether or not I ate. I love my food and you know that if I am too tired to eat I must be tired!! I opted for bed while Dirk got back on his bike to cruise the strip and then hit the tables.

It was a very long day on the bikes with only one technical issue on the bike and I left the repair of the windshield bracket for the ‘morrow. For now, it was time for some shut-eye.