With the exception of the high winds on the last part of the day, yesterday’s ride went very well and very smoothly. Today is starting out to be a whole other story. When I got up I checked the weather and all the towns along our intended route in Colorado were calling for snow and rain. Knowing how fast the weather changes in the Colorado Rockies we decided to pass on that part of the ride and head straight for New Mexico.
In getting ready for the day I had to tape up my map as it has seen some use on previous trips to Colorado. I went downstairs and asked the man at the front desk for some tape. He was a good humored fellow and said that he may be able to spare some but only a little because that was expensive stuff I was asking for. When he saw it was a map I was taping together he helped by holding the folds down as I applied the tape. And as I was doing that he asked if the map was well trained. I was a little puzzled by the question and he deadpanned and looked over at the brochure rack and pointed out that there were free ones over there but if I had put all that effort into training this one he understood why I would rather not replace it.
All packed and ready to go I took the hard-case saddle bags downstairs and while the left one snapped right in place, the one on the right would not lock so I got the tools out and took it apart hoping to only find that something had worked loose. Well, it turns out that something had indeed worked loose and a retaining pin for the mechanism had somehow turned up missing.
I started in on the repair and while I was trying to figure out a way to wedge the offending part in place a fellow who saw I had the tools out and things torn apart inquired as to what was happening. It turns out that he was not only a Diesel mechanic but he also had a good idea ...... I could use the spring from an automatic pencil or ball point. I was not sure if I had one but he said not to worry, went to his truck, took it apart, straightened out the spring and handed it to me. I profusely thanked him and he went on his way.
In the meantime, rather than have the two of us standing in the parking lot as I fumed over the disabled saddlebag I told Dirk to go ahead and ride up and down the Arkansas river valley along route 50 before traffic got heavy and that way at least one of us could have some fun. I burned well over an hour of daylight getting the bag and all its pieces back together. While the operation of the bag is delightfully simple, I was learning that the mechanics that allow for that simplicity are rather complicated.
I was finally on the road by about 10:00 am and as I headed out of town I stopped to take a photo of the first mountain that caught my eye. When I pulled over I noticed a sign that read Skyline Drive so I decided to take that and see if I could get a better photo. I was VERY pleased to have done so because it turns out that the road is a little park in the form of a one-way street along the top of a ridge and it was about a mile long. It was on this short drive, with sheer drop offs on either side that I learned something about myself. I have a fear of heights in certain circumstances. And, that fear reveals itself with a tingling sensation in different parts of the body and they don’t tingle for long before the sensation moves to other parts. No shortness of breath or increase in heart rate or anything but just the mobile tingling and a sense of dread.
I was rewarded with this view from Skyline Drive
And this one too.
This is the part of Skyline Drive that gave me the heebee geebees
With that nice start to the drive done I headed west along Route 50 and soon came upon Dirk riding back east. He turned around and caught up to me in no time at all. When I saw the next photo I wanted to take I pulled over and poor Dirk had to turn around again to come looking for me. I was off the road in the middle of a field trying to get a good shot. We chatted for a bit and I was happy to learn that he had gotten to ride the road as it should be ridden.
I pulled over to take this shot of the east side of the Sangre de Christo mountains along route 50
The east side of the Sawach Range seen from Salida in the Arkansas River valley.
Dirk and a different kind of steel horse with the Sawach range behind
Sangre De Christo mountais as seen from Poncha Pass elevation 9,021 ft.
My bike on Poncha Pass 
A view of the Sangre De Christo mountains over high plains
From there we stopped in Salida for gas and a quick photo opportunity with a huge stainless steel horse and then headed south along the western foothills of the Sangre de Christo range. We stopped in Almosa for breakfast in a little restaurant on the corner and was happy to find out that we made it just before it closed at 1:00. I had what has got to be the worst BLT I have ever had. As we were waiting for our orders Dirk went across the way to a grocery store in search of aspirin while I cooled my heels with the other three patrons. At one table sat two women, one very advanced in age and on oxygen and the other looked to be one of her younger daughters or a grand daughter as she was probably in her late forties.
We struck up conversation as she asked if we had come over Wolf Creek Pass. The reason she asked was she was from California and was here taking her grandmother back home to Pagosa Springs from Colorado Springs and was concerned that she might have to drive through snow as she went over the pass.
Being from California she had never driven in snow plus she had a rental with which she was not familiar. We went out to the car so that she could show me the switch for the various options for four wheel drive. She was very well prepared!! The car turned out to be an enormous Yukon about the size of an Abrams tank!! Looking at the switch I told her to put it in auto and let the computer figure out what was best based on what the wheels were doing. I then told her if it snows just go slow and stay off the brakes. On the way down the other side slow is your friend. They left before us but as they got to the door her grandmother lost her footing so I helped them get to the car ..... um .... tank.
We were soon on our way and we continued south on 285 to Antonito where we turned west on state route 17 for a run over La Manga pass at 10,230 ft in elevation and Cumbres pass on the border with New Mexico at an elevation of 10,022 ft. It was a low traffic road so we took the opportunity to let the bikes run. It was about 50 degrees in Antonito but as we wound our way up the first pass the temperature dropped all the way into the upper thirties and there was plenty of snow on the ground. as we continued to the second pass the snow got deeper and we got all the way down to 34 degrees and I was glad I had donned my heated gear. We stopped at Cumbres pass for photos and then continued down into, New Mexico for gas.
This is east of La Manga pass along route 17 between Antonito, Colorado and Chama New Mexico
This and the next couple of snowy photos are up on Cumbres pass on the Colorado and New Mexico.
After topping up we turned east on route 64 for our drive to Taos. It turns out that between Tierra Amarilla and Tres Piedras we had to cross over the San Juan range between San Antonio Mountain, elevation 10,908 ft to our north and Canjilon Mountain, elevation 10,913 ft to our south. There was NO traffic on this road and it twisted up a pass in a manner that corrupted our sensibilities with the irresistible urge to twist the throttle, an urge we did not resist. We made very short work of that run. It was funny – to me, at least. My bike is pretty quick but next to Dirk’s it may as well be a UPS truck!! I would get out ahead of him through a couple of corners and then go wide open through each gear deep into irresponsibility on the straights feeling fast until I looked in the mirrors and saw his lights grow bigger as he easily reeled me in. That K1200S is one amazingly quick bike!!
We stopped along route 64 between Tierra Amarilla and Tres Piedras New Mexico to take picture that did not turn out well so here is a picture of the bikes
As we approached Taos we noticed some strange looking buildings along the road and stopped at one to take a look. It turns out they are some eco-friendly, built-in-the-ground out of recycled stuff dwellings that are designed to be off the grid. The roofs are catchment areas for rain water. They have windows facing south for light and solar panels for electricity. The side walls are made with glass bottles and surrounding walls with old tires. The photo looks a lot more appealing than the buildings do in person!
This is along route 64 at Tres Piedras in the high plains looking east towards Taos with Wheeler Peak as a backdrop
A closer view of Wheeler Peak
The Rio Grande cuts an impressive canyon through the high plains 
One of the structures among the eco houses. If you click on it to enlarge you can see that the walls are made of concrete and soda cans and the surrounding landscape wall is old tires.
This is the view from the house
This is the house and if you click to enlarge you will see that the walls are made of cement and bottles.
In the event you want to know more about it, here is more info about the eco houses.
Just north of Taos we turned north on 522 to ride what is known as the Enchanted Circle. The ride took us east on route 38 through Red River to Eagle’s Nest where we turned west again along route 64 for a ride through the Cimarron canyon to Cimarron where we would gas up before turning back west to Taos and then down to Espanola for the night. It was a beautiful ride through canyons and when the road opened up we got great views of Wheeler Peak at 13,161 ft in elevation and Baldy Mountain at 12,441 ft.
The ride, along the enchanted circle, though was not a fun one for me. It turns out that Red River was hosting a HUGE rally. There we saw hundreds of bikes going in either direction as we rode towards Red River and when we got there it was as if every Harley ever built had descended into town. The main town has a strip about half a mile long and it has parking on both sides and a turning lane down the middle. There were thousands of bikes lining the road and parked on the turning lane two deep. Now, this is half a mile with four rows of bikes (one on either side of the road and two in the middle) turned perpendicular to the road from one end of town to the other and all the little side streets were also packed in the same way. In addition, there were the hundreds of bikes, two abreast, going in either direction, cruising the strip. With about ten four-way stops and scores of local and state police in cruisers and motorcycles those stop signs were honored and it took an hour to go that one half mile.
With the exception of Cimarron canyon, the rest of the ride was slow going behind rally attendees out for a cruise. Without the traffic, it would have been a fun ride given there were tons of curves and wonderful scenery. I do like being on the open road and that is one of the reasons it is fun to be out in this part of the country so it would be nice to get back here when there is not so much traffic.
We stopped in Taos so that Dirk could try for a signal on his phone and see if he could talk to his family before they went to bed but we were not successful that night. We rode from Taos to Espanola in the dark so we didn’t get to enjoy what must be nice views given it was a pretty twisty road with parts of it winding through a canyon.
When we got to the hotel we were thoroughly exhausted and it being Saturday in a small town the food options were limited. Plus, we did not feel like getting back on our bikes after several hundred miles and lots of hours in the saddle.
At the hotel they told me that they did have a room for me but though I had requested two beds all they had left was a room with one king. Now, I have known Dirk for a long time and we are good friends but there was no way in hell we were going to share a bed!!
It turns out that the motels help each other out and the Motel 6 two doors down had a non-smoking queen with two beds but no TV. We jumped all over that.
After getting the bikes unloaded we opted to get food at the Sonic next door. I don’t think we have these in Ohio but it is an all drive in and park chain but we walked over and got our food. I can tell you with certainty that I will do me level best never to eat a Sonic burger again. Mega yuck!!
Worn and weary we settled in for the night and I sat down to write my blog I gave up and it really didn’t matter anyway because the internet connection was so weak I could barely bring up google!! So, we turned in as we had another long day of riding the next day.
2 comments:
Oi Bro ... Yani I wish I was with you. The pictures are great and breathtaking. I'm coming back to pull some of them off the blog. Then ... can I borrow your camera .. he he
And the 'selective' fear of heights thing ... I got some of that too ... remember the Mai Mahiu Rd? The old road to Naivasha? Gives me the hibby jibbys
Hey Sis! The pictures don't even tell half the story. There is so much that doesn't get captured in the view finder.
Haha .... If that road gives you the woolies this one would have taken you over the edge!!
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