It’s been a long couple of days since the last post.
Wednesday, I drove from Little Rock to Dumas Texas, about 50 miles north of Amarillo Texas. That was long, but relatively uneventful in terms of mishaps! Just fast and hot riding. Read into that what you will.
I kipped at the Motel6. It was a pretty place to stay all in all. Dumas overcharges for hotel rooms, since it’s the only town in the area, and a major stopping over point for cross country travelers.
I left out around 10am. The day was fraught with family drama back at home. Phones are great and all, but the other side of that sword, is you are never really out of reach for any meaningful length of time. Owing to this drama, I literally had to stop on the side of the road to 1- Take The Calls 2- Recover from the Calls. Gotta love “Family Love”. Makes a body feel good. Makes a man feel mature and respected as such.
Not. and… Not.
I was able to enjoy the scenery without the infliction of more doses of “Family Love”.
I drove thru some beautiful country, and that was a nice contrepoint to the drama. I could see for nearly a hundred miles. I saw an entire thunderstorm, must have been 50-100 miles wide, and from the ground to the top of the clouds. Just at a glance you could see the entire storm. Endless fields of cows and horses, all on a high altitude plain. Luckily for me, mobile coverage was terrible. Texas secondary highways are pretty good. Nice wide shoulders, high speed limits, and very little in the way of traffic. You could tell when you reached NM. There was no actual state line sign. The road quality suffered, shoulders disappeared, and mobile coverage became even worse. I was within easy range of several towers. I guess they were turned off? (I am on Verizon..)
As pretty as that was, that all changed. I arrived in Springer, NM at a truck stop on I-25. I was heading across the expressway, not actually getting on it. In the distance a nasty dark thunderstorm, complete with lightning bursts stood in my way. So I dawdled a while, donning my rain suit, and waterproofing things just to be double sure. About an hour later, I mustered the courage, and drove into the storm.
I noticed a gap between the storm cells, and it seemed that the route I would take would thread the needle between them.
As I arrived in Cimarron NM, I figured I got it right. It was a bad storm, but not nearly as bad as what had just past, and what was coming along shortly. I entered Cimarron Canyon, and the smell of mountains, rock, and trees was welcome. Slick curvy roads with 25-35mph speed limits, and out of state tourists driving to their vacations made it slow going. Trout rivers alongside the road, big canyon walls, great views.
I popped out on the other end into a clearing the size of, perhaps, Atlanta. At an altitude of 8,500′, it was a high plain, clearing large enough to have most of the downtown, midtown, buckhead.. heck I dont know.. it was big. This is aptly named Eagles Nest. A mecca for mountain vacations and fishing. I was going to fly fish, and discovered the night before that I left my fly reel back in Atlanta. Rather than forking over UPS shipping money, I found a fly shop in Eagle’s Nest, and picked up a Reddington 3 weight reel and American Angler line. Yeah, I know. Small tackle. The larger tackle would not fit in my luggage, so would likely have just been appropriated off my bike at some gas station along the way.
Better a small pole, than no pole. (There’s a joke in there somewhere that you can sort out on your own. 😉
I rode on through to Taos (El Prado) near the resort to stay with my friends, Andy and Nancy. They have a beautiful home, surrounded by gardens, and a 100 mile view from their back yard, and a view of the south face of the Taos Ski Mountain from their front yard. They live next to a full rodeo style horse farm with all the fixtures and critters.
We had a nice dinner at Medley. Our waitress was new, but super nice. She looked just like Sloan from Ferris Beuller! The food was great.