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spokedoc
0
"Maverick doesn't just want to go fast…he needs to go fast. Part of being a hot shot means you don't follow the rules; you break them. Along with the sound barrier." Okay, I am definitely not as cool as Tom Cruise playing Maverick but was indeed exercising my need for speed on this trip, at least as much as a senile old wanna be can. I am sure my buddies Jeff and Paul have their own explanations that might include pointing a finger at one another. In adult speak it is called the group dynamic.
I am only a week and a half late but I thought I would still report on the trip. It is always an adventure. I think I have a link in this map if you want to check out the details.
This is Thursday morning getting ready to leave out from the Best Western in Hobbs NM. Smoked in to Hobbs after work Wednesday evening. We just gobbled up the West Texas nothingness as quick as possible. Stopped in Snyder for food and ended up riding a couple hours in the dark with a bit of rain. I do not like that. I blame this one on Jeff. Of course all is forgotten by the time this pic was snapped.
We took normally fun road NM24 loop to NM180 south of Cloudcroft. It got progressively colder and snowier as we gained elevation. We slowed considerably. The road was wet and shady spots had hidden frozen stuff. The road had also been spread with that red chat like snow melter. Traction was not dependable. It was 25 degrees and blowing snow. We all engaged our electric jackets and grips.
We stopped in Cloudcroft for lunch. We decided to head down in elevation to escape the cold. The only destination on our agenda was to end up at the Gila Hot Springs at the end of the road north of Silver City. That took us over NM152. Wow! Motorcycling nirvana! Twisty, curvy, hilly, scenic with good asphalt and it was dry and warmer here. I blame the road here. It begged for speed. No one stopped to smell any roses or take any pictures here.
We arrived at the Gila Hot Springs with not confirmed reservations. Camping is the only option there and Covid has them limiting access. By the Grace of God someone had canceled so we had a space. We made camp, fixed dinner and hit the hot spring about dark. It is a clothing optional kind of place after dark. Breaking out a camera is poor form so no pics for me.
That night it dropped to 20 degrees. I was fine while I was in my zero degree sleeping bag. The next hour or so after getting out of it was miserable. Fingers became dysfunctional. Finally, after I finished my breakfast and cleanup chores, I started the bike and plugged into it and just stood there with my electric jacket on high for a few minutes. Ahhhhh... I repeated that a couple times till we were on our way. Jeff and Paul in the picture...also freezing.
We made our way back down to Silver City for gas and then headed for iconic Arizona191. It is normally fantastic in every speed freaks kind of way. Not so much this time. It is at some altitude and while mostly dry the snow melter spread from a few days prior left many sandy patches, especially in the normally fun corners. We stopped at Hannagan Meadow Lodge for lunch. This is Elmer the elk and his sidekick, Jeff.
Clowning aside this was a giant elk.
We made our way back in to NM and south on US180. It was great. Wide high speed sweepers with good road surface. There was almost no traffic. We would come up on an unsuspecting car that would tighten us up a bit. The leader would pull the trigger and it was like a fighter squadron in attack formation. Before you knew it the bogey would disappear into the horizon in the rear view mirror. I coined a phrase for it. I called it "fluid synchronization." Rinse, repeat. Hence all the "Top Gun" metaphors. It was fun.
Then Jeff decides to find us a ranch house AirBNB near the town of Gila. Ya, there is a town, barely. We ended up with several miles of rugged Jeep roads. At one point the hill was so steep and wash boarded out that my electronic traction control kicked in and seriously cut my throttle. I had momentarily experienced that before. Usually it happens when the front wheel lofts a bit. This time my display began to flash SLOW DOWN! SLOW DOWN! SLOW DOWN! Really? I had never seen that message before. I was already in low gear and creeping. I was struggling to not fall over and it wouldn't give me more throttle. Yikes! You can turn it off but I was too busy focusing on the problem at hand, not falling over. I made it. Jeff is notorious for leading us into this kind of stuff. Next time the traction control goes off when we leave the pavement.
The ranch house was a no go and we ended up in Silver City at a historic downtown hotel, The Murray. It had been very thoughtfully remodeled and was nice. The next day weather came at us from everywhere. We sat in a restaurant for breakfast while hail pour down from the sky. In ten minutes the streets were completely white with it. We waited it out and proceeded with caution. We headed back out via NM152. This day that road was wet with freezing temperatures. We were forced to ride it at a more scenic pace this time.
More weather in most every other direction caused us to divert south. We decided to head towards the boarder and check out NM6. This road is very close to the boarder and for 60 or so miles the "wall" was the dominate feature of the landscape. We stopped for a few pictures. Based on the number of boarder patrol agents we saw it must not be working very well.
Once again you can imagine the pattern developing on these wide open roads. They were mostly straight and open with little else than some speed to entertain one self. I will say we made haste and got with it into Carlsbad for the night. We had a steak dinner.
Next day I will have to take the blame. Sitting at breakfast in Carlsbad I told the boys that my wife had asked if I would be home for dinner. I said I would like to be home by about 5:30. It is like I had thrown my gloves off and challenged them to a dual, death ride style. We left at 8:00am and lost an hour to the time zone. We arrived at 3:30pm. Nuff said. It was great to scratch the speed itch and there was enough challenge to make it great adventure. Nobody got hurt. It doesn't get any better.
I am only a week and a half late but I thought I would still report on the trip. It is always an adventure. I think I have a link in this map if you want to check out the details.
This is Thursday morning getting ready to leave out from the Best Western in Hobbs NM. Smoked in to Hobbs after work Wednesday evening. We just gobbled up the West Texas nothingness as quick as possible. Stopped in Snyder for food and ended up riding a couple hours in the dark with a bit of rain. I do not like that. I blame this one on Jeff. Of course all is forgotten by the time this pic was snapped.
We took normally fun road NM24 loop to NM180 south of Cloudcroft. It got progressively colder and snowier as we gained elevation. We slowed considerably. The road was wet and shady spots had hidden frozen stuff. The road had also been spread with that red chat like snow melter. Traction was not dependable. It was 25 degrees and blowing snow. We all engaged our electric jackets and grips.
We stopped in Cloudcroft for lunch. We decided to head down in elevation to escape the cold. The only destination on our agenda was to end up at the Gila Hot Springs at the end of the road north of Silver City. That took us over NM152. Wow! Motorcycling nirvana! Twisty, curvy, hilly, scenic with good asphalt and it was dry and warmer here. I blame the road here. It begged for speed. No one stopped to smell any roses or take any pictures here.
We arrived at the Gila Hot Springs with not confirmed reservations. Camping is the only option there and Covid has them limiting access. By the Grace of God someone had canceled so we had a space. We made camp, fixed dinner and hit the hot spring about dark. It is a clothing optional kind of place after dark. Breaking out a camera is poor form so no pics for me.
That night it dropped to 20 degrees. I was fine while I was in my zero degree sleeping bag. The next hour or so after getting out of it was miserable. Fingers became dysfunctional. Finally, after I finished my breakfast and cleanup chores, I started the bike and plugged into it and just stood there with my electric jacket on high for a few minutes. Ahhhhh... I repeated that a couple times till we were on our way. Jeff and Paul in the picture...also freezing.
We made our way back down to Silver City for gas and then headed for iconic Arizona191. It is normally fantastic in every speed freaks kind of way. Not so much this time. It is at some altitude and while mostly dry the snow melter spread from a few days prior left many sandy patches, especially in the normally fun corners. We stopped at Hannagan Meadow Lodge for lunch. This is Elmer the elk and his sidekick, Jeff.
Clowning aside this was a giant elk.
We made our way back in to NM and south on US180. It was great. Wide high speed sweepers with good road surface. There was almost no traffic. We would come up on an unsuspecting car that would tighten us up a bit. The leader would pull the trigger and it was like a fighter squadron in attack formation. Before you knew it the bogey would disappear into the horizon in the rear view mirror. I coined a phrase for it. I called it "fluid synchronization." Rinse, repeat. Hence all the "Top Gun" metaphors. It was fun.
Then Jeff decides to find us a ranch house AirBNB near the town of Gila. Ya, there is a town, barely. We ended up with several miles of rugged Jeep roads. At one point the hill was so steep and wash boarded out that my electronic traction control kicked in and seriously cut my throttle. I had momentarily experienced that before. Usually it happens when the front wheel lofts a bit. This time my display began to flash SLOW DOWN! SLOW DOWN! SLOW DOWN! Really? I had never seen that message before. I was already in low gear and creeping. I was struggling to not fall over and it wouldn't give me more throttle. Yikes! You can turn it off but I was too busy focusing on the problem at hand, not falling over. I made it. Jeff is notorious for leading us into this kind of stuff. Next time the traction control goes off when we leave the pavement.
The ranch house was a no go and we ended up in Silver City at a historic downtown hotel, The Murray. It had been very thoughtfully remodeled and was nice. The next day weather came at us from everywhere. We sat in a restaurant for breakfast while hail pour down from the sky. In ten minutes the streets were completely white with it. We waited it out and proceeded with caution. We headed back out via NM152. This day that road was wet with freezing temperatures. We were forced to ride it at a more scenic pace this time.
More weather in most every other direction caused us to divert south. We decided to head towards the boarder and check out NM6. This road is very close to the boarder and for 60 or so miles the "wall" was the dominate feature of the landscape. We stopped for a few pictures. Based on the number of boarder patrol agents we saw it must not be working very well.
Once again you can imagine the pattern developing on these wide open roads. They were mostly straight and open with little else than some speed to entertain one self. I will say we made haste and got with it into Carlsbad for the night. We had a steak dinner.
Next day I will have to take the blame. Sitting at breakfast in Carlsbad I told the boys that my wife had asked if I would be home for dinner. I said I would like to be home by about 5:30. It is like I had thrown my gloves off and challenged them to a dual, death ride style. We left at 8:00am and lost an hour to the time zone. We arrived at 3:30pm. Nuff said. It was great to scratch the speed itch and there was enough challenge to make it great adventure. Nobody got hurt. It doesn't get any better.
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