Things I've Learned So Far

Each trip on the bike is a rolling 70 mph classroom about coping and maximizing enjoyment.  Everyone travels differently and the only way to know how you travel is to travel alone.  I encourage everyone who tours to travel alone because when you discover your style you can then express that to riding companions and it is from that point that compromises can be made and happy group riding will occur.  Apparently I don't like to stop when I'm riding by myself.  I don't like to take pictures, I don't want to go see that neat thing over there.  I want to ride, my experience is the ride, my memory is the ride.  Also, I hate getting out of all my gear only to have to struggle back into it over and over and over again.  I did try to stop and take pictures on my way up to Durango....with my helmet still on because I didn't want to bother taking it off for 5 minutes just to put it back on.  I got ok pictures but my framing certainly would have been better had I taken my helmet off.  I don't mind stopping for lunch or to see the Big Thing/Museum/Natural Beauty that is going to take a while to see and if I'm traveling with Mr. Man I enjoy getting off the bike to take pictures every once in a while.  We can talk about the ride and talk about what we are doing next and talk about his crazy late braking he does going into a curve.  Seriously don't follow this mans brake points unless you also have the crazy.

I've also learned that I like to get up early and get on the road but I don't always leave as early as Mr Man does when he's alone.  I like and need a nice long breakfast and I take longer to get dressed and packed and loaded than he does even when I'm packed minimally.  I don't think its a girl/guy thing because I'm fast and I can get ready faster than at least one of the men we travel with on a regular basis.  I just think it's a me thing.  I prefer to move a tad slower.  But I can move if I need to, tomorrow I probably will be on the road earlier than usual because I do want to be able to linger on the ride and try to stop more and take some pictures so if I leave early, I won't feel so pressed I hope.

I've learned that I'm not lonely traveling alone.  I was a little worried about that but it hasn't been a real issue.  I do have people that talk to me through out the day and strangely I really enjoy the social interaction I have with waitstaff so I've tried to find actual restaurants to eat at and not just fast food.  Also, shopkeepers give me a lot of social interaction.  Once I'm in my room I'm fine.  I have netflix and I have my book and I can listen to my public radio via the internet.  I'm fine, I like my solitude.  I'm glad I chose today to wander around Durango and shop and see and eat.  I got a lot of social interaction from the woman at the wholesale jewelry place who gave me some hints about Ouray to the gay man who stopped to ask me about my bike and ask for hints on where to go in Austin.  It was enough interaction that I was ready to retreat back to my room to blog and then to order Chinese take out.  I'm eager to see friends and family again and would enjoy doing this trip again with company.  I enjoy the companionship you get during a trip as you soak your bones in a hot tub and laugh at each other.  I really love that.  But I love this too.  I love pleasing no one but myself.

I've also learned that I was so very wrong about Highway 84.  I thought it was boring hot road.  It proved me so very wrong the moment we turned north out of Santa Fe to head to Durango.  There were many hill I crested to whisper "Oh My God" as I involuntarily rolled off the throttle because it was that beautiful, the road was that exciting.

I've also learned how to charge my video camera so I should be able to take some video of my ride to Ouray tomorrow.  In the meantime, here are the pictures I did get at my one stop yesterday.

Also, I'm not sure what my internet connectivity will be like in Ouray so I'm not sure how much I'll be able to blog.  I'll see if I can find an internet cafe or something.  I'll be in Ouray for two days, three nights so I'm hoping I can find something.  If not, I'll post again from Pueblo on my way home.

Quick Edit:  I've been tacking my miles daily so I wanted to note that yesterdays ride was 227 miles.

The Emercency You Plan for May be Your Own

Yesterday I did my second 300 mile day to Santa Fe.  Now I know that two 300 mile days is possible for me but I need a day to rest afterward.  Still, good to know.

I got gas in Clovis, NM as planned.  My next gas stop was going to be in Santa Rosa, NM about 105 miles away.  I have that range on my tank but I wanted to fill my auxiliary tank just in case I got lost (unlikely, as I had been on HWY 84 since Early, TX and would stay on it all the way to Clines Corners.)  I stopped as planned in Santa Rosa and had lunch and the fantastic Silver Moon Cafe on RT 66.  It was my first non fast food or pizza meal in three days and it was wonderful.  After I paid, the restaurant lost power.  I got on my bike and headed towards a gas station.  As my luck would have it, the whole town had lost power.  That meant no gas to be had because the pumps were all electric.  I realized this at my third attempt to get gas.  I had fifty and then some more miles to my next gas in Clines Corners.  I can maybe go 150 on a tank.  Maybe.  Not, however, going up and down hills in the wind.  So I emptied my 1.75 gallons of spare gas into my tank said a prayer and headed for Clines Corners.  My gas light came on about 18 miles out of Clines Corner.  Even though I know for a fact that I have two gallons left when that light comes on and an easy range of 50 miles I still counted down ever mile until a gas station.  I made it and still had a little over a gallon left in my tank.  Thats maybe 26-30 miles for me.  So that almost two gallons I put in my tank back in Santa Rosa certainly saved me.


Most of that day, I had been riding across the Llano Estacado, the Staked Plains.  An area so flat and featureless I kept hysterically thinking that I would Stake a Plain for interesting landscape.  The road however was surprising curvy for such a flat area.  Eventually I rode over a hill and the landscape that opened up below me made me think of words like "Dry Gulch".  Flat no more the land gave me small ragged valleys of red dirt and scrub dotted with cactus.  Like I had found the foothills of the foothills of the Rockies.  Santa Rosa rose up out of nothing suddenly.  One moment I'm riding in the landscape of desolate beauty that had been my companion for a while and then suddenly there was I40 and three travel centers and a line of charming building lining RT 66.  I40 was a nightmare of high speeds, high winds and counting the miles to gas.  Once I turned to go up to Santa Fe on 285 I was rewarded with gentle sweepers and hills all the way.


The hotel I've chosen is the El Rey Inn.  I've stayed here before with The Diva on our Route 66 trip in 2009 and it's as charming as I remember.  My only problem was the altitude here in Santa Fe has been giving me no end of grief.  I've never had problems before but my first night I got winded walking across my room.  Ten hours of sleep has cleared up a lot of it but I'm having to pace myself. Today I walked around the grounds with my camera a bit then rode to lunch.  Next I plan on sorting through some email and possibly watching a movie.  Tomorrow I head for Durango, Co.


Until then, here are some pictures I got today:

Nightingale in front of my room

Flowers and fountain from around the grounds

Views from the hotel grounds

Sometimes, Nothing Profound Happens (and thats ok too)

Today was spent riding around Paris taking pictures and relaxing.  Mr Man actually spent all our riding time in my tub being my Monkey.  It was a little unnerving for me.  The big is still fairly new to me and I'm still struggling with smooth gear changes.  Especially my ridiculously tall first gear.  We also need to work on communication.  Mr. Man will be my navigator when we ride off road.  Our dual sport helmets have a communication system but our regular helmets do not.  We should get some soon.  He was trying to tell me to veer right but all I saw was his hand pointing up.  So I'm looking up wondering, "why should I care what's above me" while we completely miss the turn.  We laughed a lot about it today because it really didn't matter.  Today we just wanted to ride together in the rig.  We did shoot pictures of the Eiffel Tower here and the Jesus in Cowboy boots Tombstone.  The Cemetery that the Jesus is in is well worth the visit if you are a cemetery fan like I am.  I would like to come back with more time and more camera equipment and spend some quality time here.

Here is the Paris Eiffel Tower with it's fantastic Cowboy Hat.  And yes, that is Nightingale in front of it.

This is the Jesus in Cowboy boots.  It's pretty subtle but he is, in fact wearing Cowboy boots. 

The rest of our evening is going to involve a long bath and packing our gear back up.  We hit the road again tomorrow heading for Poteau, OK.  Once there we are going to ride around in the Ouachita National Forest.  From there, who knows where.