Day 16 (9/21/11)

It felt really good to have electric last night for my CPAP machine. I slept great and took a nice hot shower this morning before heading off for the day's ride. It is amazing how good a hot shower can feel when you camping and covering a lot of miles each day. I got a little later start than I wanted, but I felt that I could make up some time in the wide open spaces. The ride from Druango over to Pagosa Springs. Colorado and from there through Taos New Mexico was fantastic. For some reason, I never have been to this part of Colorado or New Mexico and the mountains were something to behold. I was not aware that the elevation was so high. At one point I stopped to take a picture of my GPS at over 10,500 feet. I think I climed about another 300 feet before I started to drop down out of the Rockies. Rte 64 east of Taos is one of those roads that ranks right up there with Deals Gap in North Carolina and the Cherahoala Skyway in Tennessee. It is very twisty with lots of elevation changes and the tall pine trees along the route and covering the mountains just add to the beauty. Although it is posted at 25 and 35 MPH in places, there was no traffic to speak of and a quick blip of the throttle dispatched what little traffic I encountered. It definitely will be on my list of places to visit again. Taos is an art community and they say some of Hollywood's finest have places there. I did not see any and it just seemed to be expensive and snobby. I stopped in a little town near there called Eagles Nest just to get a quick lunch. It was a"dive" pizza shop and the lady behind the counter said it was $6.00 a slice. That was after the ashes from the cigarette hanging out of her mouth fell on the preparation table. I said "$6.00 really"? She pulled one of the slices out of the oven for me to see and it looked like a piece of dried up cardboard. I politely said NO THANKS! and rode on. I later found a nice little place that had killer Chili and a good cheese burger for only a dollar more than that piece of pizza would have been. As they say, it pays to shop around. As I headed from NM toward the Texas line, I said goodbye to the Rockies and things became extremely flat and arid. I hate leaving the mountains. There is something about the thin air and scenery that puts me in my happy place. When I say it flattened out I mean FLAT! Nothing as far as the eye could see except ranch land. I saw my first Antelope here, but they were too far off the road to get any pictures. I filed that away though in my mind as it was becoming evident that I would finish the last hour of my ride today in the dark. Not to worry, my new high intensity driving lights would handle that nicely. NOT... They worked the whole trip and tonight when I really wanted them, they would not come on. ARGH! Oh well, the old trusty technique of finding a big truck to follow that is traveling at my speed and plant myself about 100 yards behind him worked fine. I do this a lot in deer country on interstates. I figure it increases my odds. Any animal that darts in front of him will be reduced to a mist of blood and small body parts by the time I come along. Plus I get a chance to hit the brakes hard and avoid most of the gore. It sounds prety gory, but I have seen it happen more than once and have been spared being the "Hammer". No problem tonight and I quickly transited the 55 or so miles of Oklahoma that lies between Texas and Kansas. As I was approaching Liberal, KS I saw big lightening in the distance to the west. I have no idea which way it is moving, but out here it is to be respected. The good thing is you can see it for a long way off, the bad thing is there is nowhere to hide. I decided to get a cheap motel for the night and diagnose my driving light issue. It was a simple broken wire where it enters the Centec distribution panel I installed for accessories. I unpacked the tools and electrical supplies and quickly fixed it. Hopefully, I won't have to ride in the dark or rain the rest of the trip, but I want that extra light if I do. Tomorrow is one of my two longest days at about 650 miles, so not having to pack up a tent and sleeping bag helps get me on my way more quickly. IF I can get myself out of a nice comfortable bed. Oh well, one thing you learn on a trip like this is that the unexpected will happen and you need to deal with it. No problem, that is why they call it "adventure motorcycle riding". I had to take a picture of the Texas welcome sign as they take great pride in their state down here. While stopped getting some icecream, I was talking to a local foreman on a pipe laying job. He said his company lays pipelines to connect all the gas wells in the area to the mains. He said the economy is booming and they can't find enough workers. And we have 9+% unemployment in this country? The pay is good and the work steady, but all the crews are working short handed, because they can't find enough people that can pass the DOT drug test. He said 40 percent of the applicants fail and they do random testing, so people are always getting terminated for testing positive. He said it is disheartening, as many of them are family men with wives and children and people he has worked along side for years and would never have expected. It is a sad commentary on our workforce in this country today. I was amazed at the number of people that failed the drug tests we gave at the bank. There is work in this country in industries that are doing well, but it involves traveling and keeping away from distructive behaviors. Let's hope any storms pass by if they are in the area and I can have another dry day of riding. 650 miles is tiring, but 650 in the rain and wind that comes along with it out here is REALLY tiring.