Recap: It was a beautiful morning and six of us met for breakfast at Le Peep in Las Colinas then headed out on time West on 114 and picked up Jim May about an hour out. We arrived in Seymour just before noon and met up for lunch with four from Tyler who had trekked up to Wichita Falls the day before. We rode West on 114 a long way to Dickens where we turned North. The ride along 114 had been good and we were making good time, so good in fact I pulled along side an unmarked car and waved at about 85. It looked an awfully lot like official stuff but.... A little later the same car pulled close to me and let me know through his bullhorn someone in the rear had pulled off to the side. It was Robert for a quick wizz. As we passed thru Dickens the car pulled into the tiny Sheriff's office. Was a nice Sheriff. We rode thru Turkey and Quitaque then turned North on 270 to catch the Western end of the Caprock and Eastern end of Palo Duro. The sky had been clear except suddenly an unusual cloud formation appeared:
... a harbinger of things to come. At the very first curve going into the scenic canyons Robert lost control of his Harley. He and others had noticed a persistent wobble which manifested itself in the curve. It was quite a tumble:
Robert was truly banged up, ankle leg and hip and facial cuts and bruises. Highway Patrol, Ambulance etc all showed up and some assistance from passer bys. But he was walking (?) talking and refused an ambulance ride so we loaded him on Raymond's Wing and cruised on the last eighty miles into Amarillo to the hotel when we made good use of the luggage cart and got him to a room and Doc could check him out. The end result was Robert had a decent night with some good drugs and caught flight the next day to Dallas to face the music. End if the ride for Robert!
Day Two was clear and a crispy 33 degrees when we headed West on the I 40 and crossed into NM and stopped at the Welcome Center for a coffee. Dan was trying to find his hands (below). We had lost one Harley rider but picked up another Joe Weaver who had trailered up the day before, so our numbers remained at comfortable 11. We headed NW Here the ride became more interesting:
We rode 39 thru Logan, Mosquero, Roy and on to Springer where we stopped at the famous Brown Hotel for a very nice lunch:
Replete with grub and gas we rode some very nice scenic runs past the Philmont Boy Scout Camp (beginning to look like fall) Cimarron, Eagles Nest and Angel Fire where we stopped a good while to visit a very inspiring private Viet Nam War Memorial. We cruised the last leg into Taos for the first of our two nights there, had a drink, cleaned bikes, when thru the 'hey did you see...' and went to the town center for a meal at a good grill. Next morning was fresh. like 27 degrees and the balloons were rising right next to our motel and more just outside Taos:
We headed out the scenic 64 to Chama and soon found ourselves on great mountain roads with no traffic and snow on the sides. What a great run and place to let the hammer down a bit! After Chama and lunch we followed 17 North which runs alongside the narrow gauge railway (closed) into Colorado. In CO we went East crossing an endless valley (below) and than turned South on 522 back into NM. At Questa the hearty soles cut East to ride the Loop via Red River and Angel Fire route back to Taos whist the rest took the shorter boring run direct to home base. It was a great days ride and the weather was perfect:
At the end of day three in Taos after much ado as usual about where to eat we set out for a place we never found... but wound up a an absolutely super Italian where we dined in great style. Here I will interject. I have heard recently on TV great quips of the year like "if you touch my junk I will sue you" etc. but the best was here in the restaurant when Billy had been riding Joe for a while (and setting himself up) when Joe responded with " awe Billy, you haven't been the same ever since you won that Danny Devito look alike contest!". Kinda brought the house down. Don't mess with the Zohan.
Day four started at 27 degrees in Taos as we headed South over some great mountain roads toward Las Vegas. Below picture says it all.
We stopped in the center of sort of crumbling Tucumcari for lunch at a quaint Mexican named Lena's. It was roomy and interesting and the walls covered in great murals of Lena's family ranch. Here Dan decided he needed to get home early (he had left a day early, go figure) so he set out alone on the little s for the 750 total miles to Tyler. The rest of us headed on SE to Plainview getting in in time to have pizza and watch the Rangers Series game.
Day five we got away before sunrise for the last leg. Joe loaded the Eagle in its nest to trailer home. The Tyler bunch were in a hurry so they took a shorter quicker route East. They caught up to the main body finally at Seymour and again at Jacksboro where we stopped for some good Bar B Que. Tommy decide it was still early and was going to run all the way to Beaumont for a total of about 635 miles. So Tommy and Dan win the hardass awards.
The riders were: Bobby, Raymond, Robert, Mark, Geoff, Joe, Billy, Michael, James, Doc, Jim and Tommy Jr. Too bad for the rest of ya that missed it.
The whole ride was super and the run through Texas much better than most thought it would be and I think the general feeling was we would do this one again. We can but hope Robert will be on wheels again at that time. Next big ride Spring - OK,AR, MO -?
Let be know what you think of the blog format. Its easier with pictures and it is a record for what ever that is worth.
Zoom, Bobby
