Passes & Canyons Blog

OK, holiday hiatus over with, let’s get back to what we were discussing, i.e., new roads we rode on this year’s OFMC trip. I last highlighted NM518 from Mora to Penasco. What came next?

Leaving Espanola we were only going as far as Socorro and if we took I-25 we would have been there in two hours or less. That would never do and besides, that would take us right through Albuquerque–not a pleasant idea. No problem, I knew–or thought I knew–that we could just cruise down that way on the east side of the Sandia Mountains rather than the west.

So the plan was to get off I-25 at Bernalillo and take NM165 down to where we would hit the road up to Sandia Crest. Nice thought; bad plan. That road is unpaved and unmaintained so we had to go back to I-25 and go through Albuquerque after all. Then we turned east on I-40 to Tijeras and up that road and then up to Sandia Crest. Once we got off at Tijeras it was all new road and the road up to Sandia Crest is fabulous. At least that part of the plan was good.

And then for nearly all of the rest of the day it was still new roads. We backtracked to Tijeras, crossed under I-40, and continued south on NM337. This road also runs to the east of the hills. I don’t know if these are still the Sandias stretching south but whatever they’re called, we stayed east. We went down through canyons, over hills, and then also over a whole lot of flat, open land. But at least we weren’t on the interstate, and it was all new for us. At Mountainair we hit US 60, also new for us, and took it west to finally rejoin I-25 just north of Socorro. A good day riding.

The next new road came the next day, as we headed west out of Socorro, once again on US 60. This was a nice ride through some attractive country and past the Very Large Array until we stopped at Datil for lunch. The road splits here, with US 60 going on northwest through Quemado and over to Springerville. Going southwest, NM12 runs down to Rancho Grande Estates and ends at the junction with US 180. Either would have been new for us. We took NM12.

The first part was a wide-open expanse but then we were in a broad valley between mountains. When we got as far as Apache Creek we came onto road we had ridden before. Last time we were coming the other way and went north on NM32 to Quemado. So as far as Apache Creek we were backtracking on a road we had been on before, but then at US 180 it became another new stretch as previously we had come north on 180 and turned east on 12. Now we continued north on 180 from where we had turned off last time.

This was a terrific stretch of road. It goes on up to Alpine, Arizona, and I had heard for years about how great the “Alpine Loop” was. The stories were true. Through canyons, over mountains, this was a great ride. We spent the night in Alpine and then continued up to Eagar and Springerville and then caught US 191 north to AZ61, headed east, which became NM53 when we crossed back into New Mexico. That took us to NM62, which carried us up to Gallup. All of that was new.

Our only feasible option from Gallup was north on US 491, a road we have been on several times. Still, we had the chance to get off it before reaching Shiprock by turning northeast on Indian Service Route 5, which carried us over to NM371, which we had been on before. All of this route was mostly desert but at least the service route curved around staying on a series of hilltops. I had no complaints.

We spent the night in Farmington and then headed northeast on NM516 to Aztec, where we picked up US 550 going north. We’ve been on them before. The last new road, however, came soon after we crossed back into Colorado when we turned east off 550 onto County Road 110, which was a really sweet little two-lane that wound its way around a bit and then followed a broad valley to Ignacio. So much preferable to US 160 further to the north.

So that was a heck of a lot of new roads in one trip. I think the reason we were able to hit so many new ones is that for years we have taken this trip in the middle of summer, when the beastly heat has dissuaded us from doing much in Arizona and New Mexico. Especially Arizona. But this year we went in September and that made a huge difference. And opened up a lot of new roads.

Now, if I can just convince these guys that it really isn’t horrible riding in Kansas and Nebraska, maybe we can hit some new roads out that way. But I’m not holding my breath.

Biker Quote for Today

Psyclepath – noun: A person suffering from an extreme love of motorcycles.

After more than 30 years doing our OFMC trips we have ridden just about everywhere you can go in eight or nine days from Denver–unless you’re an Iron Butt kind of guy, which we are not.

That means we have ridden just about every road within that area, most more than once. Still, there are little stretches of road here and there that we have missed and now and then we find our way to them. This year’s trip was a good one for finding them.

The first was just a local road but what a blessing to find. We were headed through Taos and knew that that town is very congested. Plus, as we got near we saw a warning sign saying that we should expect construction delays going through town. I had already spotted Blueberry Hill Road; now the only thing was to find it. As a small local road it’s not going to be found on any state highway map.

Fortunately, these days we have Google Maps and such, which is where I spotted it in the first place. But even those maps sometimes lack scale. In this case I knew we needed to turn west from the road we were on, onto the road going out to the Rio Grande Gorge, but then very quickly make a sharp left on Blueberry Hill. From the map you would probably think it was a mile or so.

I was in the lead and made the turn. We went about 300 feet and cross a stream and there on the left was a road. It looked like it could be what we wanted but there were no street signs. Still, there were a couple cars coming out of there, suggesting it was somewhat busy. I decided to take a chance.

Success! This was Blueberry Hill Road and it took us all the way around Taos on a series of ridges with almost no traffic. Very sweet, not to mention rather scenic. I can easily imagine taking this road again.

This led us immediately to the next new road. As we got to the highway where I had understood we needed to do a quick jog left, jog right to get onto the High Road to Taos, I was set to go left when Dennis pulled up next to me. He said his GPS said Espanola, our destination, was to the right. I was not totally sure of myself so I agreed that we should go right.

Well, that was really wrong. To get to the High Road we did need to go left, but this road did go to Espanola nevertheless. And it was a shorter, more direct route. Not that we wanted short or direct, we actually wanted scenic but then this new road, NM68, had that to offer as well. First we went down into the gorge of the Rio Grande and then that opened out into a lovely valley filled with vineyards and farms. It did later run out on the flatland that was decidedly unscenic but no big deal. It was a nice road and we had never ridden it.

We got to Espanola for a three-night stay and on our second full day we did a day ride, making sure to know our way to the High Road. We took that up to Taos, then crossed the hills to get to Angel Fire, turned south there on a really nice road we had ridden for the first time just about five years ago, and then reached the town of Mora. The last time we had turned left at Mora to go on down to Las Vegas and I-25. What I had seen on the map, however, was that if we turned right at Mora we would get on an entirely new road that would take us back the High Road to Taos a little east of Penasco: NM518.

This was a really nice road going through some valleys and over some hills, with the only thing spoiling the scenery being the char of a very recent forest fire. Sad to see. Otherwise, a great road.

OK, I didn’t expect this. This post is getting long and I’m not nearly done. We rode a lot of new roads on this trip. I’ll pick up from here next time.

Biker Quote for Today

“The main thing I’m into is going about on a bike, taking random routes; I’m really into the idea of making up journeys and just seeing where they take you because they always end up taking you someplace freaky.” – Tom Jenkinson

John and Bill and I started taking these OFMC trips more than 30 years ago and for an amazing number of years we did so with absolutely zero mechanical issues. Actually, it was very close in our seventh year, when Bill’s stator failed on him as he was heading to our rendezvous point. So technically it wasn’t on the trip. John and I left without him and a few days later he met up with us in Thermopolis, Wyoming.

It wasn’t until our 20th year that we actually had mechanical problems on the road. That year Jason was on his new Road King and while we were in Taos he and several other guys rode down a very rough road to a very much over-rated hot spring. Something jarred loose on the bike and caused him problems until he took the better part of a day at a Harley dealer getting it fixed.

Since then we have had periodic issues, and this year’s trip was definitely way up there.

For starters, as I’ve told of previously, I dropped my Concours in a parking lot and busted my left mirror assembly. That necessitated a kludgey repair but I was able to roll with no problem.

Then later that same day my right-side highway peg just fell off. Vibration had apparently just worked it loose over who knows how long a time. Miraculously it did not fall to the ground and get lost, it hung up on the fairing so when I was able to stop it was there for me to put in my bag and put back on later.

Then the day we headed out of Socorro we made a stop to view the Very Large Array. When we were ready to head on Bruce found that his bike would not start. He had left the key in the On position and the battery–probably very much near the end of its life–had gone dead. Fortunately, Bruce is very resourceful. He carries along a jump-starter outfit. This is a very small thing that consists of a cable to connect to the battery and a fully charged power source. He hooked it up, hit the starter, it fired, and we were off. Handy little device you’ve got there Bruce.

And then later that day we hit the big one. Riding in a rainstorm in Arizona, Bill did not dodge a big rock laying in the middle of the road. He took a terrific jolt but kept the bike up and then rode it all the rest of the way to our day’s destination. At which time his front tire promptly went flat. Another miracle.

Now Dennis and Bruce both pulled out little air pumps they carry and they tried to reinflate the tire. But the rim had been badly bent and it just wouldn’t hold air. But we had gotten all this way; can’t we get enough in there to force a seal again? Our host had an air compressor and hose so they tried that and it did get the tire filled. But just a couple hours later it was flat again.

This necessitated a tow to the next town where an inner tube was put in and we made it on to Farmington. But by morning the tire was flat again. Bruce’s air pump put in enough air so Bill could make it five miles to the local Harley dealer, where he ended up paying $2,000 for a new wheel and tire.

And that was finally the end of our troubles. It just leaves me wondering, how in the world did we make it 20 years without any mechanical problems. Just amazing luck I guess.

Biker Quote for Today

My motorcycle is like my wife. Very temperamental and showing signs of age. But stays by my side during the twists and long straights of life.

I had forgotten to mention one thing about our recent OFMC trip: all of a sudden my Concours decided to run well again.

I had been having a series of problems with this bike. I didn’t know how long this had been going on till just now when I looked back on times I’ve written about these problems. The first mention I encountered was from December 28, 2020. Almost two years. Dang.

At that time I told how I had rolled the bike out for a ride, fired it up and let it warm up, and then took off, only to have it die about 10 feet out of the driveway. It seemed to be acting the way it had in the past when I had inadvertently left the gas petcock on Prime rather then in the On or Reserve positions. Why this thing even has Prime I don’t understand. So I did what had worked in the past, I changed the oil. After that it ran fine and I thought I had solved the problem.

Not so easy. The next few times I rode it it wouldn’t run well at first and I would ride around the neighborhood before just to see before going further from home. It would die coming to a stop so I’d rev it a bit as I stopped.

I did some searching and found information suggesting maybe the air filter was clogged with oil, so I replaced the oil filter. No improvement so I checked on the Concours Owners Group forum and came up with the possibility of hydrolock. But as far as I could tell that was not the issue either so finally I resigned myself to calling in Joel, my mechanic, and paying the price.

But then I met a guy who suggested clearing the fuel line using carb cleaner. I did that and it helped a lot. Maybe I wouldn’t need to pay Joel after all. The immediate improvement was great and I hoped it would just get better and better. But it didn’t. Eventually I did have Joel clean the carburetors. By now it was April of 2021.

Come July of 2021 I went on the OFMC trip on the Concours after Joel had cleaned the carbs and the bike ran well but not perfectly. And at times it seemed like the throttle would stick and the engine would race like crazy at a stop and there was nothing I could do. Arrgh!

After that trip I had Joel work on it some more and it finally was good enough and I figured I’d just have to live with revving it a bit until it got fully warmed up, and accepting that it had a delayed response to twisting the throttle. Not great but livable. And that’s where matters rested as of October 2021 and all through 2022.

Until the day before this year’s OFMC trip. I was getting ready to leave and figured I should take the bike for a spin just to make sure it was operating well before I took off and miraculously it didn’t run OK, it ran great! It ran the best it had run in two years. No long warm-up needed, no delayed throttle response, none of that.

And then the next day and on the whole trip and every time I’ve ridden it since then it has run like a new bike again. The impression I get is that for a long time there was some blockage in the fuel line and all of a sudden, finally, it got cleared out all on its own. I’m so happy! It’s just night and day how much better it runs. FINALLY!!

Biker Quote for Today

The best invention after the wheel was putting two of them together.

We got up, ate, and then it was time to ride down that loose gravel to get out of the RV park to the highway. Dennis went first and I followed and neither of us did try standing up on the pegs as we had considered the day before but neither of us had any problems and we made it down to firm ground uneventfully. Whew!

I led and we headed for Creede. I hadn’t gone more than a mile or so when it became clear I did not dress nearly warm enough. It was cold! So in Creede we made our first stop. Then we headed on up Spring Creek Pass. People were already needing to offload some coffee so near the top of the pass when I saw a pull-out we used it. It turned out to be a spot with a beautiful view down a nearby valley. (See the photo to right.)

There were a lot of aspen turning gold and it was a beautiful sunny day so who could ask for better. We rode on over Slumgullion Pass and on into Lake City. I had asked if anyone needed gas in Lake City and no one figured they did so we rode on through. Exiting the town there was a sign saying how far it was to Gunnison and I had to wonder and then as I rode further and saw there was no one behind me I knew what had happened. I turned back and found the gas station they had gone back to. Not a problem. We have plenty of time and it’s just wonderful to be outside on this kind of day.

Then on to Gunnison where we stopped for lunch. We considered going over Cottonwood Pass but that would have taken longer and we were all starting to feel the way horses feel when they know they’re headed for the stable. So we took Monarch.

Unlike the day before on Wolf Creek Pass, everyone felt like running up this pass so we had a spirited ride to the top and over and down. But Bill, who was leading, wasn’t done. He kept up the fast clip all the way to Fairplay, at which point we were all hoping for him to stop because by then we needed another pit stop. Bill did, too, and we stopped.

This was where we said our good-byes. We all made a point to tell Bruce we were pleased he had come with us and that he was welcome to come again next time. Bruce seemed amenable to that proposition.

We headed out on US 285 and Dennis, as usual, peeled off at the exit past Conifer that runs down past Tiny Town, headed to his place over in Deer Creek Canyon. Bill and Bruce and I continued on 285 to where it hits C-470 and Bill went north, Bruce went south, and I stayed on 285 east to home. What a good year’s ride we just had!

Biker Quote for Today

To me, it doesn’t matter whether it’s raining or the sun is shining or whatever: as long as I’m riding a motorcycle, I know I’m the luckiest guy in the world.

Sure enough, by morning Bill’s tire with the newly installed inner tube was flat. What the heck?

Preparing to hook up the little pump Bruce noticed that he could tighten the core in the valve stem in that tube just a tiny bit. Was that enough that it had leaked? Bill wasn’t going to test that by just riding on. We were in Farmington and there is a Harley dealer there, so with enough air to easily go five miles that was where we headed.

Long story short, Bill ended up paying about $2,000 for a new tire and wheel. Ouch. But now we could ride on confident that there should be no further problems.

We headed northeast on NM516 to Aztec and then took US 550 north. We really didn’t want to take 550 all the way up to US 160 and then go east on 160 because that’s a busy highway and we had been on it many times. Was there an alternative?

We looked at the map and saw that just a little ways into Colorado there was a road, CR110, that went east to Ignacio. And best of all, we had never been on this road. Great. Now we just had to find it. It’s not very well marked. We did find it, though, and it was a really nice road winding through some hills and some rolling ranch land. Time for lunch in Ignacio.

From Ignacio we took CO151 as it loops south and then north again, finally joining US 160 a little west of Pagosa Springs. Leaving Pagosa behind us we headed up Wolf Creek Pass. Dennis was leading, followed by Bill, then me, then Bruce.

One thing you have to understand about Bill is that he very much likes to set his cruise control and just let it go. Sometimes this means he’ll pull up on you and very slowly slip by. Other times it means he drops further and further back. This time he was dropping back. Meanwhile, I kind of wanted to run on up this very nice pass. So after a bit I blasted on past him.

But Dennis really wasn’t running up the pass either. And I felt like running. So I blew past him and really cranked it up. Pretty soon I saw that Bruce had also passed both of them and was enjoying a hot ride up, too. Fun. Eventually they both picked up speed and closed the gap a bit.

We came on down to South Fork and made the left turn off US 160 onto CO149 that runs through Creede and up over Slumgullion and Spring Creek Passes, to Lake City. But we weren’t going that far today, we were just headed to a campground and cabins between South Fork and Creede, Blue Creek Lodge and RV Park.

We were looking forward to our night here because I had received a call during the week telling me they had moved us from a smaller cabin to a full bunkhouse where we would each have our own room with private bath and a common area for meals and anything else. No extra charge. Cool. What we did not count on was that the road through the RV park was gravel and our bunkhouse was as far up this loose gravel as it is possible to go. I was on my Concours, which hates gravel, and Bill and Dennis are none too comfortable on gravel any time. Bruce, with his long legs as outriggers, is fine with that stuff.

The route winding through the RV park was also not really clear so I took a wrong turn at one point and we had to double back. Making the sharp right turn this necessitated I came just a hair’s breadth from dropping the bike. It was close, and then, fighting to keep it up, I had gotten too close to a cabin and had to roll back. That was less than fun on this loose stuff as well.

Dennis and Bruce and I finally made it to the top. Bill decided he would park at a lower level and just carry his stuff up to the cabin. It was clear that neither Dennis or I would be riding back down that road until we were leaving. But the lodge’s restaurant is not in operation so we had to do something to get dinner. So Bruce and Bill went back down and headed toward Creede to find some food to bring back. Meanwhile Dennis and I shuttled our bikes around to make it as easy as possible to get out the next morning.

We also noticed that heading down Bruce had stood up on his pegs. Dennis wondered aloud about that and I explained to him that standing on the pegs lowers you center of gravity from the seat to the pegs. We both figured maybe we’d try that in the morning.

Meanwhile, it was darn chilly and we had all turned the heat on in our rooms but nothing seemed to be happening. So we cranked them all the way up. Still nothing.

They guys got back with food, we ate and then had a good time sitting around shooting the bull. Then we headed to bed but the day wasn’t over. Each one of us, during the night, woke up to find that our heaters really do work and our rooms were broiling. I also went to the common area and turned that heater down so it wouldn’t be an oven in the morning. Now sleep.

Biker Quote for Today

Food, oxygen, love, sex, and motorcycles. Am I forgetting something?

Morning in Alpine, Arizona, and we had to wait for the tow truck to haul Bill’s Harley to Eager, where a shop would put a tube in. We had been told it would be noon but the guy was able to make it by 11, so that was good.

Meanwhile, I took this opportunity to remove the body work from my Concours so as to put my highway peg back on. Taking the body work off is an involved process that I hate but what better time to do it than right now. And it all went smoothly so it was good.

The tow truck arrived and loaded Bill on and we took off for Eager. There, the shop was ready for us and got on it right away but it was still several hours before the job was done. We finally got off from Eager about 3 p.m., and this was our longest day’s ride of the trip. Time to burn some miles.

We headed north on US 191, up to AZ61, which became NM53 when we crossed the state line, and then north to Gallup on NM602. At one point heading up 191 Bruce blasted past us on his ST1300 and in a flash was lost from view up ahead. Cool. What’s up?

Dennis was leading and at the AZ61 intersection he pulled over for a pit stop. Good thing, as it turned out, because he had not understood that we wanted to turn here and it was only after a couple minutes that we noticed Bruce had made the turn and was waiting over there. So we were back together. Turns out Bruce, who hasn’t owned the ST all that long, figured he wanted to see what it could really do and this road was so open and unbusy that he figured let’s go. And go he did. Everybody needs to do that now and then, don’t they?

So we made the turn and made it to Gallup, where we picked up US 491 headed north to Farmington, our destination for the night. This is a long stretch and we just blasted. Dennis was leading again and his GPS told him our best route would be to take 491 as far as Indian Service Route 5 (BIA-5; this is reservation) and then go east to NM371, then north to Farmington.

Dennis almost missed the turn and we found ourselves past the turn with a median preventing us from doing a U-turn and heading south so we waited till there was no traffic and then turned and rode the wrong way down the highway back to the turn. Of course, by the time we got there there was a lot of traffic coming off BIA-5 so I’m sure we looked kind of funny facing that way on that side of the road waiting to be able to turn. But it worked.

By now it was getting toward dusk. We don’t generally ride after dark these days. This was going to be interesting. Dennis was riding hard because he wanted to get to Farmington before the light was too much gone. But hey, sunset in New Mexico is frequently pretty gorgeous and so the ride did have its charms.

It was almost fully dark by the time we pulled into Farmington and we checked in our hotel and immediately went to dinner so as to get to the restaurant before they closed. Finally we can relax. Except that Bill had noticed his bike handling a bit off coming into town, and now especially going to and from dinner. ???

Biker Quote for Today

You might be a Yuppie biker if you move your bike and the grass is brown under the wheels.

From Socorro we did not have a long day’s ride ahead so we took our time leaving. This gave me time to go next door to the Ace Hardware and purchase a steel rod and some Gorilla Tape. With some luck and creativity I hoped to jerry-rig my busted left mirror so it would be at least semi-usable.

As it turned out, there was a small opening in the fairing of just the right size in just the right place to insert the rod. I taped it to the fairing and then lined the mirror up and taped it to the rod. It was ugly but at least functional. Plus, the Gorilla Tape is black so that blended better with the black fairing than some grey duct tape would have. Still, the only position I could get it in was too far out, so to see behind me I had to lean way to the left. If someone was passing me, though, I had a good view of them, so that’s a good thing.

We took off, headed west on US 60 for Alpine, Arizona. Along the way the plan was to stop and visit the Very Large Array (VLA), which is an installation of radio-telescopes just to the south of the highway about 50 miles west of Socorro.

Shortly before reaching the VLA there was a rest area and Dennis blazed ahead of me to make sure we stopped. I hadn’t planned to because we would stopping just ahead but what the heck, we’re in no hurry. Right where we parked there was a smashed watermelon on the ground as well as what must have been more than five pounds of totally black, mushy bananas. ??? This was dubbed the watermelon stop.

We spent about 45 minutes here because there was no hurry and the weather was nice and we had good shade. While here Bruce, who was now on his second day riding with the OFMC, asked why we cruised along so slow, generally about five miles per hour below the speed limit. I replied that in this case at least it was because we weren’t going far and there was no hurry so why go fast? He noted that he had never ridden with any group of bikers who didn’t just blast along as fast as reasonable. Welcome to the OFMC.

It was only about five miles from that rest area to the VLA but we had learned while stopped that it was not currently open to the public. Rats. I really wanted to see the place. It has a whole bunch of disks pointing to the skies and what I’ve heard is that you don’t realize the size until you’re up close to them. Then it’s an oh-my-god moment. So it was good that we stopped at the rest area.

Still, there was a view area along the highway where you could view the array from a distance, so we pulled over. It was interesting from afar but I’m sure it was nothing like walking around right there. And by the way, I see on the web that they just reopened to the public on October 1.

Taking off from here we were ready to roll when Bruce got off his bike and removed his helmet. OK, what’s up? Turns out he left his lights on and apparently was needing a new battery, so that was all it took for the battery to die and the bike not to start. Dang. But Bruce had a jump starter in his gear so he dug that out. Then, being on an ST1300, he had to strip off a bunch of the body work to get to the battery to connect the jumper. He did, got it ready, it fired up instantly, and then he had to put it all back together. But we could roll.

In another 20 miles or so we reached Datil, where US 60 goes northwest while NM12 goes southwest. We stopped for lunch and Bruce made sure to park somewhere where he could roll downhill to start if need be.

Bruce had noticed that up ahead on US 60 the road goes through Pie Town, which is a small place known for what its name implies. Did we want to go that way and stop for pie? Plus, the map showed that on past Pie Town to Quemado there was a road heading south that intersects NM12 to put us back on course. This drew a strong yes but then there was bad news: Pie Town shops were closed on this day of the week. Darn. Back to Plan A.

So we took off and as we headed southwest the sky to the north, where we would have been if we had gone to Pie Town, was turning a very nasty shade of purple. We seemed to have dodged a bullet here.

As we rode along and reached NM32, the road coming down from Quemado, I recognized it as where we had turned north after coming the other direction on our last ride down in these parts. From there we retraced our route from that trip until we reached US 180, which we had taken up from Silver City that day. Now, at that intersection, we would be turning north, getting onto a stretch of road we had never ridden before. And we had managed to avoid rain all this way but now we would be heading right into it. Time to suit up.

We had no doubt we were going to get wet but Bruce remarked that it would be typical if we rode through just a bit of rain and then came out into that bit of blue sky we could see between two mountains. We pooh-poohed that idea but he turned out to be absolutely correct. It was raining when we were ready to ride and it quickly turned to a downpour. And then in just a few miles the rain started tapering off and soon there was no rain at all. Typical.

However. In the midst of the downpour, riding on this canyon road, there had been a large rock in the middle of our lane. A big one, maybe eight inches by five by four. Dennis saw it and steered around it. I saw it and steered around it. Bill only saw it at the last moment and did not steer around it. Big crunch. Big jolt. But he stayed up and all seemed well.

We continued up US 180 to Alpine and found our quarters for the night. As we pulled into the parking lot Bill’s bike was acting really squirrelly and by the time he stopped his front tire was completely flat. Double dang.

It didn’t take long to discover that the rock had bent his rim so that the tire couldn’t hold air. How it had managed to last till he rode 20 miles and got to our destination is a total mystery as well as a miracle. But there was no way he was going to be riding out of here.

Our hosts here at Escudilla Mountain Cabins, Greg and Shelly, did what they could to be helpful. Greg inflated the tire and we thought in the morning we could ride on to the next town and get a tube put in the tire. It went flat so quickly though that clearly that would not work. There was a towing service but they could not be there to pick the bike up till noon the next day. Of course the next day was to be the longest ride of our whole trip.

Later Greg suggested that they had a trailer and maybe Shelly would be willing to tow Bill to Eager, the next town. She had left and wouldn’t be back for awhile but he suggested Bill ask her then. When she was back and Bill asked Shelly seemed a bit put out at Greg for suggesting this because the trailer was way up in the hills and getting it and bringing it to Alpine would not exactly be a short, easy trip. Nope, we were going to be waiting for the tow truck the next day.

Biker Quote for Today

You know you’re a biker when you relate more to a dog hanging its head out of a passing car than you do to humans.