Boa constrictors, chinchillas, and long roads thru the desert

Thursday, Jun 9, 2011 near Yuma, AZ

I left Lakewood, NM, on Wed, Jun 8, and headed north thru Artesia, then west – up and over the mountains at Cloudcroft.  A beautiful ride in wonderfully cool temperature.  The elevation drops from 8,650 feet in Cloudcroft to 4,335 feet in Alamogordo, in a distance of less than 18 miles — great fun on a bike, a bit daunting in a heavy RV.

I had lunch with John in Las Cruces; we met a couple of years ago when I took the Dirt Bike Course from him, and we’ve become friends.  He’s an avid biker and one of the best riders I’ve known.  After lunch we rode over to his house to visit with Kayla and play with their four dogs.  Somehow, I no longer have the tent that I packed in Florida, so he loaned me one – and made some comments about how often I’d actually use it over the next six weeks.  I took them up on their invitation to stay the night and parked my Wing beside his several bikes. John is always buying and selling bikes and may have to think to tell you how many he has today.  (I counted seven).  He explains that bikes are like golf clubs; no one is good for everything so you have to have choices.  (He has a big dirt bike, a little dirt bike, a very fast sport touring bike, a retro showpiece, and several others scattered in pieces as he’s rebuilding them.  And I may have missed one or more.)   After a good Mexican meal, Kayla showed me her boa constrictor and two chinchillas that live in the guest bedroom.  I said I didn’t mind the room mates, so long as the boa couldn’t get out in the middle of the night.  Kayla assured me the lid to the snake’s aquarium was tight, and then she took the wheel out of the chinchilla’s cage.  I told the boa good night, and went hard to sleep – after I put in ear plugs (chinchillas play a lot at night, even without a Ferris wheel.)

This morning I got on the road fairly early and rode 500 miles across the deserts of New Mexico and Arizona.  It was noon before it began to get uncomfortably hot, and from then on I simply couldn’t drink enough to make pee (OK, too much detail, right?)

I’ve stopped for the night in a very comfortable motel (i.e., it’s air conditioned & doesn’t feel like it has bed bugs).  Tomorrow, I’ll ride a mere 180 miles to touch the 1^st of the 4 corners, then turn right and head somewhat towards Washington.

After 2,000 miles, it finally feels like I’m actually out here, riding.  Much of the earlier route I’d ridden before but it’s all new now.

I’m working on the pixs – seems I just too tired tonight to get them on the blog.  Hopefully they’ll cooperate before I get on the road tomorrow.  A disclaimer – most of these were taken while riding, so they are certainly not fine art, but hopefully they’ll give you an idea of what I’m seeing.