Day 29 - Taos, NM to Woodward, OK

I skipped a few days as there wasn't enough happening to warrant individual posts. Days 27 and 28 were planned days off in Taos, NM. On Thursday (day 27) I got up early to take the bike down to the KTM dealer in Santa Fe to see if they could get my clutch issue sorted. John left a little bit later to ride to Albuquerque to return the bike and do a brewery tour of ABQ before flying home on Friday.

I got to the KTM dealer in Santa Fe just as they opened. They had squeezed an appointment in for me as they new I was traveling and really needed to get the clutch issue sorted. It seems that part of this trip now is a tour of North American KTM dealers. The issue with the clutch was exactly what I thought it was. The bike has a hydraulic actuated clutch and air was getting in the line, preventing the clutch from fully engaging. This was primarily a problem starting from a stop and downshifting into the lower gears. It also made it very difficult if not impossible to get the bike into neutral. Upshifting was not a problem as the bike has a quick-shift mechanism that automatically engages the clutch when upshifting with the motor under load.

The mechanic found that the crush washers on the clutch line connections were worn and were allowing air into the system. They replaced the washers and got me on my way. The clutch is still engaging pretty abruptly - I'll need to get that looked at when I get home.

After I got back to Taos, the rest of the day was spend doing laundry and running a few errands - post office, grocery store, and just wandering around Taos. On Friday I took the bike to a car wash and tried to clean it up a bit. It had not been washed since I was in Rapid City, and the rain and incredibly dirty roads between Blanding and Taos had put a thick layer of grime all over the bike. It got the bike a bit cleaner, but I have a big job ahead of me when I get home!

Day 29 - Taos, NM to Woodward, OK

CLICK HERE FOR TODAY'S ROUTE

I was up and out early again today - this was not going to be much more than a mileage accumulation day, I didn't have any planned stops for anything more than a quick photo here and there. As I left the AirBnB, I did get to see a beautiful sunrise!

I made a quick stop for fuel and headed east out of Taos. Heading east, the road goes up above 8000 feet, so it got a bit cold. on the other side of the pass, you descend into a high valley passing Angel Fire and Eagle Nest.

Yes - that is snow on the half-hidden mountain in the center. From here the road winds through Cimarron Canyon before descending into the town of Cimarron - "Where the Rockies meet the Great Plains" (according to the welcome sign). It is pretty amazing how quickly you drop out of the mountains into the plains. The two photos below were taken within 20 miles of each other.

The rest of the day looked quite a bit like this. There were a few interesting things here and there, but it was pretty much a set the cruise control and go kind of day.  

The photo below marks the upper northwest corner of Texas. The two dirt roads are actually the state line between Texas and New Mexico. This was as close as I wanted to get to Texas. CLICK HERE TO SEE IT ON THE MAP

Just a few miles after this, I made the only state line crossing of the day:

The only other stop of the day (besides for fuel) was a bit further into Oklahoma - the photos below are at the midpoint of the longest straight road in the US. 44 miles straight east to west with no deviation in either direction - there are a few hills up and down but the road is dead straight.

Looking west - 

Looking east:

I did see a few other things today, but wasn't able to get photos of them - the first was a group of about 25 people riding vintage scooters, all wearing orange vests... in the middle of NOWHERE. Obviously a scooter club of some sort, out for a Saturday ride. 

The second was a convoy of huge tractor-trailer rigs (2-piece trailers) hauling huge sections of wind turbines. A bit of Googling taught me that the largest wind farm in the US is being built in the panhandle of Oklahoma (CLICK HERE FOR ARTICLE). The article also has a photo of one of the trucks.

Today's miles - 398 (628 km)

Total miles - 6098 (9814 km)

Day 26- Blanding, UT to Taos, NM

CLICK HERE FOR TODAYS ROUTE

We were up and on the road before sunrise this morning. We knew that there was going to be rain and thunderstorms along the route today, so we wanted to try to get in front of them. As we headed south out of Blanding, the sun was coming up illuminating the banks of clouds with an orange glow. As I was looking at the huge bank of clouds, they were suddenly all illuminated with a huge flash of lightning! As we went further the lightning got more frequent and closer. This part of Utah is VERY flat, making John and I the highest thing around... not a good feeling. 

A bit further on, it started to rain... not bad at first but very soon we were in the middle of heavy rain and a really heavy crosswind. The wind was so strong that we had to lean the bikes into the gusts in order to keep from being blown off the road. It was by far the worst storm I had encountered on the entire trip. 

The original plan for the morning was to stop at the Colorado (state line number 18) and Arizona state lines (number 19) for photos, then a quick stop at the 4 Corners Monument for a photo. The rain and lightning were still all around us, so we decided to just power through to get as far in front of the storms as possible. I was a bit disappointed I didn't get to see 4 Corners, but I wanted to get far away from that lightning.

Just after we passed into Arizona, the rain let up a bit. In Teec Nos Paz, we turned east on to US 64. I stopped and got a photo, as I will be on US 64 most of the way back to North Carolina. So NC folks - it isn't just Murphy to Manteo, its actually Teec Nos Paz, AZ to Manteo, NC.

After the photo, it hit me that this would be the final turn east. I now had fewer miles to go than I had already ridden (although, mathematically, that happened in Crescent City, CA). The end of the trip was coming in just about a week. As I was pondering this, I almost passed the New Mexico state line (number 20). I had to brake pretty hard to not blow right by it.

A few miles later, we finally got an unobstructed view of Shiprock (click for more). Shiprock is a monadnock - "an isolated rock hill, knob, ridge, or small mountain that rises abruptly from a gently sloping or virtually level surrounding plain." And it certainly fits the description - it rises 1500 feet above the flat desert floor. We had seen this popping in and out of view for quite a while now, but this was the first unobstructed view we had.

Not the best conditions for photos, but you can kind of get the idea. Click the link listed above, it has an interesting history.

We passed through a bunch of little towns along the way that slowed the progress of the morning a bit, but we were still trying to put distance between us and the storms. John was leading for most of the day today, and at one point, at a stoplight I realized we had gone about 175 miles on the current tank of gas. There was another town listed on the mileage sign about 15 miles ahead, so we figured we'd get fuel there. Guess what. No gas station. The GPS said the next one on our route would be 60 miles. That would put us at 250 miles on the fill up from this morning. 

I had pushed the KTM that far before, but I was actually trying to run it out of fuel to see how far it would go... and I had an gas can strapped to the back. No such luxury this time. We had no choice but to keep going and hope that there was a station that didn't show on the GPS. Thankfully there was. With both of our trip odometers reading 219 miles. This was also the longest I had ever ridden without a break. We stopped for a few photos along the way on this stretch, but never got off the bikes. 

The next stretch of road would take us back up over 10,000 feet. A little gray, with off and on rain, but still beautiful

Back down the other side of the mountain into the Taos Valley. Thus far, US 64 had not been the best road in terms of condition of pavement. Coming down the back side of this mountain pass, it got even worse. I really hope all roads in New Mexico aren't in this bad of shape - it was beating the shit out of us. Another downer is that most of the side roads (county roads) in New Mexico are dirt.... which tracks onto the main road. When it is actually raining, the crap that flies up from the cars in front of you gets rinsed off somewhat. When it isn't actively raining, the crap that files up, just keeps coating you in crap. Both us and the bikes were just getting filthy.

As we got closer to Taos, we rode by the Earthship Biotecture Community (click for more). John had heard of these before and had told me about them earlier. It was one of the places we thought we'd stop if we had time. We had time, but it had started to rain again, and it was dirt roads to get there... no thanks.

The next stop would be at the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge (click for more). I have a pretty severe fear of heights - John wanted to walk out on the bridge - there is a sidewalk on both sides, but the railing is not very tall - another big, fat, fluffy "NOPE!" from me! I stole one of John's photos so you can see for yourself.

What is amazing about this is that you are just going along through a very flat high desert valley, and this gorge just drops off... you can't really even see it as you are coming up on it. Click HERE to see the Google Street View image of it.

Only a few more miles into Taos. We arrived about 2:30 and checked into the AirBnB - another really nice one! We unloaded the bikes, and got a bit unpacked. John had an appointment with a local tattoo artist to get trip memento done, and I had to go to the post office to pick up the general delivery package of recharge supplies Kate had sent me. We agreed to catch up for dinner after his tattoo was done. 

Taos is an interesting little town - lots of art galleries and neat little shops. There are also a TON of places to eat and drink! I stumbled upon a great little brewpub called Eskes (click). John caught up with me there a short while later - we hadn't really eaten much all day so we both decided to try a cup of their green chile stew - WOW! Probably one of the best things I have eaten on this trip! We had a beer there then wandered down the street a bit to the Taos Mesa Brewing (click) taproom to give their beers a try. We were still hungry, so we ordered a pizza as well - a bit fitting that the first night in Crescent City, CA was a wood fired pizza night, and our last night would be wood fired pizza as well!

Tomorrow, I would head out at 7:00 to be at the KTM dealer in Santa Fe when they open to see if they could get my clutch issue sorted. John would leave a bit later to head down to Albuquerque to return the rental bike and spend the day checking out the ABQ. 

I can't thank John and Erin enough for coming along for this portion of the trip - it has been a really great time, and we have seen some incredible places. Always better shared with friends.

Today's miles - 340 (547 km)

Total miles - 5700 (9173 km)

Day 25 - Cedar City, UT to Blanding, UT

I have gotten a few days behind on the blog - we have had a couple of really long riding days, and I have been to tired to get on the laptop at the end of the day. This post will have LOTS of pictures - it may take a while to load.

CLICK HERE FOR TODAY'S ROUTE

The route today was probably the one I was looking forward to the most for the entire trip. We would be riding almost all the way across Utah through some of the most interesting geology in the United States. We left Cedar City just after sunrise, and were soon climbing out of the valley into the Dixie National Forest. We stopped at the top of the pass to get some photos. 

This was at about 9,500 feet (2895 meters) and the temperature was dropping the farther we went. Going across the plateau at the top, the temperature dropped to 24 degrees (-4C) I had the grip heaters cranked up as well as the seat heater - my fingers and toes were cold, but that was about it. We had both layered extra under the gear today - but John did not have the luxury of the heated grips and seat. Just as we turned on to Route 12, John pulled into a coffee shop - great idea! They had a wood stove going and it was nice and toasty! After a bit of coffee, we were good to go again.

Utah Route 12 (click for more) is a road that I have been wanting to see for a long time. In 2008, Kate and I were in Utah on one of our National Parks trips and had planned on driving Route 12, but it ended up snowing pretty hard that day. 9 years later, and I am finally back! The southern end of the road is the main route to get to Bryce Canyon National Park (click for more). We did not go into Bryce, as it was $25 per motorcycle, and we weren't going to be able to spend much time there so we decided to skip it. 

What I find the most interesting about the geology in Utah, is how quickly it changes - you'll see as the photos from the day go on. I'll try to put them in the order we saw them. Near Bryce Canyon there are lots of bright orange hoodoos like this:

After another 10-20 miles over some ridges and some really nice corners, the scenery changes again.

After a few more miles, the scenery changes again...

We spent more time getting off and on the bikes today than I have for the entire trip. Every few miles there was something that we had to stop and take photos of. In the photo below, you can see the road winding down from where we are.

This landscape called for a selfie!

Shortly after this, there was a section called The Hog Back where the road goes right along the top of a ridge - but the ridge is only as wide as the road and there are NO guardrails. I really wanted a photo of this, but there was NO way we'd be able to stop. CLICK HERE FOR SOMEONE ELSES VIDEO OF IT.

We keep going, and the landscape keeps changing. We are now getting more trees and a bit more greenery, along with some farms in the valleys. In the photo below, you can see the road winding into the tree-lined gulch near the center of the photo.

You can see the farm in the valley of the photo below. I can't imagine having this view every day. 

As we got closer to the end of Route 12, the elevation is pretty high, and you get this view towards Torrey and Teasdale, UT.

The north end of Route 12 ends at Utah Route 24 in Torrey UT. We stopped for fuel here, and I called the KTM shop in Santa Fe to schedule an appointment for them to look at the clutch on the bike. Even after John and I bled the line, I was still having problems. I wanted to make sure that they were ready for me, rather than just showing up as I had to do in Missoula. We also had to take a little detour to the ONE Utah state liquor store that we would pass that day. Our destination was a dry town, and a nice drink after a long ride is the daily luxury. This was by far the smallest liquor store I have ever been to... but super friendly!

From here we turned east-ish and rode through Capitol Reef National Park (click for more) which is the closest you are going to get to being on Mars without leaving Earth. This is one of the most mind-blowing places I have ever been.

As we rode out of the park, guess what... the landscape changed again. We have left Mars, and landed on the Moon.

The next town was Hanksville, and there were a few kitsch stops we had to make!!

From here, we were going through an area I had never been. I was expecting a rather boring desert ride all the way to Blanding, UT, our stop for the night. I was so wrong about that!!! The descent into Glen Canyon was absolutely stunning.

See the bridge in the photo below? We would cross that about 10 winding miles after this photo was taken.

We also had to get a photo of John in front of his sign - a re-creation of a photo he took from another cross-country ride he did many years ago.

The expression on our faces below sums up how we felt about the day - trust me, there are HUGE smiles under those helmets!

We pulled into Blanding, UT not long before sunset. Blanding is a really odd little town. There are not too many places to eat, and not a whole lot else. Our only real option for food (other than Subway) was the restaurant that the hotel shared a parking lot with - it didn't look real promising, but they were really friendly, and make a mean chicken fried steak! 

After dinner we walked up to the only convenience store that was open. At dinner, we had a conversation about what people do for fun in towns like this - when we got to the store, we found out!

  
A gas station, convenience store, A&W, and bowling alley - all in one. - and it was HOPPING! All it needed was a law office and it would have been complete (comment on this post if you get that reference :-)

In a previous post, I had said that the ride through Yosemite was the best ride I had ever done. Today beat that by a long shot.

Today's miles - 392 (631 km)

Total miles - 5360 (8626 km)

Day 24 - Lee Vining, CA to Cedar City, UT

CLICK HERE FOR TODAY'S ROUTE

Today started out pretty cold - 33 degrees or so (1C), but what we didn't know is that it would get colder before it got warmer! This is what my seat looked like when we got up in the morning. 

That was going to make a cold butt right off the bat. Leaving Lee Vining heading toward Nevada went through much higher elevations than I had expected... and it was much colder than I expected! At one point before leaving California, the temp dropped to 28 degrees (-2C) There was also a sign leaving Lee Vining that said "Next Gas - 161 Miles". The KTM low fuel light is pretty consistent at coming on around 200 miles - we should be good... unless there are strong winds, not uncommon in this part of the country!

Just before you get out of California, there is a stretch of CA-120 dubbed "The Roller Coaster Road" and that it was... really smooth whoop-de-doos that make your stomach jump up into your throat. There was one that just after John crested the hill he completely disappeared! That was a really fun section of road!

The first state line crossing of the day came a few hours into the ride - I have been to Nevada lots of times, but this was the first time coming in this far north. 

Western Nevada has quite a few mountains, but very soon we dropped out of the mountains and into what you would normally think of Nevada looking like. Most of the day looked like this. Sometimes there was another motorcycle in front of me, other times not.

There isn't a whole lot of traffic on this road, but all of a sudden there was a pack of about 25 vehicles, all bunched together going the other way. I thought that to be very odd, until a few miles later we came upon road construction that was one way staggered traffic. Delays up to 30 minutes the sign said.

Enough time to get off the bikes, stretch, take photos, stand around, etc. I think we only waited about 15 minutes at this spot. After this it was not long before we reached Tonopah (click for more) and stopped for fuel - we made it! 

Tonopah is an odd little town. Originally a mining town, it now seems to be a stopover point to get gas and maybe stay the night. Maybe this would be a good choice?

After leaving Tonopah, we turned on to NV-375... Also known as "The Extraterrestrial Highway" (click for more) 

We may or may not have left a mark on the sign... as well as a few other places along the way. If you know, you know!

The next stop would be the Little Ale'e'inn (click for more) in Rachel, NV. 

Postcards and stickers were purchased, and we were again on our way.  Further down the road we hit another construction delay - not quite as long, but long enough to take some road construction zone selfies!

There wasn't much else before we crossed into Utah.

Look close, we got that one too!

Another 80 or so miles to Cedar City. We checked into the hotel and found a great local wood fired pizza place for dinner.

Not the most exiting riding day, but still a good day

Today's miles - 433

Total miles - 4,560