10/24/06 - Into Phoenix

I had a decision to make today. Do I continue into Phoenix on I-10 or head up Route 70 from lordsburg. Yeah right. Like that's even a hard choice. State routes are always better if you don't have a long trip for the day.

Anyway, heres a pic of me just a bit after entering Arizona. Yes, this is officially desert(has been a while, but these were the first Saguaro I'd come across). Also, a pic of my bike. Arizona makes it look small.

I ended up in Phoenix, where I will be spending a day visiting friends and relatives in the area.

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10/23/08 - Cold Mountain

Holy carp, that was fun! *

I was absolutely right about that stretch of Route 82. It took me 90 miles from leaving Artesia to get from 4,000 feet up to about 9,000 feet. The trip down the other side was only 15 miles.

And the twists and turns...Oh, the lovely twists and turns. I'm so glad I didn't chicken out due to the cold. It was quite chilly when I arrived at the top in a small town of Cloudcroft...where I was promptly pulled over by the local sheriff for going 10mph over. But seriously, no one, I mean no one at all, could have kept it down to 45 on those mountain turns with a motorcycle. He was really cool and we had a nice chat about my trip as well as what I thought of the area. He ended up just giving me a warning.

But what a beautiful town, and the view from the top was fantastic! I don't know how well you can see them, but those are other mountains in the far background, with the white sands valley in between.

Here's another shot from 9 miles down the mountain.

This portion of the trip was, hands down, the best stretch of road I have encountered.

After that it was all normal road and getting back to I-10 in Las Cruces. I stopped for the evening in Lordsburg, my pop's hometown. The way he described it, I was thinking it would be a small village with a few stores and a local motel, but it actually rates 3 exits off the highway. Shoot, Cheyenne, way back in Wyoming, a largish town by all accounts, only rated 6. Lordsburg is a fairly small town, but I was really expecting a bit smaller than this.

On the plus, if you ever do stop here, you need to check out Kranberry's. They served me up a delicious bacon, swiss, and pineapple burger.

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*Yes, I did just invoke the deity of fish

10/22/08 - Carlsbad

Okay, in the future, remind me to do the proper research on national parks first. I only had to ride 150 miles today to get to Carlsbad, New Mexico. The plan was to then head up to the park and see Carlsbad Caverns. Unfortunately, I didn't look into it till today. In order to go see the best parts of the cave, you need to sign up for a guided tour. Reservations are full till Friday for guided tours. I then considered taking the short trip up to Roswell to see the alien stuff, but frankly, I'm really only interested if I can see actual aliens, a comodity that is likely to be scarce there. Instead, I decided to take a nap, since I haven't managed a full night's sleep in a few days. Rested and recharged, I can now head over to Lordsbug, New Mexico tomorrow. This is the town where my dad was raised. I'm really looking forward to this ride, given the following image I took from Google:

Route 82 is going to be a blast!