| Author | Message | ||
     Whatever |
Alamogordo south to Texas... | ||
| Whatever |
It is friggin COLD here !!!!!  | ||
| Road_thing |
It's cold here, too, Char... rt | ||
| Whatever |
This has got to be the MOST bizarre day of the trip so far... sort of hard to explain without the pictures... I made it to White Sands yesterday... for round two with Piglet Vs. The Sand Dune... and met with success the gypsum sands of White Sands National Monument (despite the guy at the gate being retarded and telling me there was a paved 'turn around' at the end of the paved road)... it was worth the risk...       (Message edited by Whatever on February 10, 2011) | ||
| Whatever |
Fortunate for me... the lady at the visitor center was not a retard and told me that they very highly discourage camping out there that night as the predicted weather was snow and below freezing temperatures... | ||
| Whatever |
In my infinite wisdom, at 4 PM yesterday, I decided that since I was going to be paying, yet again, for another hotel... I might as well blast it over the mountains to the east to the next valley and move on down towards Carlsbad Caverns... Now, mind you, this was not some half ass guessing, in that the entire area is what we call 'basin and range'... meaning, the basin is the down-dropped side of the equation and the range is the up-side of the geologic phenomena known as 'isostatic rebound'... And, since the last range I crossed was roughly 20 miles wide, I sadly assumed so would this one be... and I would be safe and warm within the hour on the other side... The change in relief, however not apparent at first glance, is a mere 4000 feet... Of course it looked much smaller before I attempted the traverse... Had I actually looked at a map, or google earth I would have seen that this was NOT the case of a quick up and down in the Sacramento Mountains...  (Message edited by Whatever on February 09, 2011) | ||
| Whatever |
Enter the cowboys who saved my ass...  | ||
| Whatever |
By the time the temperature dropped below freezing, I had made a commitment to not turn around, since I was roughly 33 miles up in the wilderness and several thousands of feet higher in altitude... To turn around with a snow front coming in could mean a certain disaster, or at least a faceplant that could do some real damage... so, by the time I got to Mayhill... I saw a sign for Cafe/ Hotel and I thought perfect... Mayhill Cafe/ Hotel in the daylight...  | ||
| Whatever |
At first it was evident the Hotel was closed... until Ronny... the tall cowboy on the right showed up and said... 'Hell No!' we turned the water back on yesterday... so I got my own historic room that had been re-decorated in western style that had a heater with cool fake flames shooting out of it... nice hardwood floor and private bath... Ray... the cowboy on the left... had done a lot of the re-modeling himself... The cowboy in the middle (whom I swiftly lost the name of when introduced) just made me sweat because he had dreamy eyes and a really nice smile... | ||
| Whatever |
And this morning... the end result was... Piglet abuse (do NOT call PETA it ended well)...   | ||
| Whatever |
Fortunate for me... Ray had to head into Alamogordo (damn I am sick of this place)... and agreed to deliver me, my baggage and the Piglet to below the snow line...  However, after making a b-line over thirty miles south in 30-something weather I decided it just was not fun anymore and turned around to hole up in... there it f*cking is again... Alamagordo... where I checked into a cheap hotel and then I visited the Space History Museum... I will post some pics of later because I gotta go eat something...  (Message edited by Whatever on February 10, 2011) | ||
| Whatever |
Ok... here is the crazy part... I had another telephone interview with the Navajo this morning... and they are VERY interested in me... and will let me know by the next week if they have an offer of employment approved... SO... I may be going up there in the next week or two to check things out in person after all... five of them were grilling me on the phone for well over a half hour today... but it was kindof fun...  (Message edited by Whatever on February 10, 2011) | ||
| Whatever |
New Mexico Space History Museum was fun too...            | ||
| Wolfridgerider |
Keep it coming... Thinking warm weather thoughts for you.... | ||
| Court |
This is absolutely amazing . . . . Maybe it's just me . . . the one who greeted the news of your job loss with "Congratulations" . . . but think . . THINK . . if your butt was still in WI . . . working 8-5 for "da man" and had never done this. I vaguely recall mentioning that out of what appears, at the time, to be adversity come some of the greatest adventures. I am TOTALLY digging this . . . . Just think . . . . after monkeys, cowboys, space capsules, Indians and rocks . . if you'd only seen an old hippie turned oil man/geologist slam down booze till his words slurred . . . well . . . hell . . .you'da see it all! | ||
| Whatever |
I found out from Ray the hostel nearby is full of drunks... So dodged another bullet... | ||
| J2blue |
Think you can fit one of them rocket engines on Piglet? | ||
| Blake |
Char, >>> this was NOT the case of a quick up and down in the Sacramento Mountains. Your photographic skills are very impressive. What Court said, except I can attest that the old hippie seems to have learned to sip. All credit is due the bridge. | ||
| F_skinner |
What a great adventure Char. Thanks for bringing me along for the ride. I look forward to more. | ||
| Ezblast |
Wow! - let the good times begin! Go Char! Go! | ||
| Road_thing |
Who you callin' old???  Aw, what the hell--if the shoe fits... rt | ||
| Whatever |
Ahhhh RT... the 'old hippie' is you ???? Certainly couldn't be Blake, although in his roughneck days he could pass for a hipster I guess... May be staying put here at the glorious Motel 6 in Alamogordo today... might go check out that lava flow north of here... Saw some sattelite photos of it at the Space Museum and it seems impressive... Looks like tomorrow will get up in the 60's so hoping to head down SOUTH towards Big Bend tomorrow... which would make my visit at El Rancho de Road Thing even later... BUT perhaps I will have a JOB OFFER soon to follow up on ??? I actually hope so at this point because my budget is completely blown now due to unexpected weather stops staying indoors... Me WANT to go camping... NOW !!!  (Message edited by Whatever on February 10, 2011) | ||
| Road_thing |
Char--good talking to you yesterday. I found it ironic that, as I listened to you talking about cowboys hauling your bike out of the snow in a pickup truck, I was sitting in my own truck outside the US Post Office in Bellville, TX, watching icicles form on my rearview mirrors. Normally I like to go for bike rides in the winter when all my northern friends are freezing their asses off, but this winter has been harsh by our standards. We're in our third hard freeze of the winter today, and the forecast is below freezing tonight and tomorrow night but sunny for the next week. Once you get past this cold snap, you ought to have a clear shot at getting across Texas (unless the Navajo thing works out--good luck!). rt | ||
| Road_thing |
I'm looking at the maps now that you're getting into territory that I'm familiar with. Weather and road conditions permitting, I recommend that you go east through Artesia, then south thorough Carlsbad, Pecos, Fort Davis and Marfa. According to Yahoo, it's about 328 miles from Alamogordo to Marfa. If you want to press on to Presidio it's about 400. Marfa's an interesting town, Presidio not so much. I would not have you miss the ride from Presidio to Terlingua on Hwy 170. It's really a great motorcycle road. Gas up in Presidio, though, there's no services after that until Lajitas. Once you get to Terlingua you're in Big Bend country. From there it's +/- 600 miles to the ranchito. rt | ||
| Whatever |
I was on my way to Artesia when I got stuck with snow and had to have wranglers haul my arse out of there...  Funny thing is, I asked Ray if they had horses to round up their cattle or just used four wheelers... He said, 'We don't even do that... we put feed in the back of our pickup trucks and then the cattle follow us around'... Now that is funny !!!  It is beautiful country up there... (Message edited by Whatever on February 10, 2011) | ||
| Road_thing |
Come out of BBNP on 185 through Marathon, then go east on US 90 through Sanderson toward Del Rio. I would route you through the Texas Hill Country via the towns of Rocksprings, Medina and Bandera. You can't really go wrong in Edwards, Real, Kerr or Bandera counties--this is prime riding territory. rt | ||
| Whatever |
Oh, and what the heck is up with the checkpoints at 'Border Patrol'... you pull up and they ask if you are an American citizen... are there people who are NOT citizens that would actually say... "NO, I am an illegal alien" ???  | ||
| Road_thing |
Well, they might just profile you a little. If you're not brown-skinned or speaking with a Spanish accent, I think they kind of let you slide by. Don't try to pet the dogs, though, they're pretty serious. rt | ||
| Court |
Try telling them you are a "Badwebber enroute to Moto-Mecca in Welcome, TX". Let me know if you get sent on your way or get arrested. Best not to toss any names about . . .  | ||
| Whatever |
The dog didn't even sniff my stuff at the first checkpoint... What the heck??? It seems to be an inadequate system... I mean, if I were illegal, I wouldn't be taking the superhighway to Phoenix, now, would I ??? (Message edited by Whatever on February 10, 2011) |
