New Mexico is in my headlight

Monday  (July 21) dawned bright and beautiful as it seems to most days in Arizona.  I had two missions.  One was to meet up with the New Yorkers, Kim and Richard, in Silver City, New Mexico.  The other was to find the bus with Verlie.  There had been other problems and it was parked down off the road and Joe had gone to Phoenix to get some part repaired and get other things needed for the bus to try to nurse it to Las Vegas, Nevada, to a place that had worked on it and knew the bus and its parts and pieces inside and out.  She was about 18 miles down Highway 260, which was the way I was going anyway.

Of course, the saga of the motor coach didn’t end there.  I found out the bus would not start at the Walmart on Saturday morning until two hours later and then Joe had rear ended a guy at a stop light on his way into town.  Then his engine light on the pickup came on.  Good grief.  If there was no luck on this trip, there would be none at all. 

I got to 260 and then started watching the mile markers … yep, there was the road she described and down it I went.  There was the bus parked just outside the training camp for the Arizona State University football team.  Woo hoo.  Alas, there were no young bucks in sight.  But if you’re going to be broke down somewhere, what a beautiful setting.  Huge trees that stretched to the end of your sight with a smell that made you think you were in the middle of nowhere, and no traffic except for the occasional vehicle going in or out of camp.  It was beautiful.

No access for me.

The beautiful setting, and the perfectly paved spot for the coach.

So, into the bus I went.  We visited and Verlie fixed me lunch.  Jazzy, their little Yorkie, had to tease me with jumping into my lap and out.  What a short memory she has … pretending she doesn’t know me.  Ha!!!

Jazzy and me in a beautiful setting.

All too soon I needed to get back on the road as I’d been there a couple of hours and I would lose an hour going into New Mexico.  It was hard to leave Verlie there alone, but Joe would soon be on his way back. 

On I rode, making time, avoiding any rain clouds, and I rolled into Silver City about 6 p.m. and found the hotel where Kim had reserved rooms for us.  It was the historic Murray Hotel and I loved it. 

The Murray Hotel opened in October 1938, named after William Dennis Murray.

I was backing my bike in next to theirs and down the sidewalk runs Richard.  Oh man, it was so good to see him.  I love my New Yorkers.  We hugged and got my luggage to my room and then went back to where Kim was.  It was another joyous reunion.  I think the New Yorkers are even louder in their greetings and happiness than I am. 

The Little Toad Creek was where Kim and Rich were sitting when I went by.

We had dinner and a wonderful visit.  I decided then that rather than go visit my swan at the Baton Rouge Zoo on this leg of the trip, I’d travel with Kim and Rich for a day as they headed north toward Farmington, New Mexico, for a bike service.  Rich was coming up on 105,000 and desperately needed a rear tire.

The food was excellent, the company even better.