On the run again

I continue running along on my Lower 48 trip.  A good thing since my Alaskan bike had an issue (loud clunking noises and difficulty shifting in and out of gear) the day before I left home to come down to Phoenix, Arizona, and on to points east, south, north.   The House of Harley-Davidson picked it up and it’s on its way to recovery.   The diagnosis is that a nut backed off inside the transmission, and there went the transmission.  Parts and pieces.  It will be ready soon and waiting for me when I return home.



A New Yorker ahead of me, a New Yorker behind me.
 

But back to my New Yorkers.  We left Silver City and headed north and west on Highways 260, 78 and then 191.  What beautiful country we were riding through, at least after we got out of the mining part with big equipment, rock tunnels and a barrenness to it that is beautiful in its own way. 

Mining country.

Kim in the tunnel.

Richard entering the tunnel behind me.

It's beautiful country, and perfect riding.

We were traveling mountain roads that have sheer drop offs, rock walls, flowers, huge trees, and a smell to it that has you breathing deeply breath-after-breath.  It was wonderful, even when we hit a rain shower.  I wasn’t wearing a helmet or much and was thinking it was going to get ugly.  But as quickly as it appeared, it disappeared.  It’s not like home where the rain lasts not an hour or two but for days.   

We still had blue skies, no smoke here.

There's evidence of previous fires in the area.

Smoke in the distance rose like giant plumes over the mountains and mixed with the clouds.  I was hoping we’d not be riding into a wild fire.  The smoke disappeared, but we found it again, multiple times, to the point of smelling it and then riding through some of it.  Luckily we were never threatened by the fire itself. 

Yep, smoke found.

On we rode, 10 mph corners, 25, 35, 45 mph corners.  The 45s are my favorite.  My game is to not hit the brakes and to run 5-10 mph over the speed limit.  Yep, a test every time.

We took a break here ... would be fun to stay a night or so, Hannagan Meadows Lodge.

This one's for you, Biker Bill ... at the lodge.

Black clouds surrounded us and as we kept going it wasn’t looking any better.  Kim checked the Trip Advisor app on her phone (which I now have) and there was a motel/restaurant called the Largo Motel in Quemado, New Mexico.  She noted that it had received good reviews.  Off we went to find it.

When we arrived, it was exactly the kind of place Biker Bill and I like to stay.  A motel laid out so you park outside your door and just walk in.  The bike is in sight and it’s easy, breezy to load and unload the bikes.  And, best part, they told us to park under the roof of the rooms, along the little walkway to protect the bikes from the rain.  Clean, an Internet connection, and great water pressure in the shower.  Yahoo.  Yep, our favorite kind of place.

Biker Bill has a friend who lives nearby in Fence Lake so I messaged him to see if he and his wife would like to join us for breakfast the following morning.  It appeared not, so I’d have to try again the next trip.

We sat outside under the roof, talking and playing on the computers, sorting photos and so on for a relaxing evening that never had a heavy rain, lightning or thunder materialize.  That was good for me although we were protected.  I was so glad to have time to visit more as I don’t know when I’ll next see these wonderful East Coast friends of mine.

Relaxing, working on the computers, chatting.

Wednesday (July 23) there was no sign of the un-New-Mexico-type-weather we’d experienced the day before.  It was a glorious day, which would only be marred by separating from my friends.  It saddens me each time I leave someone behind, but we have to go on to the next adventure … be brave, experience the new, ride to new levels …

As we loaded the bikes, prior to going to breakfast across the parking lot, up rolls a midnight blue Harley trike.  Who is that man behind the dark glasses?  Haha!  Our friend, Dave Bigdog Jolly.  He said it was only right if we’d ridden that far and asked to see him that he ride 45 miles to meet us.  Hell ya!!!

Dave Bigdog Jolly and his trike came to visit.  A wonderful surprise.

Dave joined us for breakfast and we sat for a long time enjoying the camaraderie.  As Dave was running some errands he would ride awhile with Rich and Kim.  I, on the other hand, would only ride with them for about a half mile, then I would head east while they rode in a northerly fashion toward Durango, Colorado. 

I watched them in front of me, going left while I kept going straight on Hwy. 60 heading to Socorro, New Mexico.  My plan was to go north on I-25 and then cut over onto Hwy. 60 again and follow it to Clovis, New Mexico. 

Squirrel!!!  Sidetracked.  I was running 60 and I came upon these big dish-type antenna.  I’ve ridden this way so many times.  I’ve stopped and taken a photo or two, but I’ve never gone into the visitor center.  Should I, shouldn’t I?  Yep, this was the time I was going to do it.

This is the VLA from a distance, before I decided to visit.

This was a fascinating place … the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) Telescope.  It’s named after Karl Jansky who is considered the father of radio astronomy.  He worked for Bell Laboratories and his job was to track down radio noise that would interfere with their overseas wireless communication devices.  Instead he surprised astronomers in 1933 by announcing that he had discovered radio waves coming from the Milky Way. 

The VLA has been the hardest working telescope on earth since 1980, watching the skies day and night for astronomers around the world.  It’s a 22-mile wide telescope made up of 27 dish antennas, which is what I see every time I go by here.  Each dish is 82-feet-across and weighs 230 tons. 

These things don't look so big, but they are huge.

The purpose of the VLA is to do research on the nature of the universe … how did it begin, how big is it, how old and so on.  It was built during the 70s but currently is being updated to make it 10 times more powerful, allowing astronomers to study distant cosmic objects that currently cannot be seen.  It will then be called the EVLA (Expanded Very Large Array). 

The 70s design used waveguide, a stainless steel pipe with wire wound inside it.  With the EVLA the waveguide will be replaced with fiber optics, resulting in an increase a hundred times over in the amount of data that can be brought back from the antenna.

There's also a sun dial at the VLA.

And on one of the sun dial pieces, imagine what I found. I am not sure, guess it's graffiti.  But ... SWEET!!

I probably shouldn’t have made a stop, but it was something I’d wanted to do every time I’d followed Hwy. 60.  I’ve always been in a hurry, going to or from somewhere else, and in a rush.  I’m glad I made the stop.

Yep, very glad indeed.

Once I’d made the run on I-25 and on to 60 I wasn’t so sure about my decision to stop.  In the mountains toward Mountainair, New Mexico, there were dark clouds, not just here and there, not just gathering.  I rode until I saw lightning and hit some rain.  Hmmmm.  Time to turn around, go back and go up I-25 further until I hit I-40 and go east to get around it.  Not so fast.  I did just that, but never made it to I-40. 

I’d gassed up and was told there was something happening up the road and traffic was at a standstill.  I also heard that maybe the rain had passed so I backtracked and went back to 60 east.  Nope.  No rain at all now, although I could see where it had rained pretty hard.  Yep, golden right now.

While I didn’t get to Clovis, New Mexico, which is where I’d planned to be, I stopped only 60 miles short for the night.  It was a good decision.  I was tired and needed to get off the bike.