We spent the last couple of days riding from Santa Fe, New Mexico to Longmont, Colorado.... I am now sitting in the living room of my son's house enjoying a coffee and checking my mail... A subtitle of this part of our trip might be "long live fuel injection".. It was nice having my motorcycle purr like a kitten at 8000 feet. . On Tuesday we left Santa Fe for Taos to get up into the mountains and to see the Taos pueblo. This is an ancient pueblo, still inhabited by a small group of Indians.. most of the pueblo is treated as a museum. Non-Pueblo Indians get to pay $10 to tour. There is no electricity or water in the Pueblo, so gas lanterns are used and water comes from the stream. Some rather scraggly dogs roam around the dirt streets. The chapel and the short guided tour are worth taking.
From Taos we headed east down Kit Carson Road into the mountains toward Cimarron and then on to Raton, NM.. We were going to experience really exciting roads and weather that day. You can go to Google maps and Get Directions from Taos to Cimarron, and then click on "terrain" above the map to get an idea of the road. We started going up steeply into winding switchbacks after we left Taos averaging about 30 mph... We also seemed to be heading into some very ugly looking clouds. This was a bit interesting because on the east coast we usually see bad weather rolling in from the south and west. In the Rockies I guess it rolls in from anywhere. The roads were getting damp as we crossed over the pass and the switchbacks started downhill, with a dry weather speed limit of 25mph. With light gravel in some of the corners, second gear and no throttle were the way to do this...We finally got down onto a beautiful valley and plains where we could pick up a little speed, but also see that the clouds were looking a little nasty. Jeannine said on the radio "Let's put on our rain gear before we get really wet." Good idea. We rode through the town of Eagle's Nest, then into the mountains again, except now it started to rain and the temperature dipped into the 40's We were up around 8000 ft. The going was even slower and trickier with beautiful canyon walls. Finally we descended into Cimarron. As a teenager I went to Philmont Scout Ranch and it is a definite highlight in my memory. I always imagined Cimarron as being a Boy Scout Mecca, with that BIG SIGN "Philmont 4 miles". In reality, Cimarron is a crossroads, with one gas station, a general store, a few tired houses and a rather small sign "Philmont 4 miles" ... We got gas and headed out onto the plains on the Santa Fe Trail towards Raton. Except for the rain, this was a nice ride. We hopped onto I-25 and rode to Trinidad, Co.
Our son Marc said he would meet us for lunch at Manitou Springs for lunch the next day and go back with us to his house. Manitou Springs is a touristy little town west of Colorado Springs. We woke up the next day to clear skies and 40 degree weather, but warming right up. By serendipity we pulled into the gas station in Manitou Springs at the same time!! Lunch was at Charlie's Barbecue Pit..and then off into the Rockies for a scenic trip north. I wanted to stop in South Park, near the town of Fairplay, but it was too far out of the way. We made it to Longmont for a late dinner....
This morning Marc looked at our bikes and said "Yipes.. you need to wash your bike." Hmmm.. these bikes are dirty... we've put on 3000 miles already. Today we are going to change the oil and filters and check everything over, and I guess we'll have to wash them too.
Harris and Jeannine
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