I’ve been visiting friends. The first was a moto-pal in Edgewood 30 miles east of Albuquerque, and now I’m in Truth or Consequences with some wonderful pals from my days of living in Alaska. I am fortunate to have some great places to stay along my journey. I didn’t get many BMR shots in Albuquerque due to the extreme winds, but got a few points. I also had to spend a few hours at Moto-Authority http://moto-authority.com/ getting a new rear tire and rear brakes. Apparently they were totally glazed and down to nothing, so I had to assume the previous owner used them frequently. The tire, well, it was getting squared off even though I tried to keep enough inflation to deem that impossible. I guess it just happens! Well, I’m skipping ahead so I’ll get back to where I left off.
I was “leaving Las Vegas” without a bit of remorse and wanted to get to Kingman, AZ and get on Route 66 to make a few scenic stops. I thought I’d encounter some travelers along Route 66, but found myself to be the lone motorcyclist. I reached Seligman and grabbed a couple of bonus points but didn’t daudle as I had been there twice before. Instead I aimed for Williams, a place I had heard was cute and a piece of historic Route 66 kitsch. It was both.
Great road name!!
Imagine my surprise finding that Elvis was not dead but living in Williams.
Classic Neon Kitsch!
Williams was really pretty darned cute.
Renaissance Faire in Grand Canyon??
All along I40 are roadside attractions of bygone times. Here is Twin Arrows.
Made it to Winslow and got this awesome bonus point shot!
Standing on the corner…I decided Winslow is pretty sad. They spend a small fortune of city money to commemorate a song by the Eagles, but forgot that there was more than just a corner. It’s relatively run down, looks like a pair of sadly worn gloves and the people seem very much affected by the economic downturn. I met a Native American man who was rolling in a wheelchair with only one leg. He stopped to talk about my bike and told me he was a Paiute from NV had gotten run over by a pickup truck and had never left. Though both he and the driver were inebriated, it stuck me as a sad turn of events and a hell of way to pick a place to live.
I thought what an awesome place this must have been in its hayday!
More Winslow.
In Holbrook, AZ I found the Dino Walking Dead.
Yep, another roadside attraction!
From Holbrook I wandered to Springerville into what looked like the eye of a big storm. I was hoping to bag my first big 3 point bonus with the help of the Madonna of the Trail. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madonna_of_the_Trail
It was a quick stop in Springerville and I carried on while gaining some education regarding cloud cover and what is called Virga, which is wisps of precipitation evaporating before reaching the ground.
I rode through Virga for a good portion of the day and never saw a drop of rain!!
However I did see some seriously BEAUTIFUL country!
An interesting mistake…
It was between Quemado, NM and Gallup over an truly lovely road, Hwy 180 that I did encounter a bit of rainfall, but really very little compared to how the skies appeared.
The most noted annoyance was not the rain but that of the cold! The elevation here is nearly 8K feet and I ended up having to don my heated gear in temps of the low 40s. I arrived in Gallup early enough to shoot the courthouse gaining another 3 point bonus. I also met another Native American who tried dearly to convince me to give him a ride to a bus station across town. I declined as honorably as I could. 😉
I rode on to Grants and found a place to stay.
Albuquerque next…