Day 2 – Goin Down

Today was another short day so we took the scenic route and played tourist. From 8200 ft and 74 degrees in Cloudcroft to 3200 ft and 107 degrees in Seminole, quite a change in scenery.

We took highway 244 through the Rez to Cloudcroft. This road is amazing, I’m jealous that my dad has some of the best roads I’ve ever ridden just 15 mins from the house. Lots of sweepers down valleys with lots of tall spruce and fir with wispy spanish moss hanging from the branches, some good twisties and climbs, this road has it all. We will definitely have to come back this way during the Golden Aspen Rally in the fall.

In one of the meadows we cruised through was a golden eagle sitting on a rock in the tall grass not 5 feet from the roadway. It didn’t fly away or anything, it just watched us rumble past, an eerie feeling, like a guardian spirit checking us out as we enter holy ground. Yesterday was the buffalo, today an eagle. I wonder what tomorrow will bring.

We stopped by The Lodge in Cloudcroft to take a few pictures. It looks like they could use a paint job again. From here the landscape changes quickly, about every 5 miles the climate changes. First its alpine spruce and fir wilderness and looks very similar to the rain forrests of Oregon I went through once. Then you drop back into ponderosa pines, then pinions, then junipers and finally cactus and dessert all in about 30 mins of riding.

It got hot fast! It was in the 70′s in Cloudcroft and just 30 mins later it felt like it was in the triple digits and I was already needing a break. We stopped at a fruit stand/petting zoo for a drink. Unfortunately they didn’t have any pinions to take for my sister. Lots of jams, fruit, pistachios and other expensive curio shop nicknacks but no pinions.

Cece had fun playing with all the animals, and they had lots of huge trout too. Further down the road we found a valley my parents had said to watch for filled with century plants. They were everywhere. Unfortunately a fire had recently gone through and burned up all of the stalks right as they were getting ready to bloom. It would have been something to see hundreds or thousands of these in bloom all at once, maybe another year.

We made it to Artesia and the gas fumes were already making my eyes hurt. Downtown looked very nice, however, with myrtles everywhere and some fountains.

We ate at the Garden Cafe and got lots of stares as we walked in with full gear dripping with sweat. Boutique gourmet sandwich shops don’t get to many bikers round here I take it.

We barely made it to Hobs and I was dying again. My eyes were killing me, dried out from the hot wind and hurting from the oil fumes, it was unbelievably hot, and I had cotton mouth so bad I could barely swallow. Things aren’t looking good for the rest of the trip if it stays like this the rest of the way. Luckily we got lost and had to stop and ask for directions out of town and to the nearest Dairy Queen. The guys at the Yamaha shop were nice and joked that most folks would be going the other way back into the mountains where its cool on their bike. They had this killer custom Roadie on display there, looks like a lot of custom frame work done for a single backbone and a Harley front end.

Despite all the stops we made pretty good time and arrived much earlier than I thought we would even with the time change. When we arrived I pulled out my Altimiter/Thermometer to check how far down in altitude we had dropped today. It said it was 107 degrees!! What the hell that cant be right? Lalo looked over my shoulder, “Nah thats right.” Wholy crap!

Lalo is really proud of his XZ14, with those pipes its nearly as loud as mine. Apparently his R1(I think) that he had before was too slow. The way we came in from Hobbs is part of his daily commute, flat as a board and straight as an arrow for 30 miles, I’d want something fast too.

Lalo wanted to take us out for dinner but the selection in Seminole is rather limited so we packed up the truck and headed to Lubbock to Joes Crab Shack. I only had one rule on this trip, to avoid all chain restaurants and only go to mom and pop joints, and I’ve already broken it twice on barely the second day.

Afterwards we went to Joyland Amusement Park where they have a special on Thursdays for unlimited rides and fountain drinks, Sweet!

Some of those little kiddie roller coaster rides are pretty scary. I’m amazed more people aren’t hurt on these things with rickety tracks and high speed that feel like the tracks about to snap any second and send you hurtling to your death. Do I really want to trust my life that some teenage carnie making minimum wage thoroughly inspects this thing on a regular basis?

The water rides were Awesome! They had one of those slides that drops near vertical. It was pretty intimidating looking but neither of us wanted to look scared in front of the ladies and bravely set off climbing the 5000 steps to the top. I hate to say it but I was pretty winded by the top, getting old and out of shape sucks. We sat on a flimsy sled while the guy gave us a few pointers, “Lean forward and hang onto the handles or you’ll bite it … hard.” He hit the lever and YEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!!!!!!!

Wow what a rush! This ride f’ing rules! It must have been beginners luck as neither of us got very wet so we went again laughing the whole way up the steps. The second time we foolishly tried to imitate the little kids who must have been riding this thing all day and were experts by now. When they leveled off they’d put their hands up and just skip over the water. “Cool that looks like fun, lets try that! How hard could it be?”

Well I must not have put them up at exactly the right time and immediately veered into the side at the bottom and wiped out with a huge wave. At least I had the satisfaction that I got lots of other people wet too hehehe. We both ate it on the second try, not cold anymore, why don’t you try it girls?

Lalo thought this drop thing was worth the price of admission just by itself. It was a lot of fun but how are you supposed to get out of the seat at the end? You’re up high and I had to kinda hop out and ended up gashing my back on the seatbelt latch, ouch.

No related posts.