Rounding Third and heading home!

We're here in Taos, New Mexico!

We left Durango bright and early this morning!  Well, maybe not quite so early...about 9:30. Bill, Sue, and Ron left about 2 hours prior to us.  Bill wanted to visit with his cousin in Chama, NM.  The plan was to meet them there on the way to Taos.  As we were packing the bikes to leave, a guy was kinda wandering the parking lot around us.  "Be safe!" he said.  "Thanks, man!" I replied.  He continued to hover and finally asked "I noticed the Ohio plates.  What part of Ohio are you from?"  We told him that we live in Northfield.  "No kidding" he said, "I'm from Solon!"  He said he grew up there!  WHAAAT?!?!  We told him that we both work there and that I grew up there too! He said he graduated in '77.  Same year as my sister!  I asked his name...Rick Benicci he said.  HOLY COW!  "Any relation to Sandy Benicci?" I asked.  Sandy's his younger brother!  I told him he's much taller than Sandy!  Hahahaaaa!  I hung in the same circle of friends as Sandy in the late 80's. Nice guy!  Haven't seen him in at least 20 years.  SMALL WORLD, HUH?!?!  This happens almost every road trip....this one was REALLY close to home, though!  I wish we could've stayed and chatted longer!  That was too cool!  

We said farewell to our new/old friend and hit the road! 

Side note...the whole time I was in Durango I kept singing Rob Zombie's "Never Gonna Stop" in my head!  🎶 "Yeah my Durango...Number 95....."🎶

 The traffic in Durango was heavier than I expected it would be.  Once we got out of the "big city" it was smooth sailing though!  The weather was perfect again!  I was comfortable in my leather.  We went through some twistie mountains again.  A lot of these mountain roads are also open ranges.  Great.  The road isn't challenging enough on its own....let's throw a random cow in there, too!  We saw a couple juvenile cows racing each other down a hill, bumping into each other!  When they reached the bottom and got to the rest of the herd one started head butting another cow that was minding his own business!  The other cow looked at him like "DUDE!  WTF is your problem?!?!" Crazy cow then mellowed out.  I gotta wonder what goes through their minds!  I turned on the GoPro!  I hope I caught some of that! 

 What's REALLY cool is that they have signs that light up and that read "Wildlife Detected" When there are critters in the area!  We saw a few of those lit up.  I wondered what kind of wildlife was detected!  A bear?  An elk?  A squirrel?  Prarie dog?  What should I be looking for?  Tom said the animals probably go and purposely mess with the traffic..."Hey guys!  Watch this!" As they wave their hooves around in front of the sensor!  Like a magical crosswalk for critters!  

There was a hugeass semi hauling ass a few cars behind us.  I was amazed at how he could keep up on these roads.  He eventually passed some cars and ended up with one car between us. He was so far up this poor car's ass!  I'd be freaking out if I were them!  Another passing zone came up and he ended up right behind us.  Crap.  Don't push me, dude.  I'm doing 5 or 10 over!  Surprisingly he kept a respectful distance from us!  It was greatly appreciated!  The same thing happened a little farther down the road....a Dodge pick-up was behind us for a bit...not riding our ass or anything...but when he had an opportunity to pass he did so....and proceeded to completely ride the ass of the car in front of us!  Respect for motorcycles!  That sure made up for the shenanigans in Nebraska!  

We pulled into Chama and found Bill & Sue waving to us on the street corner. Not unlike in Chicago a few years back!  Guess what?  His cousin wasn't home!  Gaaaaa!  They spent a couple hours eating pancakes and visiting the corner bar while awaiting our arrival.  We stopped in the corner bar too for a cold one.  Foster's is the name.  Established in 1881.  Survived 2 fires and the wars.  This was a VERY cool old place with a super-nice bartender!  There were also 3 locals shooting pool and singing to the jukebox. VERY loudly and VERY poorly!  They were talking with Sue earlier.  They were Apache from the reservation. Or 'Pache as they corrected her....with a silent "a". They were VERY drunk! And amusing!  I so wanted to stay but there was more than 100 miles to cover between Chama and Taos.  No having of too much fun yet!  

We ended up going through the Carson National Forest, with more mountains, twisty roads, lush pines, and COWS!  

Most of the cows were well-behaved!  One cow was on the wrong side of the fence.  The road side. Bad cow!  Tom shook his finger at her as we rode past!  She didn't seem to be aware there was a problem!  

After the National Forest came desert.  And heat.  And some strange people out there.  Every mile or so there'd be a little shack surrounded by a shit-ton of old junk vehicles. Not just cars.  School buses, dump trucks, we even saw a junk garbage truck!  It's like they drive a vehicle 'till it dies, then park it and drive something else.  Collectors. 

Once in Taos we finally made our way to our hotel though the heavy traffic.  We're staying at a place called the Sagebrush  Inn.  It's certainly not a Hampton Inn but it's clean and the people are friendly!  We're on the second floor and half of our room slopes seriously to one side!  When I got in the shower I felt like I was in an RV that wasn't properly leveled!  Our bathroom door won't stay open without a prop!  Kinda funny!

  I LOVE this town!  We came through here in 2010 and made friends with our favorite waitress at the Taos Diner, Kristin. She hung out with us after work a little back then.  Very cool chick!  Rides a shovel.  Drives a sick '63 Chevy pickup.  (A shovel is a Harley engine term for you non-bikers!)  Bill and Tom have kept in touch with her via text since then and I was very excited to see her again!  After a leaning shower we met her and her son at a place called the Guadalajara Grill. We brought her souvenir T-shirts from Cleveland and she made us an apple pie!  

After stuffing ourselves on some serious delicious Mexican grub we said goodbye to Kristin...for now.  We plan on doing some riding with her tomorrow.

We came back to our hotel where I now sit blogging in the courtyard, enjoying my tequila. Inside the bar is the Taos High School class of 1983 reunion, complete with a live band that just slaughtered "the Adventures of Rain Dance Maggie" by the Chili Peppers. I wanna cry!  

Tom just returned from the bar with ice and informed me that "the class of '83 is lookin' rough"!   

Bahahahaaaa!  

See ya soon!