Trip Summary

Total Miles - 4,323

B - Abilene, Tx           C - Deming, NM             D - Needles, CA     
E - Bishop, CA            F - Bodie, CA                 G - Merced, CA      
H - Reno, NV              I - Las Vegas, NV           J - Overton, NV      
K - Henderson, NV     L - Gallup, NM              M - Lubbock, TX
N - Home

Trip Summary

Trip Hero - As usual - Betsy.  She never misses a lick.

Day 12 - Lubbock to Houston

531 Miles

Day 12 Trip Map

Woke the roosters and waited until the sky had a hint of light before pulling out of Lubbock.  No real excitement on the trip, excepting for Garmin's routing between Abilene home.  Whenever I leave home to come to Abilene to visit my friends the Criders Garmin routes me on US Hwy 36 through Hamilton and Comanche.  On this trip coming into Abilene on I-20 it routed me another 70 miles toward DFW and put me on US Hwy 6.  Didn't complain, I like US 6.

 

Some "west Texas" between Lubbock and I-20 near Sweetwater.

Close up

Nice foggy morning.









Arriving in Waco my Garmin showed rain in the calculated route but nothing a little further south.  I turned down I-35 toward Temple then cut across and rejoined US 6 near Hearne.  Pulled into home about 5:00pm.

Day 11 - Gallup, NM to Lubbock, TX

458 Miles

Day 11 Trip Map

What can one say about Gallup, NM?  It's a great kicking off place to head north and west to Window Rock or, further along, to one of my favorite places, Canyon De Chelly in northeastern Arizona (SW U.S. Ride - Day 7).  I'm sure if I stayed around long enough I could find some more redeeming social values.  Like, for example, the 8 oz. sirloin and enchilada dinner I had at the El Rancho Hotel Restaurant.  The place gets a rather wide range of reviews on TripAdvisor but you learn to expect that if you read many reviews.  Hey!  Newsflash!  People have different tastes and expectations and they show up in reviews.  I thought it was a neat old hotel/restaurant with a neat "link" to old movie stars who had to eat there back when it was basically the only place in town when filming nearby.  That said, the steak was good and the idea of adding the New Mexican fare with it worked really well for me.  Besides, they had Stella (Artois) and I can eat a rock if you serve me Stella.

As usual, up early and on the road.  Given my plans to visit Bobby J. up in Utah fell through I decided I'd head home.  Golf ball lies lay awaiting as it were.  So, how do you make time in the U.S. on the road?  Answer: Slab.  And there was plenty of it.  Two hundred and fifty-three miles of it to be exact.  That's the distance from Gallup to Santa Rosa where I left the slab and began my ride down to where Billy the Kid met his end.

I took US84 south from Santa Rosa toward Fort Sumner.  Experienced yet another example of why I think New Mexico is one of the best kept secrets in the USA.  About ten miles or so into the trip it became apparent I was going to get wet so I found a place to pull off and don the rain gear.  There wasn't much room off the highway but I found a little and, keeping my flasher on, stood "inland" from the bike and began putting on the rain gear.   The first two vehicles, a big semi and a flatbed truck, passed with no problem.  The third, a pickup truck with an old man and a young lady (granddaughter, perhaps) pulled in behind Betsy and, the young lady, rolling down the window, asked, "Are you okay?"  I replied, "Yes, I am, just putting on some rain gear, but thank you very much for stopping and checking.  It's very kind of you."  She replied okay and waving, they pulled back onto the road and took off.  I have found the people of New Mexico to be kind, welcoming, and always friendly.  I have maintained for years that the friendliest people in America are in Tennessee but I'll guarantee you New Mexico gives them a run for the money.

Properly geared I headed on into Fort Sumner through sporadic showers to gas up and look at all the tourists traps set up to glorify Billy the Kid.  I do not know if he was a misled boy who was driven to murder by the killing of his mentor, or a gun hand readily available, but the "story" of the area as far as I'm concerned is the Bosque Redondo and Kit Carson's place in history and this event. Wikipedia has a pretty good article on this historic event (Long_Walk_of_the_Navajo ) but to really grasp this event (and Kit Carson) I thoroughly recommend 'Blood and Thunder' by Hampton Sides (2007) (Amazon.com: Blood and Thunder).  (By the way, an interesting side note on Carson is he was probably the only U.S. Army General in our history who could neither read nor write.)

Pulled into Lubbock about 5:00pm and settled in for the night.

Day 10 - Henderson, NV to Gallup, NM

426 Miles

Day 10 Trip Map

 Up and at 'em early this morning.  Pulled out of Henderson about 7:15am heading for Boulder, thinking about one of my favorite Emmy Lou Harris tunes (one of the few she wrote), 'From Boulder to Birmingham.'

Hoover Dam (the wet side)

Easy to see the water level is down quite a bit.

Betsy being bad at Boulder by the Bridge.

Lake Mead

Generic Arizona scenery between Boulder and Kingman.

After leaving the dam I set the GPS for Flagstaff and points east and boogied it east on Hwy 93 catching I-40 E at Kingman, Az.  That was a pretty good little ride, but, as usual, that ended with the slab.  After Flagstaff I pushed on east through Winslow (didn't see the Eagles mural) heading for Holbrook.  My intent was to cut south through the Arizona high country.  I changed my mind when I saw a bunch of rain showers off in that direction.  I think the Arizona mountains around Payson and Show Low are great, and love to visit them, but I wasn't in the mood for any Arizona mountain rains.  I'd seen enough of them in 2006 (NA Motorcycle Ride - Day 3) thank you.  So I contined to push east toward New Mexico.

I stopped in Williams, AZ for some pie and coffee at a nice little place (Pine Country Restaurant)  The pie was to die for...and the coffee great, but then, most places serve good coffee now, don't they?  (A tip of the hat probably has to go to Starbucks I think.)  The pie was excellent but the service stunk so I voted with my wallet (i.e., as in tip).  I only mention it because I thought it an interesting town worthy of a weekend visit or more if you're a hunter.  I'm sure there must be some skiing around (but not for me...If God wanted Texans to ski BS would be white).  Cute little stores and tourist shops, etc.  Enough to make everyone happy I would think.

Pulled into Gallup with a rain storm threatening.  Dodged it and got Betsy properly covered before it hit.

Day 9 - Las Vegas to Overton, NV to Henderson, NV

149 Miles

No hurries this morning.  Actually slept in a little leaving the hotel about 10:00am.  That was the end of the good news.
Left Vegas on I-15 heading toward Hurricane, UT and my buddy Bobby J.  In case you've been following the news of the flash floods out here, the most serious occurred on I-15 near the Moapa River Indian Reservation wiping out a bridge on that very major thoroughfare.  But... the authorities had figured out a way.  All north bound traffic was diverted near Crystal, NV through the  Nevada Valley of Fire State Park joining to SR167 then connecting back to I-15 through the Moapa valley.  That turned out to be the least of the problems.

Stopping in Overton to call Bobby J., I reached him on his cell phone as he was pulling out heading north.  I had not noticed he'd left me a message shortly before I called so he repeated his message to me that his mother had fallen and broken her hip so he was headed north.  Bummer, obviously...but more for his mother (92-years-old).  Haven't heard the results yet but I did tell him my mother had gone through this about 9 months ago and came through the surgery with a new hip and is doing very well.  Thoughts and prayers are with Bobby J. and family.

Moving on, I returned through the State Park and decided on the way I would head home through Boulder to see the Hoover Dam.  I've never been through there but one must improvise, adapt, and overcome.  Made reservations at a Hotel Casino in Henderson, NV for the night.  Even though it's not Las Vegas I still can't relate what happened there, other than I played 21 for three hours losing $15.  Not bad by my lights.

Day 8 - Reno to Las Vegas

458 Miles

Up early as usual and on the road by 7:00am.  Temperature was in the low fifties which translated to "pretty cool"  at 85 mph.  Not to matter though.  I gotta tell you there are few mornings better than "flying" along the desert floor singing along with Chuck Berry on 'Johnny B. Good" at the top of your voice.  I call it Music By Lane from a bit by comedian Gallagher.  He posited that the music should match the speed being traveled; Lawrence Welk is okay for the on-ramp to the freeway, but if you're in the left hand lane you better be J. Giles'ing it.

About 135 miles out of Reno on U.S. 95 ('B' above) there is a very large and inviting reservoir called Walker Lake.  It's just north of Hawthorne, NV.  If I lived in Reno I'd have to consider getting myself another boat.  One hundred and thirty-five miles is nothing considering I used to regularly haul a bass boat over 300 miles from Salt Lake City to Lake Powell in southern Utah.  Reno is the closest semi-large city, with Bishop, CA about 119 miles away over a steep mountain pass and Las Vegas over 300 miles away.  I have to believe, even though there is a large military presence in the area with a large Army depot and the Navy Top Gun School, this lake just can't get that much pressure.

In any event, no real picture opportunities as I rode through the later 99° desert afternoon to ensconce myself in the Downtown Grand Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas about 5:00pm.  Nothing much happened but I'm told I can't tell you that anyway.

 A semi-treat on the trip down was:

And I've been from Tucson to Tucumcari
Tehachapi to Tonopah
Driven every kind of rig that's ever been made
Driven the backroads so I wouldn't get weighed
And if you give me weed, whites and wine
And you show me a sign
And I'll be willin' to be movin'
        Little Feat "Willin'" 1971

Little known fact: The slide part on the record was played by the ubiquitous Ry Cooder because George Lowell had hurt his hand.

And if you don't know who Ry Cooder is you obviously are not very "deep" into guitar players.  According to Rolling Stone's 2003 listing of the 100 Greatest Guitar Players, Ry was #8.

Day 7 - Reno, NV

Wednesday, September 10th

0 "Betsy" miles

Had a great dinner with Joe and Mary last night and we sat around and talked the "old days."  We've certainly had them.  I have known these two since 1975.

Mary and Joe took me on a tour of Lake Tahoe and Virginia City, NV.  The following are some pics from that little jaunt through the countryside.

 I like this shot.

 

Virginia City.
Samuel Clemons began using his famous pen-name Mark Twain while working as a reporter here in 1863.

Check out those rain (snow melt?) drain pipes!

Toward the entry.  To the left the pass back to Reno is called Geiger Grade Road.

My very good friends and tour guides, Joe and Mary W.