Tuesday, April 15 - Wednesday, April 16
Artesia, New Mexico to Gilbert, Arizona
Tuesday, April 15 - Artesia to Deming, New Mexico
Happy Tax Day Everyone...Give until it hurts!!!!
In spite of the cold temperatures (around 35 degrees) and slight wind, we got a fairly early start from Artesia after loading Taz and the trailer, putting on layers of clothes, and saying goodbye to the Terpenings. We weren't sure how we would handle the cold, but we felt we were much better prepared for the conditions than we were a couple of weeks ago when we took our practice run to Hobbs.
The first part of the ride was one we've made countless times in cars and our other two motorcycles, so this was a trip that was new only to Taz as we headed west out of Artesia to the village of Hope and on out U.S. 82 toward Cloudcroft, Alamogordo. Las Cruces, and Deming
The land west of Artesia has a special beauty that maybe only New Mexicans and West Texas folks can appreciate. It's rugged and sandy, but never as "flat" as one would think.
When we got to Elk, we stopped to take some pictures of the old Elk Campground, a church camp that was sponsored by First Baptist Church of Artesia when we were growing up. Daddy was one of the cooks each year and, after his death in 1966, the cookhouse was named after him.
When I first started attending the camp meeting as a young boy, the cookhouse was just a covered pit and the services were held in the little building that has served at various times as a chapel, post office, and community building. Later, a full scale kitchen was built, along with a wooden tabernacle.
From Elk, we rode up through Mayhill and Cloudcroft, in the Sacramento Mountains. We thought we might stop for breakfast in Cloudcroft, but decided to make that just a potty break and then go on to Alamogordo for a meal.
A few miles down the mountainside from Cloudcroft is an old tunnel that has stood as long as I can remember. There used to be a turnout with a drinking fountain where weary travelers could stop to admire the view and get a drink of cold mountain water, but there was road construction going on, so we just waited on one side of the tunnel for traffic to clear and then followed the parade of cars and trucks on down the mountainside.
When we had cleared the tunnel and gone about a half mile farther down the road, we began seeing spectacular views of White Sands National Monument in the distance.
We planned to stop in Alamogordo for lunch, but didn't want to drive through the downtown area and hit all the stop lights along the way. Figuring that there would be plenty of eating places between the end of the loop and Holloman Air Force Base, we took the loop and found...NOTHING, Nothing, that is, except for a place to refuel and rest a few minutes before hitting the road again. So much for my figuring...
So, we continued our journey west on U.S. 70, passing White Sands and the White Sands Missile Range that sits at the foot of the Organ Mountains between Alamogordo and Las Cruces.
By the time we reached Las Cruces, we knew we were going to stop and eat somewhere. We didn't know what we were hungry for, but we were hungry and couldn't go farther without something. We began searching at each exit along I-25 for restaurant signs and finally found several places at one of the exits. We narrowed our choices down to either a Furr's Cafeteria on the right side of the highway, or a Golden Corral on the left side. Barbara said she didn't care which, so I chose the Golden Corral, since we had eaten at Furr's while in Hobbs not too long ago.
We wheeled Taz into the parking lot, got our helmets off and secured on the trailer, and went inside. Since we'd been on Taz for well over an hour, it was time to visit the Necessary Room. When I had finished doing what I needed to do, I stepped outside and saw a woman who looked very familiar entering the ladies room. When I realized who the lady looked like, I started scouting around the restaurant until I spotted who I was looking for. It seems that a friend from my first day at college in 1962, Bob Stevens, had stopped at the same restaurant as he, his wife Teresa, and one of their granddaughters were traveling from Albuquerque to El Paso. Some would say it was just a coincidence, but we chose to believe we were the recipients of a God Wink on this day. How else could it be explained.
We had only a couple of minutes to speak with Bob and Teresa as they were on a tight schedule, but you can bet your last dollar that those couple of minutes will be embedded in our collective memories as long as we have access to them!
When we had finished our meal and gone outside to get on Taz, I called our good friend Max Johnson to tell him about our encounter with Bob and Teresa. When Max answered the phone I said, "Max, you aren't going to believe what just happened!" To which he replied, "I bet I will...Bob just called me and told me he'd seen you guys at the restaurant." Max said he felt that God knew that some friends who hadn't seen each other in a long time just need to get together, and this was how He worked it out.
With that bit of excitement over, we got back on Taz, negotiated our way back onto I-25, then I-10, and headed west, enjoying the special beauty of the Southwestern New Mexico desert.
We rode to Deming where we had a reservation at the Best Western. We stopped first to refuel, then rode down the street to get our afternoon Sonic drink, and then made our way to the motel to check in and get comfortable for the evening.
We had another experience of showing off Taz to some folks at the motel. A couple traveling from Florida to Oregon was staying there and wanted to know all about how Taz handled. They had ridden previously and were thinking of getting a new bike...wonder if Can Am will give us money or an upgrade for all the advertising we're doing for them?
Later, we rode back downtown to get some food from Subway and then returned to the motel to eat supper and wind down from the day's journey.
Wednesday, April 16 - Deming, New Mexico to Gilbert, Arizona
Today was a travel day, plain and simple, our goal being to get from Point A to Point B as quickly and safely as possible. So, as soon as we had Taz and the trailer loaded and we got the morning selfie out of the way, we headed west on I-10.
However, we did break out the cameras for some spectacular shots of the southern Arizona desert as we rode through it, but the trip was, thankfully, without incident (except the part when we stopped for fuel and something cold to drink about 90 miles from Gilbert and I couldn't find the key to Taz when we got ready to leave...but, I finally found it hiding in my back pocket and we were able to continue without further heart attacks.)
We made it safely to Gilbert, a suburb of Phoenix, and spent the evening with Kelly's folks, David and Jan Jividen. David and Jan have always been fun and genial hosts, and tonight was more of the same as they provided us with a wonderful meal, showed off their new house, and drove us around the area where they now live.
The evening was good family time spent catching up on each other's lives and sharing memories of our shared kids and grandkids.
"In everyone's life, at some time, our inner fire goes out. It is then burst into flame by an encounter with another human being. We should all be thankful for those people who rekindle the inner spirit." - Albert Schweitzer
From David and Jan's house in Gilbert, Arizona,
Jim/Dad/Gramps and Barbara/Mom/Grams/Gramsy
Tuesday, April 15 - Artesia to Deming, New Mexico
Happy Tax Day Everyone...Give until it hurts!!!!
In spite of the cold temperatures (around 35 degrees) and slight wind, we got a fairly early start from Artesia after loading Taz and the trailer, putting on layers of clothes, and saying goodbye to the Terpenings. We weren't sure how we would handle the cold, but we felt we were much better prepared for the conditions than we were a couple of weeks ago when we took our practice run to Hobbs.
The first part of the ride was one we've made countless times in cars and our other two motorcycles, so this was a trip that was new only to Taz as we headed west out of Artesia to the village of Hope and on out U.S. 82 toward Cloudcroft, Alamogordo. Las Cruces, and Deming
The land west of Artesia has a special beauty that maybe only New Mexicans and West Texas folks can appreciate. It's rugged and sandy, but never as "flat" as one would think.
When we got to Elk, we stopped to take some pictures of the old Elk Campground, a church camp that was sponsored by First Baptist Church of Artesia when we were growing up. Daddy was one of the cooks each year and, after his death in 1966, the cookhouse was named after him.
When I first started attending the camp meeting as a young boy, the cookhouse was just a covered pit and the services were held in the little building that has served at various times as a chapel, post office, and community building. Later, a full scale kitchen was built, along with a wooden tabernacle.
From Elk, we rode up through Mayhill and Cloudcroft, in the Sacramento Mountains. We thought we might stop for breakfast in Cloudcroft, but decided to make that just a potty break and then go on to Alamogordo for a meal.
A few miles down the mountainside from Cloudcroft is an old tunnel that has stood as long as I can remember. There used to be a turnout with a drinking fountain where weary travelers could stop to admire the view and get a drink of cold mountain water, but there was road construction going on, so we just waited on one side of the tunnel for traffic to clear and then followed the parade of cars and trucks on down the mountainside.
We planned to stop in Alamogordo for lunch, but didn't want to drive through the downtown area and hit all the stop lights along the way. Figuring that there would be plenty of eating places between the end of the loop and Holloman Air Force Base, we took the loop and found...NOTHING, Nothing, that is, except for a place to refuel and rest a few minutes before hitting the road again. So much for my figuring...
So, we continued our journey west on U.S. 70, passing White Sands and the White Sands Missile Range that sits at the foot of the Organ Mountains between Alamogordo and Las Cruces.
By the time we reached Las Cruces, we knew we were going to stop and eat somewhere. We didn't know what we were hungry for, but we were hungry and couldn't go farther without something. We began searching at each exit along I-25 for restaurant signs and finally found several places at one of the exits. We narrowed our choices down to either a Furr's Cafeteria on the right side of the highway, or a Golden Corral on the left side. Barbara said she didn't care which, so I chose the Golden Corral, since we had eaten at Furr's while in Hobbs not too long ago.
We wheeled Taz into the parking lot, got our helmets off and secured on the trailer, and went inside. Since we'd been on Taz for well over an hour, it was time to visit the Necessary Room. When I had finished doing what I needed to do, I stepped outside and saw a woman who looked very familiar entering the ladies room. When I realized who the lady looked like, I started scouting around the restaurant until I spotted who I was looking for. It seems that a friend from my first day at college in 1962, Bob Stevens, had stopped at the same restaurant as he, his wife Teresa, and one of their granddaughters were traveling from Albuquerque to El Paso. Some would say it was just a coincidence, but we chose to believe we were the recipients of a God Wink on this day. How else could it be explained.
We had only a couple of minutes to speak with Bob and Teresa as they were on a tight schedule, but you can bet your last dollar that those couple of minutes will be embedded in our collective memories as long as we have access to them!
When we had finished our meal and gone outside to get on Taz, I called our good friend Max Johnson to tell him about our encounter with Bob and Teresa. When Max answered the phone I said, "Max, you aren't going to believe what just happened!" To which he replied, "I bet I will...Bob just called me and told me he'd seen you guys at the restaurant." Max said he felt that God knew that some friends who hadn't seen each other in a long time just need to get together, and this was how He worked it out.
With that bit of excitement over, we got back on Taz, negotiated our way back onto I-25, then I-10, and headed west, enjoying the special beauty of the Southwestern New Mexico desert.
We rode to Deming where we had a reservation at the Best Western. We stopped first to refuel, then rode down the street to get our afternoon Sonic drink, and then made our way to the motel to check in and get comfortable for the evening.
We had another experience of showing off Taz to some folks at the motel. A couple traveling from Florida to Oregon was staying there and wanted to know all about how Taz handled. They had ridden previously and were thinking of getting a new bike...wonder if Can Am will give us money or an upgrade for all the advertising we're doing for them?
Later, we rode back downtown to get some food from Subway and then returned to the motel to eat supper and wind down from the day's journey.
+++++++
Today was a travel day, plain and simple, our goal being to get from Point A to Point B as quickly and safely as possible. So, as soon as we had Taz and the trailer loaded and we got the morning selfie out of the way, we headed west on I-10.
However, we did break out the cameras for some spectacular shots of the southern Arizona desert as we rode through it, but the trip was, thankfully, without incident (except the part when we stopped for fuel and something cold to drink about 90 miles from Gilbert and I couldn't find the key to Taz when we got ready to leave...but, I finally found it hiding in my back pocket and we were able to continue without further heart attacks.)
We made it safely to Gilbert, a suburb of Phoenix, and spent the evening with Kelly's folks, David and Jan Jividen. David and Jan have always been fun and genial hosts, and tonight was more of the same as they provided us with a wonderful meal, showed off their new house, and drove us around the area where they now live.
The evening was good family time spent catching up on each other's lives and sharing memories of our shared kids and grandkids.
"In everyone's life, at some time, our inner fire goes out. It is then burst into flame by an encounter with another human being. We should all be thankful for those people who rekindle the inner spirit." - Albert Schweitzer
From David and Jan's house in Gilbert, Arizona,
Jim/Dad/Gramps and Barbara/Mom/Grams/Gramsy
