After the chain adjustment on Diane’s bike (see the ‘High Speed Wobble’ post for details) we were on our way to Santa Fe. We were leery of the afternoon since that’s when the thunderstorms start to form. Our route was very tentative with an intermediary destination of Mountainair, NM – at which point we would decided to either take the scenic route through the mountains if the weather was cooperating or head straight for Santa Fe.
By the time we made it to Mountainair the western skies were an ominous black-gray. We decided to forgo the scenic route since rain in mountains won’t allow much appreciation of anything ‘scenic’ since one’s attention is completely focused on the road and riding. We had scoped out a campground in Santa Fe earlier in the day and called from Willard to make a reservation so we could take our time getting there.
We were doing OK weather wise until about 30 miles south of Santa Fe when the skies opened up. Not fun. By the time we arrived at the campground it had just stopped raining and we were both exhausted. The excitement wasn’t over though since the campground was on a hill side with narrow dirt roads and a sloped driveway up to the camping site! WTF? Oh what fun riding both bikes up that muddy road and slope.
Since we didn’t have a chance to stop by a grocery store we fixed one of the freeze dried camping meals. Not too bad. Scrounged some beers off our friendly neighbor who stopped by for a chat in the evening.
Waking early, I look outside and what do I see – Black skies. Ah hell, I’m going to make some coffee. As soon as I started the gas stove it started raining hard, with lightning :-(. Turn off burner and go back into tent, wait for 30 minutes and try again. Camping in the rain is not fun. We had to pack up the tent wet and were just glad to get out of there … under blue skies… for now…
Here’s the route.
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- Willard, NM
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- Willard, NM
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- Willard, NM
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- Willard, NM
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- Willard, NM
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- Campground in Santa Fe
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- Campground in Santa Fe
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- Campground in Santa Fe
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- Campground in Santa Fe
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- Campground in Santa Fe
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- Campground in Santa Fe
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- Adjusting the chain on the F650GS outside of Lowe’s
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- Adjusting the chain on the F650GS outside of Lowe’s
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- Adjusting the chain on the F650GS outside of Lowe’s
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- rest stop on U.S. 54 heading North
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- rest stop on U.S. 54 heading North
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- rest stop on U.S. 54 heading North
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- rest stop on U.S. 54 heading North
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- rest stop on U.S. 54 heading North
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- rest stop on U.S. 54 heading North
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- rest stop on U.S. 54 heading North
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- rest stop on U.S. 54 heading North
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- rest stop on U.S. 54 heading North
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- rest stop on U.S. 54 heading North
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- rest stop on U.S. 54 heading North
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- On U.S. 54, Eastern New Mexico
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- On U.S. 54, Eastern New Mexico
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- On U.S. 54, Eastern New Mexico
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- Old gas station/store in Willard, NM – Diane being creative with the camera 🙂
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- Old gas station/store in Willard, NM – Diane being creative with the camera 🙂
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- Old gas station/store in Willard, NM – Diane being creative with the camera 🙂
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- Old gas station/store in Willard, NM – Diane being creative with the camera 🙂
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- Old gas station/store in Willard, NM – Diane being creative with the camera 🙂
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- Old gas station/store in Willard, NM – Diane being creative with the camera 🙂
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- Old gas station/store in Willard, NM – Diane being creative with the camera 🙂
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- Old gas station/store in Willard, NM – Diane being creative with the camera 🙂
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- Old gas station/store in Willard, NM – Diane being creative with the camera 🙂
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- Old gas station/store in Willard, NM – Diane being creative with the camera 🙂
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- Old gas station/store in Willard, NM – Diane being creative with the camera 🙂
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- Old gas station/store in Willard, NM – Diane being creative with the camera 🙂
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- Old gas station/store in Willard, NM – Diane being creative with the camera 🙂
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- Old gas station/store in Willard, NM – Diane being creative with the camera 🙂
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- Yup, we rode into that – 20 miles outside of Santa Fe, NM
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- Yup, we rode into that – 20 miles outside of Santa Fe, NM
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- campground in Santa Fe
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- campground in Santa Fe
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- campground in Santa Fe
Hi Oliver, rumor has it you might actually pass by parts of Canada on this summer journey…any truth to that?
…Scottd
Hi Scott,
Why actually ‘yes’. The current plan is to cross into Canada from Glacier National Park but our plans are pretty fluid. Too early to tell at this point.
O.
What’s with all the rain? 🙁 You need to program the weather channel into your GPS. Hope you’ll hit some dry pockets in the days ahead.
The weather up until yesterday has been complete crap. No rain the last two days. Currently in Moab, UT :-). There are GPS units from Gramin that can receive XM satellite weather info with rain maps etc., may have to look into one of those ;-).
O.