Day 13: Homeward Bound

It was hard to leave Wichita Falls. I would have liked to stay another day or two, but that meant riding like crazy, mostly by interstates, to get home on time. That wasn't my idea of fun.

It turns out leaving Tuesday morning wasn't much fun either. I was anticipating a 540 mile ride from Wichita Falls to Taos. Considering that I was gaining an hour of daylight and the roads are long and flat, that didn't seem like an issue. It was pretty cool, but humid, as well. As I rode to Amarillo I noticed that the temperature rose quickly to 75F then stayed there - but I was getting colder. The landscape was becoming more arid, and I didn't notice any humidity, and I'm sure that played a role. Otherwise the roads and landscape aren't worth writing home about.

In a little town with a forgotten name, south of Amarillo, I stopped for brunch. The only café I could find was a little hole in the wall. Smokey and full of redneck locals, it had the air of a no-frills kitchen. I had the biscuits and gravy, which were quite good. With coffee, extra sausage in the gravey, and a small tip, it was less then $5. Cool beans.


Texans are a religious lot. This is the biggest cross I've ever seen .. Inspired devotion or conspicuous dogma?

Shortly after Amarillo I found the Cadillac Ranch. Someone, way back in the Route 66 days, had buried ten Cadillacs in a field, a certain distance outside the city limits of Amarillo. Since then the city limits have expanded, and each time he had the Cadillacs dug up and moved. The cars are stuck into the ground, in a row, all at the same angle. They have since been the target of countless graffiti... Uh... Artists, including a Norwegian from Mo i Rana on 5/22/04. Small world. While there I chatted with a Harley rider from Virginia Beach.

From there I rode west on interstate 40 into New Mexico. I like how these states have visitor centers on the borders, where you can get free maps, water, restrooms, etc. By now the temps were about 90F and dismounted next to a rider on a Kawasaki klr650 (a street-legal dirt-bike). He said he was going to the Moab desert in Utah. I was going to Colorado; tonight to Taos, Wednesday Rocky Mountain National Park in the north-central section, then down to Durango in the south-east on Thursday, and it wasn't until Friday I would enter Utah. Saturday I would ride to Oregon, and Sunday I'd be home.

After leaving the rest-stop I ventured further west on the interstate before riding north towards Ute Lake. Since I was in the middle of nowhere (now listening to a murder-mystery in Yosemite) there was nothing else around me, and nature abhors a vacuum, I got sucked into doing 90mph. Shortly thereafter I crossed I-25 and was once again in the mountains - yippee! Trees too. I really missed trees, even if these 50-foot shrubs are sort of short. The road (us-64) going through the mountains is nice too, with sweepers and hairpins and smooth pavement. Unfortunately New Mexico also posts the statutory limit five mph higher than the recommended speed, which means having fun will risk a significant fine.

Eagles Nest is a small resort town at 8000 feet, then comes Taos. Entering Taos I noticed that there are smells in the air once again. The desert has no smell, but the ponderosa and juniper pines, as wells other vegetation, emits a pleasant odor. I missed those smells. Taos has many interesting buildings, made from clay, and they all appear to have galleries in them. The town has what Ron would call 'charm'. Jennifer was here a couple years ago, the week after our first date (I was skiing in northern Minnesota) so I called her up. It was only 4:30 and too early to quit so I continued on.

After leaving Taos I was once again in the sagebrush desert. Doodling along, I crossed a bridge, and lo and behold, I was crossing a huge gorge! I stopped and got photos and learned it was the Rio Grande... The river that runs from Colorado to the Gulf of Mexico, defining part of the Texas/Mexico border. At this point I was starting to get tired, and a rest-area being the only human civilization around, I stopped there to see if there was any campground information. No luck, all I found was a box with two buttons, and a sign asking "Do you approve of this rest area: Yes No". Since there was no campground info I hit NO and kept riding.

Somewhere around Questo I got really tired and found signs to a ranger's station. I went there, found out they were closed, and couldn't figure out from the map where the campgrounds where (I told you I was tired!). Continuing north on NM-522 I passed some weird clay/wood hybrid homes which I though were museums or something until I realized they had no advertising on them, so they must have been homes. Too bad I was too tired to get a photo.

Continuing north, hoping to find a campsite soon, I entered Colorado. Shortly thereafter I rode into Antonito and located the visitor's center, which had a map of the area and showed a campsite about 15 miles to the west. I'm not picky at this point and go there. What I found was a nice little RV/Tent campsite for $16, on grass, under trees, and the owner was real friendly. He invited me to join the other campers at sunset, but as I was extremely laggardly at this point (having ridden about 650 miles) I told him I'd consider it. I was so tired, it was a chore to do anything. It was the kind of fatigue you get when you're fighting a virus. Too tired to cook soup, I warmed an MRE (asian teriyaki chicken) and realized I hadn't eaten since 10am that morning, but wasn't hungry. I was miserable. By 8pm I was my sleeping bag, exhausted but not sleepy, and forced myself to drink a quart of water (with Gookinaid) in case I was merely dehydrated. My face was quite hot, I was not sniffling, coughing, nor naseous. I was either extremely exhausted or sick.

I started going over my options: stay here, ride home, go back to Texas. I was 1500 miles from home, three days, by the shortest route. I didn't want to ride 650 miles back to Texas - then I might as well ride 650 towards home. I didn't want to stay here: alone and sick is no fun. I wish I had stayed in Wichita Falls one more day. I decided to sleep on it, and see how things look in the morning.