Texas to Tombstone
#12
04-12-2014, 12:03 AM
Cruiser
#13
04-14-2014, 11:11 AM
Tuesday Morning...
We get up kinda early, and start setting things out to get ready to pack. I get ready early, and start planning my attack on the luggage. We have stayed two nights in one spot and it amazes me how "spread out" your stuff can get in that short time frame.. Figuring out how I packed all of this first time and trying to do the exact same thing again never works. Its always like starting the trip all over again, with additional purchases added in!
We get packed, and figure we will eat on the Interstate. Right now lets just get on the road. We take a quick picture by the city limits sign at Tombstone, then head up to Benson and get on I-10 to head East towards Las Cruces.
City limits picture..
We turned off of I-10 early to head down to Douglas on the way to Tombstone, but today we would get to see the country we didnt cover already. As the Interstate is in west Texas, its actually really pretty running East from Benson towards Willcox and Lordsburg. Traffic wasnt bad at all, and the road is in great shape.
I apologize for not having many pictures on this leg of the trip. Theres just not a whole lot we thought was worthy of a shot. This is another destination day for us and Ruidoso is in our sights..
Headed east, a green sign I-10 says "Texas Canyon". The "canyon" is littered with these rocks that look like they could all crumble at any second down onto the Interstate.. Pretty freaking cool, knowing that they just eroded this way, even though it looks like they were strategically placed there like the gods played a game of "Genga" with em..
We know that we'll need fuel in Las Cruces, and the mountains arent far away. We ran a pretty long stretch, and its time for a snack and a stretch. I go in the store and find this bottle of NOS energy. It "looked" cool and tasted awful. I choked down a couple of swallows then tried to give it away. Apparently everyone else knew it was awful too...
Mountains within reach..
Heading out of Las Cruces to Alamogordo, and head towards Ruidoso through the White Sands Missile Range. I wish we had a pic of it, but its really just an open spot surrounded by pretty mountains. Kaitlyn asks me as we head down the steep grade into the range.."how far is it to the other side over there". I answer with an educated guess, "A long ways!"
You can see the mountains that you are headed towards, but it takes a loooong time to get to em!! The ride is peaceful though, and in a couple days we wont have any mountains to look at so we just take it all in. We make another fuel stop in Alamogordo, and then jag our way up to Ruidoso. The scenery kinda sneaks up on you headed north. One minute you are in the New Mexico desert, and the next minute you are in some higher elevation and green pine trees. It was awesome, and at this point you know that Ruidoso is right up the road. The bike is running better, and we are getting a little cooler.
After a long day in the saddle, I always find it funny how you forget your butt hurts when you see curves in the road. The ride from Tularosa to Ruidoso is very pretty and makes the perfect ending to a pleasurable day on the bike. We get to the hotel i no time, and park out front. The people driving up in their Denali's and Escalade's and ski pants on didnt seem to bothered by us. We were the only bikes on the property. But hey, they had "compact car" parking in the parking garage so we had great spots to park the bikes.
We had to wait for our rooms to be ready so we killed a little time in the lobby..
It was about 360 miles to Inn of the Mountain Gods, and we are all ready for a good meal. This buffet at the this place is RIDICULOUS! Whatever you like, they got it. It was awesome. No doubt the best food I've ever eaten at a hotel or casino. Even the dude cutting prime rib on the chopping block asked if I had a Harley. I guess my shirt gave it away. Very pleasurable dining both meals we had there.
The casino was about what I expected, lots of slot machines with the smooth mouths and their "frequent gambler" cards on their key chains. Hey, somebody has to pay the light bill right?? I actually won a couple hundred bucks playing 3 card poker at a table, and sat there playing for about 3 hours. To me, just breaking even at a table is considered a "WIN", so anything above that is lots of fun. No drinking in the casino though. Somehow gambling without a beer in hand seemed kinda weird. It had a little different atmosphere than Vegas.
Wednesday morning, we made the short trip into town to eat lunch and the girls wanted to shop a little. The Lincoln County Grill was recommended by a gentleman at the hotel bar the night before, and it was VERY good eating! If you are in the area go there and eat. You wont be disappointed.
After lunch, Kaitlyn and I made the walk up and down the street in typical fashion. She walked in the stores and shopped while I people watched. It was obvious this town attracts a VERY diverse crowd of people. Very nice shops and stores, and a lots more people than I would have guessed (Because of it being Spring Break??).. The Starbucks was selling more 9 dollar coffees than I could count and the line didn't seem to end anytime soon!
Overall the town was great and we would definitely like to go back sometime and see some more of it. For this trip, relaxing at the hotel and enjoying its amenities was our goal.
My afternoon on the porch looked like this. The view is worth the trip.
That night we did the buffet again, and it was like eating at somewhere totally new, since you are at an international food buffet. Just pick what you want!! We hit up the casino once again, and Kaitlyn learned what it takes to be a Slot Machine King. The key is to walk away after you hit a jackpot. She didn't do that. Here's something like how it went.. (In chronological order)
25 cents---> 167 dollars-----> 25 cents-----> 0 cents-----> Game Over
And that's that!!
We hit the sack early, and know tomorrow is the worst day of the trip, if there is one... The ride towards home. The plains of West Texas will once again see our smiling faces
Tomorrow...Aliens and Tumbleweeds.
We get up kinda early, and start setting things out to get ready to pack. I get ready early, and start planning my attack on the luggage. We have stayed two nights in one spot and it amazes me how "spread out" your stuff can get in that short time frame.. Figuring out how I packed all of this first time and trying to do the exact same thing again never works. Its always like starting the trip all over again, with additional purchases added in!
We get packed, and figure we will eat on the Interstate. Right now lets just get on the road. We take a quick picture by the city limits sign at Tombstone, then head up to Benson and get on I-10 to head East towards Las Cruces.
City limits picture..
We turned off of I-10 early to head down to Douglas on the way to Tombstone, but today we would get to see the country we didnt cover already. As the Interstate is in west Texas, its actually really pretty running East from Benson towards Willcox and Lordsburg. Traffic wasnt bad at all, and the road is in great shape.
I apologize for not having many pictures on this leg of the trip. Theres just not a whole lot we thought was worthy of a shot. This is another destination day for us and Ruidoso is in our sights..
Headed east, a green sign I-10 says "Texas Canyon". The "canyon" is littered with these rocks that look like they could all crumble at any second down onto the Interstate.. Pretty freaking cool, knowing that they just eroded this way, even though it looks like they were strategically placed there like the gods played a game of "Genga" with em..
We know that we'll need fuel in Las Cruces, and the mountains arent far away. We ran a pretty long stretch, and its time for a snack and a stretch. I go in the store and find this bottle of NOS energy. It "looked" cool and tasted awful. I choked down a couple of swallows then tried to give it away. Apparently everyone else knew it was awful too...
Mountains within reach..
Heading out of Las Cruces to Alamogordo, and head towards Ruidoso through the White Sands Missile Range. I wish we had a pic of it, but its really just an open spot surrounded by pretty mountains. Kaitlyn asks me as we head down the steep grade into the range.."how far is it to the other side over there". I answer with an educated guess, "A long ways!"
You can see the mountains that you are headed towards, but it takes a loooong time to get to em!! The ride is peaceful though, and in a couple days we wont have any mountains to look at so we just take it all in. We make another fuel stop in Alamogordo, and then jag our way up to Ruidoso. The scenery kinda sneaks up on you headed north. One minute you are in the New Mexico desert, and the next minute you are in some higher elevation and green pine trees. It was awesome, and at this point you know that Ruidoso is right up the road. The bike is running better, and we are getting a little cooler.
After a long day in the saddle, I always find it funny how you forget your butt hurts when you see curves in the road. The ride from Tularosa to Ruidoso is very pretty and makes the perfect ending to a pleasurable day on the bike. We get to the hotel i no time, and park out front. The people driving up in their Denali's and Escalade's and ski pants on didnt seem to bothered by us. We were the only bikes on the property. But hey, they had "compact car" parking in the parking garage so we had great spots to park the bikes.
We had to wait for our rooms to be ready so we killed a little time in the lobby..
It was about 360 miles to Inn of the Mountain Gods, and we are all ready for a good meal. This buffet at the this place is RIDICULOUS! Whatever you like, they got it. It was awesome. No doubt the best food I've ever eaten at a hotel or casino. Even the dude cutting prime rib on the chopping block asked if I had a Harley. I guess my shirt gave it away. Very pleasurable dining both meals we had there.
The casino was about what I expected, lots of slot machines with the smooth mouths and their "frequent gambler" cards on their key chains. Hey, somebody has to pay the light bill right?? I actually won a couple hundred bucks playing 3 card poker at a table, and sat there playing for about 3 hours. To me, just breaking even at a table is considered a "WIN", so anything above that is lots of fun. No drinking in the casino though. Somehow gambling without a beer in hand seemed kinda weird. It had a little different atmosphere than Vegas.
Wednesday morning, we made the short trip into town to eat lunch and the girls wanted to shop a little. The Lincoln County Grill was recommended by a gentleman at the hotel bar the night before, and it was VERY good eating! If you are in the area go there and eat. You wont be disappointed.
After lunch, Kaitlyn and I made the walk up and down the street in typical fashion. She walked in the stores and shopped while I people watched. It was obvious this town attracts a VERY diverse crowd of people. Very nice shops and stores, and a lots more people than I would have guessed (Because of it being Spring Break??).. The Starbucks was selling more 9 dollar coffees than I could count and the line didn't seem to end anytime soon!
Overall the town was great and we would definitely like to go back sometime and see some more of it. For this trip, relaxing at the hotel and enjoying its amenities was our goal.
My afternoon on the porch looked like this. The view is worth the trip.
That night we did the buffet again, and it was like eating at somewhere totally new, since you are at an international food buffet. Just pick what you want!! We hit up the casino once again, and Kaitlyn learned what it takes to be a Slot Machine King. The key is to walk away after you hit a jackpot. She didn't do that. Here's something like how it went.. (In chronological order)
25 cents---> 167 dollars-----> 25 cents-----> 0 cents-----> Game Over
And that's that!!
We hit the sack early, and know tomorrow is the worst day of the trip, if there is one... The ride towards home. The plains of West Texas will once again see our smiling faces
Tomorrow...Aliens and Tumbleweeds.
Last edited by jory434; 04-30-2014 at 12:01 PM.
#14
04-21-2014, 09:03 AM
The ride home..TWICE..
Thursday morning we knew what we had to expect. A brief ride through the mountains that surrounded Ruidoso, followed up by a long stretch of New Mexican and Texas plains on our route to San Angelo. Once again, we are fitted with the task of packing the bikes, getting the luggage re-attached, packing two days of relaxation into a Harley saddlebag, and prepping ourselves for a day in the saddle.
We are not looking forward to the ride home, and its painfully obvious lol. We are all kinda quiet down in the parking garage while we get ready to leave. Probably kinda grumpy too. Instead of talking about the next destination and where we are gonna "get" to stop today, we are just going about our business, figuring out our breakfast stop, and warming up the bikes.
Dad fires his bike off and says.... "Jory, mine sounds like its ticking", to which I reply "nah, hell mine is too, they both sound like wore out sewing machines in this parking garage". I know what I'm talking about right??? We ride the maze of concrete out of the parking garage, leave the stop sign, and head to the main highway. We are gonna make this first little stretch to Roswell, then on to Brownfield Texas, then turn South and head towards San Angelo. Once we get past Roswell, the idea of a vacation will be over for us... The winds are supposed to blow 40 miles an hour today from the southwest, so my Street Glide will be leaned into it with the cruise set all the way home..
We stop at the Harley/Metric dealer to see if we can find a cool T shirt with an Alien on it somewhere, and we do...but nothing any of us can't live without. That being said, the dealer in Roswell was super nice and seemed to have a lot of inventory for such a small building. I drank a cup of coffee and stretched my legs. We leave out of there, and head down a busy street to a Restaraunt in a hotel parking lot that looks like an old Pizza Hut..but now it is a Mexican Food joint. I wish I could remember the name of it cause it was GREAT and the service was great too.. We ate a great meal and saddle up to head West again...
We head out of Roswell headed east and..... have you ever hit a set of railroad tracks that made you wanna pull over and write a letter to the state about that location? I saw em coming and slowed down to nearly 5 mph to not KNOCK my teeth loose, and in my mirror I see my dad hit em at about 20 mph...and in my mind I imagined all the cuss words he was saying about New Mexico roads immediately after he fell back in the seat. Just writing this right now makes me smile. That is so freaking aggravating!!!
There are lots of pronghorn antelope between Roswell and the state line. I wish I had a picture of them, but you'll just have to take my word for it. We make the next planned stop the state line for a picture of the Texas sign. Even though we have had a blast for the last few days, we are always happy to be back in our home state. Even though we are still a long ways from home, it does something to your mentality. In all reality, that state line sign is the last worthy stop of the trip where pictures are concerned.
We get off the bikes, stretch our legs, and take a picture or two, talk about the railroad tracks in Roswell, and mount up ready to hit the road to Brownfield.
I leave the gravel with the Limited in my mirror, hit second gear and all of a sudden I hear what sounds like an automatic weapon behind me. At the same time dad's headlight drops, and he pulls off the road again. SH*T. Something is wrong with that bike.
1. Maybe its an exhaust gasket
2. Maybe the Boarzilla muffler fell off
3. Maybe we can fix it
On all guesses, I was wrong. I got my flash light and followed the compressed air to the fins on the left side of the front head...head gasket is hanging out and I can see it plain as day. Our day had changed instantly. Remember when dad told ME " "Jory, mine sounds like its ticking"......well she ticked enough for that ticking to finally turn into a blown head gasket... The heat swelled everything up for a while and she ran fine, but finally turned the gasket loose.
Now on a rescue mission with very limited cell phone service, and after no real help and a crappy attitude from the dealer in Big Spring that performed the original work, we decide to get the bike towed to Big Spring to the truck stop on I-20. Kaitlyn and I are gonna haul a** home, get the truck and trailer, and meet the folks back in Big Spring to get them and the bike back to San Angelo. And we thought today would be boring!!!!!! I leave mom and dad on the side of the road while they wait on a tow truck coming from Brownfield. It was a weird feeling leaving them, but we knew it was gonna be a long day already, and now we just need to get home so we can turn around and head back North to pick em up.. I tried to get them to take my bike and Kaitlyn and I would wait on the side of the road for the tow. They wouldn't go for that, so we climbed back on the bike and I banged gears knowing that it was a long trip home.
What and ugly pitiful site....
I will say this about the ride home, my girlfriend Kaitlyn, is a trooper. I set the cruise on 80, leaned the bike into the 40 mph wind, and made one fuel stop from the state line. If you have ever made the trip from Brownfield,Tx area to San Angelo, you know there isn't much to look at. Its boring. We have made our fair share of long days on the bike, but this was the longest it seemed. This last day had turned from a vacation into a mission, and there was no rest until it was done.
We pull in the driveway and never really got to enjoy that we made it home ... we were back on the road in the truck within 5 mins. 80 miles back North with a truck and trailer, pick up the folks, roll the bike on the trailer, and get home about 9:00 pm. The couch never felt so good!
Still, after the day that we had we couldn't help but talk about how GREAT our whole trip was. Apparently Kaitlyn and I missed a very entertaining tow truck driver. Mom still talks about the contortionist act she put on in the middle seat of the tow truck. We absolutely had a freaking blast, and the sights and things we did made this an awesome 6 days. If you have never seen the Southwest, by all means TRY to. The open roads and views of desert mountains are worth every mile getting there. Thanks for reading my posts, I'm not a very good "story teller" but I have enjoyed telling the story again. The Road Trips section is definitely my favorite of this forum, and I will try and post trips when I can.
RIDE SAFE!!!
Thursday morning we knew what we had to expect. A brief ride through the mountains that surrounded Ruidoso, followed up by a long stretch of New Mexican and Texas plains on our route to San Angelo. Once again, we are fitted with the task of packing the bikes, getting the luggage re-attached, packing two days of relaxation into a Harley saddlebag, and prepping ourselves for a day in the saddle.
We are not looking forward to the ride home, and its painfully obvious lol. We are all kinda quiet down in the parking garage while we get ready to leave. Probably kinda grumpy too. Instead of talking about the next destination and where we are gonna "get" to stop today, we are just going about our business, figuring out our breakfast stop, and warming up the bikes.
Dad fires his bike off and says.... "Jory, mine sounds like its ticking", to which I reply "nah, hell mine is too, they both sound like wore out sewing machines in this parking garage". I know what I'm talking about right??? We ride the maze of concrete out of the parking garage, leave the stop sign, and head to the main highway. We are gonna make this first little stretch to Roswell, then on to Brownfield Texas, then turn South and head towards San Angelo. Once we get past Roswell, the idea of a vacation will be over for us... The winds are supposed to blow 40 miles an hour today from the southwest, so my Street Glide will be leaned into it with the cruise set all the way home..
We stop at the Harley/Metric dealer to see if we can find a cool T shirt with an Alien on it somewhere, and we do...but nothing any of us can't live without. That being said, the dealer in Roswell was super nice and seemed to have a lot of inventory for such a small building. I drank a cup of coffee and stretched my legs. We leave out of there, and head down a busy street to a Restaraunt in a hotel parking lot that looks like an old Pizza Hut..but now it is a Mexican Food joint. I wish I could remember the name of it cause it was GREAT and the service was great too.. We ate a great meal and saddle up to head West again...
We head out of Roswell headed east and..... have you ever hit a set of railroad tracks that made you wanna pull over and write a letter to the state about that location? I saw em coming and slowed down to nearly 5 mph to not KNOCK my teeth loose, and in my mirror I see my dad hit em at about 20 mph...and in my mind I imagined all the cuss words he was saying about New Mexico roads immediately after he fell back in the seat. Just writing this right now makes me smile. That is so freaking aggravating!!!
There are lots of pronghorn antelope between Roswell and the state line. I wish I had a picture of them, but you'll just have to take my word for it. We make the next planned stop the state line for a picture of the Texas sign. Even though we have had a blast for the last few days, we are always happy to be back in our home state. Even though we are still a long ways from home, it does something to your mentality. In all reality, that state line sign is the last worthy stop of the trip where pictures are concerned.
We get off the bikes, stretch our legs, and take a picture or two, talk about the railroad tracks in Roswell, and mount up ready to hit the road to Brownfield.
I leave the gravel with the Limited in my mirror, hit second gear and all of a sudden I hear what sounds like an automatic weapon behind me. At the same time dad's headlight drops, and he pulls off the road again. SH*T. Something is wrong with that bike.
1. Maybe its an exhaust gasket
2. Maybe the Boarzilla muffler fell off
3. Maybe we can fix it
On all guesses, I was wrong. I got my flash light and followed the compressed air to the fins on the left side of the front head...head gasket is hanging out and I can see it plain as day. Our day had changed instantly. Remember when dad told ME " "Jory, mine sounds like its ticking"......well she ticked enough for that ticking to finally turn into a blown head gasket... The heat swelled everything up for a while and she ran fine, but finally turned the gasket loose.
Now on a rescue mission with very limited cell phone service, and after no real help and a crappy attitude from the dealer in Big Spring that performed the original work, we decide to get the bike towed to Big Spring to the truck stop on I-20. Kaitlyn and I are gonna haul a** home, get the truck and trailer, and meet the folks back in Big Spring to get them and the bike back to San Angelo. And we thought today would be boring!!!!!! I leave mom and dad on the side of the road while they wait on a tow truck coming from Brownfield. It was a weird feeling leaving them, but we knew it was gonna be a long day already, and now we just need to get home so we can turn around and head back North to pick em up.. I tried to get them to take my bike and Kaitlyn and I would wait on the side of the road for the tow. They wouldn't go for that, so we climbed back on the bike and I banged gears knowing that it was a long trip home.
What and ugly pitiful site....
I will say this about the ride home, my girlfriend Kaitlyn, is a trooper. I set the cruise on 80, leaned the bike into the 40 mph wind, and made one fuel stop from the state line. If you have ever made the trip from Brownfield,Tx area to San Angelo, you know there isn't much to look at. Its boring. We have made our fair share of long days on the bike, but this was the longest it seemed. This last day had turned from a vacation into a mission, and there was no rest until it was done.
We pull in the driveway and never really got to enjoy that we made it home ... we were back on the road in the truck within 5 mins. 80 miles back North with a truck and trailer, pick up the folks, roll the bike on the trailer, and get home about 9:00 pm. The couch never felt so good!
Still, after the day that we had we couldn't help but talk about how GREAT our whole trip was. Apparently Kaitlyn and I missed a very entertaining tow truck driver. Mom still talks about the contortionist act she put on in the middle seat of the tow truck. We absolutely had a freaking blast, and the sights and things we did made this an awesome 6 days. If you have never seen the Southwest, by all means TRY to. The open roads and views of desert mountains are worth every mile getting there. Thanks for reading my posts, I'm not a very good "story teller" but I have enjoyed telling the story again. The Road Trips section is definitely my favorite of this forum, and I will try and post trips when I can.
RIDE SAFE!!!
Last edited by jory434; 04-21-2014 at 09:12 AM.
#15
04-30-2014, 12:29 PM
Here is couple more pictures I found from the trip.
Here is a terrrible picture of the tunnel we rode through a couple of times between Tombstone and Bisbee. Some spots is the road looked "wet" but it was hard to tell if it was just worn pavement, or actually moisture.
I actually forgot that I had ridden through a tunnel last year in Louisiana, near Houma. V-Twins sound awesome in a tunnel!! I highly recommend it!
On a different note, here is a picture of the courtroom in the Tombstone Courthouse. As said before, this is a very genuine article of history in the old part of town, and all the furniture and fixtures seemed very old and "real" to the original structure. It was neat to stand in the room and wonder how many Cowboys were put on trial and had the gavel strike their certainty of death..
The gallows they used for "hangings" were just outside the windows to the right, down in the yard. Im sure the blue carpets laid down on the wood floor are for preservation of the original floor.
My guilty riding buddy
Here is a terrrible picture of the tunnel we rode through a couple of times between Tombstone and Bisbee. Some spots is the road looked "wet" but it was hard to tell if it was just worn pavement, or actually moisture.
I actually forgot that I had ridden through a tunnel last year in Louisiana, near Houma. V-Twins sound awesome in a tunnel!! I highly recommend it!
On a different note, here is a picture of the courtroom in the Tombstone Courthouse. As said before, this is a very genuine article of history in the old part of town, and all the furniture and fixtures seemed very old and "real" to the original structure. It was neat to stand in the room and wonder how many Cowboys were put on trial and had the gavel strike their certainty of death..
The gallows they used for "hangings" were just outside the windows to the right, down in the yard. Im sure the blue carpets laid down on the wood floor are for preservation of the original floor.
My guilty riding buddy
Last edited by jory434; 04-30-2014 at 02:01 PM.
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