Just got in from our tour of New Mexico, beat, *** is numb, but had a great time.

We left a day early to beat the rain and ended up spending an extra day in Carlsbad accomodations (sp) well uh we stayed at the Stevens Inn (it was ok) Spent the day doing the caverns, then down to McKittrick canyon (amazing) and then down to Guadalupe Mountains state park.

Next we headed North up to Roswell for the damn T shirt thing then over to Riudoso for the night. on the way we did the run up to sunspot Nice run but it was 36 degrees there. Stayed at the Upper Canyon Inn in Riudoso (very nice) Was greeted with my morning coffee and smoke on the front porch of the cabin by 4 deer checkin out the bike. We saddled up and headed North to Santa Fe.

The ride to Santa Fe was pretty decent if a little boring we stayed east of I 25 stopped in Mountainair for lunch at the Firehouse Cafe (not sure about the name) good food. Santa Fe was pretty cool but I came to ride so we headed up the high road to Taos. the guide book we had said to watch your speed as the cops there love to write tickets. well we blew that off after almost being run over several times by the locals and just kept it up without being wreckless. We had to skip the enchanted circle as it was below freezing at the higher elevations. BTW dont bother relying on the weather forecast. They projected rain and thunderstorms, the sun was out all day with nary a cloud in sight (go figure).

Next morning we headed south and west to Silver City. WOW!!! this area is by far my favorite area that we visited. We hauled *** down to Socorro then headed west out to Datil turned down 12 to Reserve. to Hwy 180. I thought 180 was by far the best. I was wrong. After spending the night at the Palace hotel in Silver City we went east on 152 towards Kingston. Ive never been to Deals gap but I'd put this stretch up against anything. great elevation changes, all the curves you could ask for, well marked and clean hardly saw any gravel. Traffic was light during the week, but I would imagine on the weekend it might not be that fun or safe. One wrong move in the wrong corner and you are gone. The views are well incredible. I would love to go back and spend more time there.

we've got a ton of pics, I'll try and get some loaded once we rest up a bit.

 

Did you check out Uncle Bill's in Reserve? I stayed at the Rode Inn back in Sept. If you missed hwy 15 from Silver City out towards the Cliff Dwellings and 54 back down to 152 you missed a heck of a road. Also 191 from Clifton, AZ up to Alpine. Theres some really good rides in that area.

 

no, the cliff dwellings were on the list but we were running late , I needed to make silver city by sundown. barely made it. not knowing the area didnt want to be snakin down the side of a mountain after dark.

 

Wow! It looks like you've seen more of the state than I have and I have lived here 6 1/2 years now. Glad you enjoyed your trip. Next time, check out the white sands desert...

 

got a far off look at white sands on the road up to sunspot from about 7,000 ft above. we were going to drive thru there on our way out of NM but it would"ve added 200 miles onto our return run to Texas. Hopefully we can make it back out there either a little earlier in the fall or late spring.

 

Glad you enjoyed the ride through NM... the Gila has some awesome roads for sure! Next time ride through when it's a little warmer and hit not only the "Enchanted Circle", but also check out the area around Chama and Brazos for riding. You won't be disappointed.

 

we have our pics posted to this site, not sure if the link will work. the 1st third are duplicates, dunno why. there are some nice pics in there if you have the time, some blurry , some are of the wtf catagory, anyway enjoy if you have the time for the slide show

http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLan...fromshare&Ux=0

 

Nice pics. Thanks for sharing. I have been to all the places you have in the pics., and recognize many of them.

Regards,

Bill

 

Yeah, but he's a little fuzzy on the ones he's been to but doesn't recognize

Thanks for the report and pics, sounds like a good time!

 

Awesome pics JW. Thanks for sharing.

I recognize a lot of those places too.
I agree about Silver City. I haven't done it on the bike yet, but I have caged it a few times. It's just beautiful out there. I'm trying to talk our HOG chapter into having a ride in that neck of the woods.

BTW - Where did you take this pic? I thought that I had seen this before but I can't remember where.




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