"Journal"

Journal - Southwestern New Mexico – May 27- 30 2000 ( by David Vance )

Click Here for map of this ride. (85KB)

Click on any of the small B/W pictures for full-sized Color shots.

Background

[Muthuh]:
David's second trip report on Muthuh's Rides reads just as good as his first. So far, Davids adventures have been solo jaunts on the backroads of America (and a little of Mexico here), which is why I enjoy reading them. We hope to hook up for a day ride while in Sturgis this Fall ('00).

[David]:
If you read the beginning of my mid-April ride (Coronado Trail) you're aware that I live in Dallas and keep a '98 Ultra at Chick's Harley-Davidson in Albuquerque. Frequent flier round trips on Southwest Airlines make the back-and-forth commute a no-cost proposition.

Saturday, May 27.

Today's destination was Columbus, the only town on the Mexican border in New Mexico. This involved a 200-mile ride down I-25 to Hatch, then another 46 miles southwest on highway 26 to Deming and lastly, 23 miles south on highway 11 to Columbus. Flew into Albuquerque in the early a.m. and left Chick's about 10:30 after customer service lady Lynn Springer (an appropriate Harley name indeed) took a photo of Michael Lucero (who makes sure my scooter gets TLC), yours truly and dealership owner Chick Hancock.

Today's ride didn't involve any mountains but they were never out of sight – which, along with a clear blue sky, made the ride enjoyable. Rode into Columbus (pop. 640) at 3:15 and found considerably less of a town than I expected – one motel, a couple of restaurants and no booze. Met motel owner Danny Garcia, retired water superintendent for the village of Columbus. In the course of our visit, I inquired about smuggling in the area. "The three W's," he replied. I gave him a puzzled look and he erased it with, "Wets, women and weed." (Note: the term Wets is short for the now-politically-incorrect Wetbacks, a label for illegal immigrants who waded across the Rio Grande into Texas).

Checking in to Danny's Sun Crest Inn was simple: no paperwork, merely handing Danny the posted $30 room rate. In return, I got a decent AC unit and bed, but a fuzzy TV connected to an antenna aimed at El Paso, about 70 miles east – all of which ruled out watching the Dallas Stars play Colorado in the NHL semi-finals. With my stuff in the room, I rode three miles south to the border, parked the scooter on the US side and walked across into Palomas, Mexico. Wandered into the Copacabana Bar where, except for five young ladies, I was the only customer (although, the ladies clearly weren't customers, but instead were looking for same). Bartender Alma (photo)delivered a Tecate and lime and advised that "Martha" wanted me to buy her a beer. I declined but did finesse (hey, money talks!) Martha into a photo. Upon seeing the picture later, I realized it showed probably my all-time-worst dirty-old-man look – disgusting indeed!

After the beer I walked the town's main drag, shot a photo of a curio store and had a $6.11 dinner at San Jose Restaurant. Back at the motel I rigged my doorbell alarm on the dresser, watched some mindless fuzzy TV and hit the sack. Total miles today: 297 easy ones. If you're curious about my Home Depot doorbell motorcycle alarm, e-mail me. Muthuh made a similar alarm after I told him about mine.

Sunday, May 28.

Today presented competing priorities: riding or knocking off early to watch Indy. I attended every 500 from 1962 through 1981 and am still a fan, though less of one these days. Left Columbus before 7 a.m., gassed at Deming, then headed northwest on US 180, then northeast on NM 61. The ride got scenic very quickly. Shot the old mule-drawn road grader at Fowler Lumber Company and also the two-colored cholla cactus. When NM 61 intersected with NM 36, I took 36 north through the mountains to NM 15. The ride south on 15 was much like the Coronado Trail in Arizona – rapid climbs, hairpins, etc. My handlebar mounted altimeter (a Suunto Altimax) had a big-time digital workout.

Near Silver City I took the short bypass through Pinos Altos (settled in 1803) where I shot photos of the bar and exterior of the Buckhorn Saloon Opera House (1865). Later in Silver City I parked by the Buffalo Bar (211 North Bullard). Turns out the place is popular with bikers. They're selling run T-shirts for two upcoming events, a Wilderness Run and a Memorial Run. Yvonne presided behind the bar (photo). Learned here that Indy was rain delayed so, having had a decent ride in the morning, I opted to check in at the local Econo Lodge (1120 Highway 180-E). Got a combo room – handicapped and senior – which had about 20 grab-handles around the tub and a big-button phone. While in the lobby I ended up playing catch, using a string of beads, with a cute little girl named Molly, who was with two women who were checking in. Molly told me that "Daddy" made the string of beads. Cool, I thought, until Molly addressed one of the two women as "Daddy." What a lucky woman: Father's Day is just a few weeks off! Did a Pizza Hut-delivered pizza and watched the 500 and most of the Coca-Cola 600. Only 145 miles today, but another good day nonetheless.

Monday, May 29.

While sitting at the desk to write up yesterday's piece, an ominous-looking creature crawled up the wall in front of me. Wasn't sure what the species was, but I dispatched it with a rolled up newspaper (also checked my clothes and boots very carefully before putting them on). Left the motel about 6:30 and headed east on 180 to NM 152, and then east to a northbound road that dead-ends three miles later at Fierro, a copper mining town. St. Anthony's Catholic Church and Shrine there was the subject of controversy a few years ago. The mining company had wanted to mine the area under the church, but the locals were successful in keeping it there. The photo of the tall cross was taken behind the church, where the mining equipment is visible on the horizon.

Back on 152 heading east, I shot two photos at the overlook for the open pit Santa Rita Mine. About 30 miles farther east I crossed Emory Pass (elev. 8048) where there was a scenic overlook that merited two photos, one showing two tiers of highway below and the other showing the town of Kingston in the distant valley below. Later on 152 I crossed two circa 1929 steel truss bridges built by (and this name doesn't make a lot of sense) Virginia Bridge and Iron of Tennessee, Roanoke, Virginia. The word "Tennessee" was forged onto most of the larger beams. I'm somewhat of a truss bridge freak because the company I'm with in Dallas built several hundred such bridges in Texas between the turn of the century and World War II. If you're into trusses, then you'll want to know that the New Mexico bridges were Pratt through-trusses, a fairly common design in the U.S.

Farther east in Hillsboro I shot the S-Bar-X Motel and Saloon, plus a clever sign over the door of a house, and a strange dining area that I think is associated with some kind of annual green chili festival (I refuse to use the New Mexico spelling, chile). All but the last 10 miles or so of the eastbound ride on 152 to Interstate 25 are scenic and mountainous. If you do 152 westbound, be sure to gas up at the Texaco at 152 and I-25 (91 octane) because there's no gas until about Silver City. I headed 13 miles up the interstate to Truth or Consequences and parked outside Andy's Bar (704 Broadway), which I had visited in mid-April. Inside over a Bud, I shot photos of jovial bartender Dee Poole and owner Andy Carr. Andy has presided there since 1962. Also had a nice visit with retiree Robert Huffman who was quite fascinated by the instant color display on the back of my Olympus digital camera.

After Andy's I headed 75 miles up I-25 to the Capitol Bar in Socorro. Visited there with off-duty bartender Jeff "Smiley" Long, who is working on a Web site for the 100-year-old bar. He told me that the retired calf roper I met there last month was local legend Don Epps. Shot a couple of photos of jovial bartender Terry (photos), and of a sign on the wall. Next destination was 53 miles up the interstate to Los Lunas where I checked into a $44 room at the Comfort Inn. The Wendy's across the street provided a decent dinner. Stripped to an old pair of sailing shorts and ran all my laundry through the motel's washer and drier. This enables leaving three days' worth of shorts, socks and T-shirts with the scooter when I fly home.

One thing that's working great is my new Rev-Pack seat pack ($95), a wonderful 2,000 cubic inch travel bag that I carry on the passenger seat. The bag opens wide in the motel rooms and makes packing and unpacking a piece of cake. It fits within the Ultra's rear stereo speakers and doubles as a backrest while underway. Muthuh.com has a link to Rev-Pack on his Web page – check 'em out because they make some neat stuff. Or you can call Rev himself (or wife Robyn) at (800) 766-2461.

Monday's miles – an easy and scenic, bar-to-bar 244.

Tuesday, May 30.

Did my customary ride to the Chevron near Chick's H-D, gassed up and was in Chick's parking lot at 7:20 a.m. Had plenty of time to move stuff around so I could lock the tour pack and leave the saddlebags unlocked. Senior service writer Michael Lucero is going to install a new gel battery and tackle, once again, my throttle grip which still is binding on the handlebar thereby impeding the cruise control. Nice guy Frank Muyenberg, a New York retiree who has worked at Chick's since 1985, drove me to the airport, saving a $30 cab ride.

Several hours later, business colleague Kay Bishop picked me up at Dallas' Love Field, and not long after that I was into the thick of business at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, where we're construction manager for a huge new terminal building. Work, work, work. Next trip – another holiday weekend over the July 4 holiday. Destination: your guess is as good as mine. There is lots of great New Mexico without doing the tacky scene in tourist Mecca, Santa Fe.

Total miles for the three days – 725. Thanks to Muthuh for posting the trip. This Internet stuff is almost as much fun as the trip itself. Digital photos shot with an Olympus C-2500. Questions or comments; e-mail me at dvdallas@pobox.com. Later. Meanwhile, long live the King.

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