Motorcycle Trip

April 2006

                Phoenix, AZ to:

 Guadalupe Mountains National Park

Big Bend National Park

Carlsbad Caverns

White Sands National Monument

Coronado Trail

2650 miles.  8 days, 7 nights.

April 18.  Tuesday.  Fly to Phoenix.

Get up time: 3:45AM.  Out the door at 4:15 for the 90 minute drive to the Rochester airport.  I'm tired.  It's dark.  Reminds me of the morning trips I used to make from Grenoble France to the Lyon (Saint Exupéry) Airport in 2003.  My flights to Phoenix ran on schedule but with a very long walk between connecting flights (the electric walk was, as usual, broken in the Philadelphia airport).  Actually arrived in Phoenix 30 minutes early.  Put the new accessories on the bike i.e. Burton Briggs highway pegs (10 minutes to install), Fat Foot kick stand foot (3 minutes to install), and an Airhawk seat cushion (don't know how to install), and checked out the XM radio was working properly.  Had a good dinner and managed to stay awake until 10:00PM.

April 19.  Wednesday.  Shakedown Ride.

Awoke at 7:00AM very refreshed and ready to go.  Did a few more things to the bike including an adjustment to the Whoopee Cushion (the Airhawk) and added air to the tires.  Just "air" stuff this morning.  I rode to Phoenix from New York last September and my bike was already there.  My cousin, David, picked a route for our shakedown ride:  west through Sun City to I-10, up to Wickenburg, and back on hwy 74 to I-17 south into Phoenix.  With lunch it came to be 4 1/2 hours and just under 150 miles.  Other than a few expected cushion adjustments everything seems fine.  Weather was perfect, about 75-80 degrees.  Dry and clear.  It felt good to be riding again, especially in such perfect weather conditions.  Planning on an 8:30AM departure tomorrow for El Paso.

April 20.  Thursday.  Phoenix to El Paso.

A boring ride from Phoenix to El Paso (#2 on the map) today but at least the temperature was good.  About 450 miles but all interstate highway.  My XM radio broke just a half hour from the start.  It worked fine yesterday but has decided to be inoperative today.  Damn frustrating. 

April 21.  Friday.  El Paso to Alpine, TX.

A day of retreat.  Waited until 8:30AM to depart to avoid most of the morning rush-hour traffic.  Fifteen minutes into the trip I-10 came to a stop.  The road was closed due to a traffic accident ahead.  But I had noticed that we had passed our planned route a mile ago and after a quick check of the map against David's GPS we confirmed our route and made a U-turn at the point where all traffic was being forced to exit I-10.  We retreated to hwy 180/62 that leads towards the Guadalupe Mountains National Park (#4).  Near the park we found ourselves low on gas and elected to venture to White's City (#3) in search of a refill.  Now we had to backtrack once again for our planned route down hwy 54 to Van Horn, TX.  We continued down hwy 54 until we met with road construction just 20 miles from Van Horn (#5).  The road was soft dirt for the next 5 miles and, after waiting with the other stopped traffic and having some time to think it over, we elected to retreat to a different route.  We finally got to Van Horn after a much longer than expected 150 mile detour and continued on to Alpine (#8).  Our planned "short day" became 500 miles and 10 hours on the bike.  Fortunately, the Airhawk worked quite well and the ride was pretty comfortable.

April 22.  Saturday.  Big Bend National Park, TX.

Today's itinerary is Big Bend National Park, and all stops south.  We left the hotel, the Best Western Alpine Classic Inn, a very nice hotel with outdoor pool and Jacuzzi, and returned to Marfa, TX to meet hwy 67 towards Presidio (#9).  The new highway pegs and the Airhawk allow me to ride all day without significant discomfort. 

We left Presidio eastbound along the Rio Grande towards Lajitas and Big Bend.  This is without a doubt one of the nicest motorcycle roads I have found.  No traffic, great views of the Rio Grande, and rolling hills.

The movie set along this road is called Contrabando.  There are some interesting buildings here.

We eventually reached the park and began our ridiculously slow 45MPH ride for the next 50 miles to reach the Chisos Mountain Visitors Center.  It was very hazy and hot inside the park with temperatures hanging around 95 degrees.  We rode on to the Rio Grande overlook near the SE corner of the park.  Nothing too exciting so we began our 45MPH ride for the next 50 miles to reach the NE exit to the park. 

This was a scene from The Twilight Zone.  It was 97 degrees, no traffic to be seen, nothing but wide open prairie, miles and miles to reach the park exit, and the brainless wonders responsible for park speed limits had us poking along at 45MPH.  Needless to say, we decided to bag the speed limit and cruise along at a very reasonable 60MPH until reaching the park boundary where the speed limit became a still reasonable 75MPH. 

April 23.  Sunday.  Alpine, TX to Carlsbad, NM

Departed for Carlsbad, NM (#18) at 8:30AM.  Temperature:  65.  The dry air makes it feel cooler than the 65 degrees I'm used to back East.  My warm leather coat was perfect for this ride.  We reached Fort Davis in less than an hour and agreed to take the Scenic Loop of about 80 miles up to the McDonald Observatory (#12) and around this beautiful mountain area. 

This road is fantastic for motorcycling.  No traffic, great views, rolling hills.  For anyone who is close to this area this is a "must do". 

Back at Fort Davis (#11) we toured the old fort and buildings.  Very interesting and definitely worth an hour or two.  The fort was to protect the travelers on the old road between San Antonio and El Paso against the Mescalero Indians. 

We departed after a tour and headed up hwy 17 to Pecos, TX (#17).  Stopped at the Fina Truck Stop on I-10 (exit 212 #15 on the map) for their self-proclaimed "Best Burger in the West".  Well, it's not an easy claim to confirm but it was quite good and worth the stop for lunch.

The road to Pecos was as straight as an arrow and damn hot.  Pecos is a town in severe decay with many abandoned buildings.  Nothing to see but difficult to avoid.  We reached hwy 285 and suffered through a very hot and boring ride for the next 80 miles into Carlsbad (#18).

April 24.  Monday.  Carlsbad Caverns National Park.

Got to the caverns  (#19) at 9:15AM and started the tour of the King's Palace at 10.  We had lunch and then entered the caverns via the Bat Cave (natural) entrance for the self-guided tour.  (photo to left).  Those are Swallows I believe flying near the entrance.  The bats are sleeping.

The rooms are huge and the caverns wander for miles.  In fact, we covered 3 1/2 miles of underground trails in about 4 1/2 hours.

Tomorrow we leave for Las Cruces via White Sands National Monument.  Expecting lower temperatures, starting in the low 50's.

April 25.  Tuesday.  Carlsbad, NM to Las Cruces, NM.

A cold front blew through during the night and brought us high winds and a 20 degree drop in temperatures.  We left Carlsbad for White Sands National Monument with a temperature of 44 degrees.  We stopped near Artesia, NM, about 30 minutes from Carlsbad, for more clothes.  Wearing a t-shirt, long-sleeved shirt, light fleece, heavy leather coat, and cold weather pants and gloves, I was perfectly comfortable.  It remained pretty cool, enough so that I didn't remove any of the clothes until we descended into Alamogordo, NM, the most attractive town on our trip.  In 15 minutes the temperature rose from 64 to 76.  I saw a sign for a Space History Museum so we detoured for a visit.

A short ride and we arrived at White Sands National Monument.  This is a beautiful, almost mystical, area and one of the really pleasant surprises of the trip, and a place I've never been. 

The dunes make for some very interesting photo opportunities.

We arrived in Las Cruces (#24) at dusk.  My throttle friction device isn't working properly and I'm getting a tired arm and wrist. 

April 26.  Wednesday.  Las Cruces, NM to Springerville, AZ.

Another sunny day and the winds have diminished significantly.  We modified our original route and, instead, rode up I-25 to follow hwy 152 into Silver City, NM (#26).  Silver City was a disappointment.  I had read of the popularity of the town, the nice climate, the scenic surroundings.  But it appeared to be yet another town struggling for prosperity.  We had a quick lunch in Silver City and continued up hwy 180.  The road is nice.  It's scenic and in good condition.  I found it necessary to stop frequently, either due to sleepiness or because my arm was just tired of holding the throttle open.  Eventually I was separated from my traveling companions but at least then I didn't feel bad for having to stop so often. 

I came to a road that went up into the Mogollon Mountains to the old mining town of Mogollon (#27).  The road has many curves as it ascends quickly for 9 miles while offering great panoramic views of the surrounding mountains and valleys. 

The old town has several interesting buildings.

Back on hwy 180 I continued towards the tiny, mostly seasonal town of Springerville, AZ (#28) and arrived about 4:30PM.  Not much of a town and not much of a hotel for the night, and not many options for improvement from what I could see. 

Forecast is for another cool morning with gusty winds as another cold front passes through the area.

April 27.  Thursday.  Springerville, AZ to Phoenix, AZ.

Final day of the trip.  Awoke to a beautiful, sunny, and warmer than expected morning.  Little did we know the wind devils had plans for us today.  The ride down hwy 191, otherwise known as the Coronado Trail, is beautiful and recommended. 

The copper mine at Morenci is amazing in size.

The old town of Clifton, AZ has some interesting sights and a well-preserved railroad station.

The temperature was comfortable but it was quite windy.  When we reached the southern end of the trail we became directly exposed to the wind which at times probably gusted to almost 40 MPH.  The wind continued for the remainder of the day and was even causing some minor dust storms as we rode into Phoenix.  Arrived just in time for rush hour traffic but took advantage of the carpool lane to mitigate the damage.

The Wrap

Good trip but plan to do this in either April/May or Oct to avoid the summer heat.  October will be less windy.  The biking highlights were as follows:  1. Ranch Road 170 between Presidio, TX and Lajitas.  2. The scenic loop near Fort Davis, TX.  3.  The Coronado Trail, hwy 191 in Arizona.  4. Hwy 152 into Silver City, NM.