Farmington

I was really looking forward to today's ride, running some of the same routes I ran last year. And I wasn't disappointed!

I left Colorado Springs at 07:00 in 47°F wearing all of my heated gear. Is it not at least Spring here yet? As I was heading south on I-25, I suddenly smelled a Number 2 pencil being sharpened. It wasn't a paper mill or a pine logging operation. It was the shavings from a Number 2 pencil. Weird.

Even weirder, after I stopped at the Pueblo Harley dealership, I smelled burnt buttermilk biscuits . Not burnt toast, cornbread, or tortillas. Burnt buttermilk biscuits. Weird. Did I have a stroke?

Anyway, I pressed on down I-25 until 09:00 when I had to take off all of my heated gear. A couple of miles later, I hit the turn off for Highway 64 and Taos. This was the first time I had taken this route to Taos, and it was beautiful. The first 5 miles were covered in pronghorn antelope, one of which decided he'd like to share my lane for a few seconds. Then I hit Cimarron and squiggled through the canyon, where I crossed paths with a small herd of elk. Man, are they big! Although neither pronghorn nor the elk made me come to a complete stop, the prairie dog running in front of me did. I got all of their pictures 😁.

I finally popped out in Taos, had lunch at the best Mexican food place in Taos "Toribios", then crossed over the Rio Grande--the same river that makes the border of Texas and Mexico--before stopping at Earthship Biotexture (https://earthshipbiotecture.com/). I saw this community three times last year but never stopped. What an amazing concept in practice. The starter units (2 bed/2 bath) go for about $200,000, but some can reach almost half a million with up to 4 bedrooms and all the extra features. Imagine if standard architecture made use of some of these concepts, particularly water capture and recycling. Incredible capabilities.

I continued on US64 through Carson National Forest. Thankfully the road was open despite several large patches of snow at about 9,500 feet. This road has wonderful sweeping, broad, fast turns and is just a glorious place to ride. I was, however, wishing for my heated gear for about 25 miles until I dropped back down in elevation as I reached Chama. Then it was west to Farmington where Leann and I are staying tonight.

After settling into our room and feeding the dog, we walked across the street to a Mexican food restaurant where she relayed how she lost one of her Airmen to suicide just before she retired as a First Sergeant. We talked for quite some time then asked for the bill. Someone had already paid it and had already left.

First Stormchaser Jay saves me from the hail and now a stranger buys us dinner. Perhaps there is a little human left in humanity. We were both humbled, astounded, and, frankly, embarrassed because they had probably heard our tearful conversation. We left quietly, silently thanking our evening benefactor(s). It was another very good day.

So long [for now], and thanks for all the fish! ✌️

Day 69 mileage: 477.5 (total 18013.0)
HD Dealerships: 2 (total 185)
National Parks: 0 (total 33 in 18 states)
10 Rides for 2022: 0 (total 5 of 10)
MCGTTX Stops: 0 (total 23 of 50)Read more