Whizzing Through America: Living Memories Tour, Las Cruces, NM

Nope, didn't live here either. Once again it is on the most direct route to where one of the places I did live, Houston. Any excuse to ride my motorcycle.

Once again, I am camping in style--with air conditioning. As I was riding through the heat, even composing a twoem about it, I was vacillating on whether I really wanted to camp in the heat or not. Then there came a stretch right after Tucson where the wind died but the heat didn't that settled it once and for all. My excuse is that I have a long day of riding tomorrow, over 600 miles, to get to a place I definitely do want to camp. But more on that tomorrow, or the next day as I'm not sure that my definite camping spot has any Internet service.

My twoem:

The stark and endless expanse is truly a sight to see.
The heat and overly bright sun is not the place for me.
I rode as fast as I could.

In the heat I couldn't help thinking of how all my motorcycle accessories and clothes are black, my chaps, my jacket, my helmet, the tank bag, the sissy bar bag, and the saddle bags. I knew I was going to take some heat on this trip and have purposefully not looked up how much heat I'm taking. I did consume over four liters of water and a full 32 oz. Gatorade without needing to do the name sake of my motorcycle tours.

Once again I have good news and bad news. Bringing the camelback along has been such a relief. Being able to drink while riding has truly made a huge difference. The bag is even kept quite cool, if you fill it with refrigerated water. The only problem is, the drinking tube warms up to the ambient temperature in between my sips. This means that I mostly drink warm water because once it starts getting cool, I stop drinking.

This is the third time I've been in New Mexico but my first time in Las Cruces. I'm not spending enough time here to even determine whether or not I want to come back, but I know if I ever do, it won't be close to Summer Solstice.


[Head waters (gorge) of the Rio Grande near Taos]

Marilyn and I visit New Mexico for the first time in 2004 seeing Albuquerque, Santa Fe, and Taos. During and immediately after that visit we talked about coming back to walk around the Anasazi ruins and return to Taos at Christmas time. It was not to be as the very next year she was diagnosed with the cancer that eventually took her life.

[Seeing petroglyphs outside of Albuquerque]

Since this is a motorcycle trip, I did want to plug my new helmet. Except for the fact that I probably would have dropped it like I did my old one, I should have gotten this one earlier. The latest model SHOEI is really well engineered. The ear holes are gone making it much quieter but all the additional vents and the expanded area in front of the mouth actually makes it reasonably cool. I believe I really will appreciate the chin mesh accessory. I did get a live bee inside my old helmet. I stopped to let it out because I didn't want the air pressure blowing it back onto my skin. Now I'll just get stung in the throat. If I ever get to a climate that might fog up my visor, I may also appreciate the nose guard. At least it's helping keep my face from sun burn.

And to close: I don't know how the Arizonans get anywhere. I was getting 100 miles on a tank of gas with the head wind (and my speed). There was one time that I thought seriously of going the opposite direction to avoid the headwind but didn't because I would have probably had a headwind that direction too and it would be going the wrong way.