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.

It's April in California and Not Supposed to Rain

This morning found me in Pasadena where it was threatening to rain. Since I was riding my motorcycle and absolutely had to be back in Pacifica before 8:00 AM Monday, I decided to cut my visiting a half an hour shorter than planned and hit the road on my two wheels.

I made it almost all of the way to I-5 before it started to rain, which led to the composition of this twoem:

It spit a bit on 210 just before I-5.
Traffic slowed. Thought to split but chose to stay alive.
Wet rain gear, dry me.

For you non-motorcycle riders, California allows motorcycles to lane split so we don't have to stop with the cars and trucks and over heat.

After fairly steady drizzle over Grapevine, the sun finally got to full heat. Eventually I was able to stop for gas and do something about it, namely take off some of the unneeded gear I was wearing. Fifty miles after making those adjustments, I had the unfortunate inspiration to compose another twoem:

When I stopped for gas in the sun,
Thought need for rain gear surely done.
Wrong, wet, and grouchy!

Yes, it started to rain and continued to rain until it was time to get more gas, another 80 miles, and I put back on my rain pants. Unfortunately, it continued to rain. One stretch was particularly heavy, which led to a rather disappointing discovery: my rain pants aren't waterproof. It appears that in times of heavy rain, my motorcycle saddle and I form a catch basin that works exceedingly well at forming a pond right between my legs. With waterproof pants on, the pond would have simply drained away the next time I stopped. But no, my gear was much too efficient to wait for that. It passed the water through to my jeans so my jeans could wick it away, after becoming suitably warmed by my now wet and freezing body.

Thank goodness for a heated jacket and gloves. With all of the lower extremity water I was still cold but at least my chest and hands were kept above freezing.

The rain did have some benefits. It definitely took care of the dust. It also took care of some rather nasty smells I noticed on the ride down to Pasadena. I didn't know that a cattle feed lot could smell like hog s**t.

I did notice an interesting license plate on a rather large Class A RV, a bus-like RV: "Y RUFET"

Even though I did a far better than normal job lashing my backpack onto the back seat of my motorcycle, the constant wind managed to shift it to one side enough that two people made an effort to let me know it had shifted. Nothing fell off and while damp, nothing is ruined. I'm even using the laptop I carried through all that rain now. Of course I had the foresight to put a plastic bag over it in addition to its padded case.

Still, I'm looking forward to my next, hopefully dryer, ride.

A lot to post, but not tonight...

Blisters and all my youngest daughter and her husband have made it to my oldest daughter's and her husband's place in Pasadena. The lack of the Spot "OK" message the last two nights had to do with the terrain, trees, and inability for the Spot to find the satellites. They are going to spend at least one zero day, i.e., no walking, there and may be buying more shoes. As much as they are spending on shoes, they may need more money than planned to complete the trip. I suggested that they press the Spot "OK" button every day, even the days they are staying at their RR&S.

Yesterday I moved one step closer to my cross-country motorcycle ride by getting my motorcycle serviced. It sounds great again and rides very smoothly with a new rear tire. I also got a new jacket. Not only is my leather jacket too big, it isn't really suited for summer weather riding. Indeed, with the wind blowing up the sleeves, it wasn't all that suited for less warm riding either, especially with the zipper problem with the lining. My new jacket has multiple vents including scoop features along both upper arms and shoulders. It is also very adjustable. Wind will only be getting in where and when I want it to.

As far as the rest of this post, there won't be one. However, I do have a lot of Honest Tea bottle caps that I want to share in some future post. As Ambrose Bierce has said, I like their "predigested wisdom." I also have a couple Toastmaster speeches I've given without posting and my opening remarks from the time I was Toastmaster, basically the emcee of the meeting. I also have a couple more twoems, which I tweet into Twitter via a text message from my cell phone.