Actually we have been on the road for almost a week now and it has been nice and mellow so far. We started off in Taos on November 6th, 2019 on 2 bikes, one car, and one dog. Our friends Marcus and Joshlynn joined us with their dog Stormy. Kate is in the middle…
They have been our SAG wagon and most excellent companions for the the past 6 days until they left this morning. We are going to miss them a lot!
I’m going to back track a bit here and copy some things from my journal and paste them here to get us all caught up. This blog stuff is new to me and I am just getting it online and dialed in. So here goes:
11/06/19
Rain is falling in Truth or Consequences. I can’t hear it too well, but Kate can and I feel like it could be romantic.
11/7/19
We rode a great route from T or C called the Lake Valley Back country Byway to Faywood Hotspring. Starting out in low lying scrub acacia and brown rocks, we slowly ascended into the Gila along Highway 152, topping out at Elroy Pass? We were in the the thick of the Spring fire scar of 2013 and it is impressive how much of the Gila was torched then. It’s also quite nice to see how quickly the vegetation is coming back as well. Elroy Pass road was full of twisties and it was definitely non stop grins from turn to turn all the way up and all the way down the hill to Faywood.
After a lovely soak in the hotsprings and a vehicle rearrangement, we went into town to explore. Really we only checked out 5 blocks of downtown Silver City with a yummy lunch at some Tapas World Grill. Also a cool coffee shop, the real deal.
11/08/19
Afterwards, we drove out to Tadpole ridge just past Pinos Altos and went for a hike. The Gila is pretty amazing mountain range, extremely diverse and since is at a much lower latitude, seems to have much more diverse flora and fauna. The hike was easy but super pretty with little windows of views of the surrounding countryside. Back down by sunset and at the Buckhorn Saloon. Built in 1865. quite the place with an interesting mix of old school cowboy and funk. The band for the night was Called Spicy Loops from Austin. Flamenco Americana and quite good. The violinist was very dramatic. Back to the hot springs for a night time soak before bed. Yum.
Next morning we got up and had a quick breakfast of french fries with green chile, cheese and eggs. Pack up and go for a soak. We went into the clothing optional section and the pools were nice. Entertaining peacocks.
On the road again to Silver City to get some lunch at the same place with the same stuff, Vietnamese Crepes, yummy again! And another visit to the hipirific letterpress shop, Power and Light Press. A grocery shop and then hit the road to Cochise Stronghold. I thought it was only 30 miles of freeway but it turned out to be more like 75 miles of I-10. Thankfully the wind was mellow and Kate was okay enough with the ride. She did start to complain towards the end as did I. My butt still isn’t used to the action of riding day in and day out.
We arrived here just at sunset to a very nice but busy campground in Cochise Stronghold. I cooked a quick Thai green curry with chicken and all the trimmings. Now at fire side and ready for bed at 9pm… trying hard to stay up later than the kids in the next camp over. I don’t think I will be able to make it though.
11/10/19
We saw a group of coatimundis on a cool hike in Cochise Stronghold and hit the road for Sand Pedro River Riparian Conservation Area. Tumbleweed parade. Slept on top of granite picnic tables after a fierce game on nighttime rummy and mezcal.
11/11/19
Bisbee is super groovy. Stairs for days and a good deal of funk. This town is cool. We ended up staying at a hotel called the JonQuil and found out that the owners are hardcore moto heads. One of which is a founder of the BDR. His name is Stirling Noren and he is the principal videographer for the BDR movies, as well as a notable movie maker in general. His girlfriend is no slouch either. Being a contestant on Naked and Afraid, bad ass survivalist, event planner and moto rider. Eva Rupert.