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Leaving Lubbock was hard. Time with great friends isn't plentiful enough and it's hard to see it end. But, after doing some laundry and a final polishing of the bike, Tex and I roared out together. Well, he roared out on his Harley and I sort of "whirred" out on the Wing. In any case, he decided to ride out of town with me, or maybe it was ride me out of town. It was great fun, even though it was only a few miles. Some day we'll do a long ride together.
My route today was a little south, through Alamogordo, with a plan to stay either there or in Socorro. I stopped in Artesia for a rest and cool-down, and saw that the temperature was 103. I longed to be back in the Blue Ridge Mountains.
Approaching the mountains from the east, I could see huge thunderstorms in front of me. I'd been extremely lucky so far, encountering rain only on my day off in Virginia and just a few showers in Louisiana. It looked like my luck had run out and I was about to get really drenched.
As the highway snaked around the mountaintops and through the passes, however, it also skirted the worst of the storms, and I got rained on very little and didn't even need to get into my rain gear. It was enough, however, to discourage me from stopping as I crested the mountain at about 8600 ft. The temperature at the top was just below 50 degrees, over 50 degrees cooler than back in Artesia. It looked like a great ski destination and was a great road on a bike, but it was wet and I was on a hunt for sunshine.
Down the other side and near the city of Alamogordo, I finally stopped to take a photo or two and to get some gas. Hanging out doing nothing at all in the gas station were a couple bikers, an old sun-and-wind-tanned bearded guy whose Harley was parked out back and his geeky friend whose 600 Shadow was parked on the side. It made me wonder where stereotypes come from. I hung out with them for about half an hour while I recovered from the mountain. A squall passed over the station while I was there and I was grateful that my bike was still under the cover of the pump lane. When the sun came out again, I headed out for Socorro, quickly caught up with the squall and got drenched for about 3 minutes. When I came out the other side I saw the last of any rain for this trip.
The west side of the mountains near Alamogordo.
I arrived in Socorro with plenty of energy so I kept on going. I'd researched campgrounds throughout NM and the next one was in Datil. I stopped in Magdalena for gas and some "food" for dinner in the campgrounds and nearly decided to just stay in a quaint-looking motel and not make the effort to set up camp.
Instead of following the impulse I stuck to the original plan. I made it to the BLM campground well before sunset and got set up in record time. Practice makes perfect. The BLM volunteer host came by and after a few friendly words said he expected it to get down to around 40 degrees that night due to the clear skies. I checked the GPS and the altitude was 7500 ft. Was I really prepared for weather that cold? Maybe I should have stayed in that motel.
Like Natchez, there were only two other campers in the campground and I had half of it completely to myself. Unlike Natchez, the nearly full moon did not come out until after I went to bed. And it was magical! The clear night from 7500 ft. produced the most stars I've seen since Miclele and I flew to Hawaii island and observed the night sky from atop Mauna Kea. There was an unbelievable number of stars and the Milky Way was as clear as its name suggests. I sat in the grass and stared at the sky in the absolute quiet for what seemed like hours, and I had to force myself to climb into the sleeping bag and prepare for the cold. Life should always be so peaceful. I slept like a baby.
My route through NM was really quite beautiful, and I regret not stopping for more pictures. My next time through will produce more scenic shots.
Today I rode 468 miles, 3307 since Michele's driveway.
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