Day 3 - Alamogordo NM

Day 3 Alamogordo NM sitting in Audrie, Will and Jimmy’s dining room working on my blog. I thought I’d get here while it was still dark, but apparently somewhere along the route from Oklahoma I crossed into the Mountain time zone. That’s one thing about riding West that I like, gaining an hour because of the time zones. It’s no fun heading home though cuz then I lose that hour every mile further East that I get. Oh well, at least I made it and got to watch Jimmy’s football practice before grabbing something at the local Mexican restaurant.

Today was a perfect day for a bike ride. A little chilly for Oklahoma’s standards for riding this morning, but wonderful for me. I didn’t have to dress like I did for Day 2 when I left Minnesota on a chilly MN day. I think the temp was somewhere in the mid 50’s when I left Guthrie and it was before I crossed into Texas that I had to remove a layer. It’s tough to see by the pictures, but I tried to hit some of route 66 even though there wasn’t much of it to see in Oklahoma before getting on the speed way, freeway 40 which has taken over most of the old hwy. There are still quite a few of the old route 66 relics along the freeway, most being run down abandoned gas stations. Many of the towns still advertise fort a route 66 restaurant if I get off the freeway, but I didn’t take the time to check any out. 

There was one place that I did make a stop for food, but it wasn’t to eat as much as it was to get the pictures of the famous steakhouse in Amarillo TX with a free 72 ounce steak, The Big Texan. I saw the signs all the way along the freeway and had seen this place on Foodtv so had to check it out. If I would’ve had the time, or I suppose made the time for as hungry as I was I should have gotten a smaller version but I can’t imagine trying to eat 72 ounces of steak with a baked potato bread and salad just to get if free. The one thing I did miss checking out was how much the steak cost incase you don’t finish it. Oh well, I did get some pics before heading southwest.

The Big Texan turned out to be the closest to running out of gas since I pushed it and knew I didn’t have far to get to the gas station, but I did learn while traveling 60 southwest to Roswell to visit the aliens that I better make sure I have a full tank for the ride. There isn’t much for town or gas for the ride that with only have a tank and over 100 miles still to go I figured I better fill up one more time. Turned out to be a good thing to cuz there’s nothing except for a lot of flat land and fences. That had me wondering just how much some of these farmers have spent on fence posts and barbwire. It runs for miles surrounding these farms all the way along the highway that it must’ve been quite a choir putting them in and now just maintaining them. The other thing I figured costs a pretty penny are the electrical phone poles and cables along the road. I counted roughly 30+ poles per mile plus all the metal wires strung between them couldn’t have been cheap either. 

Ok, so I must’ve been abducted by aliens with that babble, but it was just an observation. I did make it to Roswell and I did have to make a stop at the Alien museum to see if my honey that I met there 8 years ago was still around. For those that remember the story she I was there in 2006 I met this sweet old lady that was trying to pick me up, well at least saying what she’d do to me if she were younger. Well I did find out that she wasn’t there any more and apparently she did finally retire shortly after I was there, that would’ve been cool seeing her again. While in Roswell I figured I should visit the Harley shop again and thought they had gotten rid of the aliens I saw there years ago,  but they were just moved since the place expanded within the 8 years since my last visit.

Now for the funnest part of the entire trip because of the scenery and road, the ride west from Roswell. I was the same road I took on my last trip and I did remember it well heading toward the mountains of NM and the winding curved roads all the way there. I did capture some video and when I figure out how to download and it and send the links I’ll make sure to do that, but the road and ride is awesome. Sure I’m going faster than the rest of the traffic since on bike, but there wasn’t much of traffic to deal with that the road was all mine which means I made some great time. So 8 years ago I didn’t ride all the way to Alamogordo before turning off at Ruidoso and heading north to see some more sites and ending in Santa Fe back then, but the ride from there to Alamogordo was another winding curving road to ride and now that I was in the mountain it was time to leather up again to stay warm, that was until getting closer to Alamogordo and the heat of the valley. Ok, so enough babble for the night and tomorrow will be a day to relax and see what I can do for one more night before heading West.

Here are the pics and one thing you’ll notice is the smug spots. The bugs got the lens on my GoPro that I hadn’t gotten around to cleaning so I’ll try to remember that the next time. I also noticed that the pics weren’t in the right order, but hopefully I’ve fixed it with today’s pics. 

Day 3 Alamogordo pics