Temp at departure: 70 degrees

Wow, what a day! Today was a day of many sights!

We left Liberal, Kansas this morning after having an interesting conversation in the motel parking lot.

We had loaded all our gear onto the cart provided by the motel and rolled it out to our motorcycles. I'll admit, it looked like a huge amount of luggage. As we started to load our stuff on to the bikes, a fifty something retiree was bringing out a bag to put in his mini van and saw the cart loaded with our luggage. He walked over as fast as he could and said, "I can't wait to see y'all get all that onto those bikes!"

"Y'all have got more stuff there than I can fit into our van!", he added.

We chit-chatted a few minutes and when his wife came out of the motel he immediately told her what we were doing and pointed at us like we were martians. When we left, they were sitting in their van watching us.

We headed west through the panhandle of Oklahoma, headed for New Mexico. As soon as we left Liberal the wind was blowing a gale. I would guess a constant 30 mph from the south.

Several miles from town we came to an area of old sand dunes. I've seen areas like these around Clayton, NM. These

dunes were created during the dust bowl, and now have vegetation growing on them. They are very out of place when compared to the surrounding area, but add an intersting mix to the ride when all you can see is flat land for miles. It's sad to think that every bit of the sand was once in a field. It's also amazing to think that wind can do that in an area like that.

As we followed the sand and gravel roads west, the sand dunes gave out and fields of gold became the norm for the next hundred miles. The wind was becoming a nuisance, but it did give the wheat a very nice waving motion. It was very mesmorizing to watch.

At that point I think I was supposed to have some sort of national pride because I was seeing the "amber waves of grain." But then I thought about how those "amber waves of grain" are able to be there, namely the exhausted Oglalla Aquifer, and the feeling of national pride qickly subsided.

As the fields passed by for the next several hours the wind increased in ferocity. Since we were headed west and the wind was headed north, we really had to be careful to not be blown off the road.

Meredith was in front of me, and many times I would look up and her bike would be 20 degrees from vertical, leaning into the wind.

Several times we'd turn directly into the wind and struggle with dust being blown down the road.

Luckily, there was a tremendous amount of wildlife to keep our eyes occupied.

During the morning we saw all sorts of wildlife: pheasants, Gamble Quail, prairie chickens, antelope, and jackrabbits.

Several times we jumped antelopes and they ran

alongside us. Also, several times we were moving 40 mph and they were keeping up.

I've always heard that antelope won't jump a fence. They will run along the fence until they find a hole and go through it. This was proven several times today.

The last time one ran along the fence, and apparently it wasn't so sure about where the gap in the fence was. It ran along the fence and jumped. When it went through, its front legs caught on a wire and flipped it completely over on its back. Instantly it was on its feet again and shot away.

The babies are around a month old now and we saw several. They look just like the grown ones and are just as fast.

Around lunch we began to see the Rabbit Ear mountains, named for an Indian chief. These "mountians" are very large hills we see every time we go to Eagle Nest. It was a great thrill for the both of us for some reason. I guess we finally felt like we were home in a wierd way.

Soon we came to the New Mexico state line. It was like somebody flipped a switch to change the terrain. Immediately the fields were gone and was now broken plateaus.

For the past several days we've been in places where there are no fences along the roads. It's amazing how much nicer the view is without fences. It makes the view seem much more open. It's too bad there are so many at home!

As we traveled across the northeast corner of New Mexico towards Colorado the land became rocky and broken.

Several times we had to negotiate switchbacks up or down a plateau.

We stopped for lunch in a place labled Pacheco's Ranch on our map. A very nice, stone farm house seemed to be

deserted and we ate lunch under some cottonwoods beside the road.

After we ate, we moved towards the Colorado border. I was follwing the directions on our roll-chart. The directions took us to a road that was clearly a driveway and marked with a no trespassing sign. I was very confused at this point, but we didn't have any option. A pickup was parked at the house where the driveway led to. We pulled up next to the pickup. The window rolled down.

A man looked at me very suspiciously.

I asked if he knew if there was a left turn on this road that led to the switchbacks I knew that would put us on the right track.

"Where are you going?" was the response.

"Trinidad", I answered.

I think I could've said Jupiter and his astonishment would've been the same.

The astonishment was followed by, "you know the road is rough, and it will take a long time?"

I said, "Mister, you have no idea about rough roads, and all I got is time. I left Tennessee two weeks ago and its been nothing but both ever since!"

It took about three seconds for this to sink in. Then it was like a frying pan hit him. He did a double take at me and shouted, "Tennessee?!"

I just grinned.

After he regained his composure, he explained to me how to find the road I was looking for. He explained that the road I was on was the right road, even though it was also a driveway.

He added, "now don't get off the road, or you'll get shot. When you get to the top of the plateau its easy to get lost. Be careful."

I thanked him for his concern.

When I got to the top, I was shocked to see that there was no way to get lost. The road was 40 feet wide!

As we moved northwest, we passed into Colorado. Within an hour we had made our destination of Trinidad.

After searching for a motel room, an effort where I went into McDonalds and ended with all eight employees giving different directions to the motel we wanted, we were told they were full. The next motel said they had a few rooms and we felt lucky.

I spent the next hour on the phone securing, barely, rooms through the weekend for each night. Motels in Colorado, in June, fill quickly. We were lucky to get a room when and where we will need them.

Tomorrow we will take a full day off from the trail. We haven't had a day off yet and are in desperate need of rest and bike maintenance before tackling the mountains.

It's been a great day! See you down the trail.

Daily mileage: 260

Total mileage: 2158

Money Spent: $150

 

June 15