Miles today: 326
Hours in the saddle: 6:01
Soundtrack: Spaghetti Westerns, Metallica
Calories burned (allegedly): 753
<clears throat> <announcer voice>: WE GOT ROLLING BEFORE 9:00 🏆🌟👑🥇
Today was about miles, and we accomplished that without having to resort to highways. We left Echo Basin to make our way towards Cloudcroft, stopping in Las Vegas (NM) for the night. We had a nice ride thru Carson National Forest until we ran thru a monsoon, it started absolutely pounding rain including marble-sized hail. (We now know what it takes to get Jaron to slow down: he prefers to get hailed on at 30mph.) Julie even got a piece of hail inside her helmet. Visibility was poor and I am super relieved that it didn’t last very long. We stopped at Subway and Julie noticed red welts (not pictured) on her right thigh where the hail had particularly hurt. They are still there 8 hrs later after dinnertime. (And the morning after.) (Update: still visible after a shower 4 days later)
We stopped at Subway for lunch and were cold and wet. Julie felt water pooled in her elbow armor while riding and tried to dry out the insides of her sleeves with napkins. Not good for this new jacket. We did find some wrinkles in the velcro on her chest vents, so hopefully that resolves it for next time. Jaron found some of his zippers not completely tucked in. Both of us were wearing white so there was a wet tshirt contest at Subway. Either we both lost or we both won. Sorry, no pics. Julie was so cold she said she didn’t remember ever being warm before.
Fortunately there was only light rain after that episode. We stopped in Taos for some hard-earned ice cream and wandered towards the public restrooms where we finished while listening to construction noise next door. Jaron said I take him to the nicest places. 😊
We also got to cross the Rio Grand gorge/canyon bridge. It was pretty cool! Really deep and lots of cool rock layers to look at.
After a couple more hours of sweeping forest highways we circled Las Vegas looking for the least shady motel. We were glad to find a taco fusion place at the golf course for dinner. Otherwise it was looking like 3.8-star Chinese or one of several greasy diners. (And that’s 3.8 stars based on local standards.)
I finally remembered to take pictures of dinner since there was nothing else noteworthy today. Jaron cleaned his plate and Julie cleaned her pineapple.
Unfortunately this place doesn’t open for bkst until 10:00, and I have a feeling we will be long gone by then. May even set a record for earliest departure!
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