Dirt and stars

After a light complimentary breakfast of toast, muffins and coffee at the Days Inn, it was time to hit the road for my big final push into the south-west. According the the GPS it's about 20 hours from here to San Diego, so that's a few days of riding.

The bike is running well. Superb in fact. The oil usage has stabilized to about a few ounces per 1000 kilometres. I've been using 100% synthetic since I got the bike. Usually Mobil1, but tried to switch to Amsoil just before this trip. The problem is finding places to buy Amsoil 20w50 while on the road. I think the most consistent spots are large Harley-Davidson dealerships. High Plains H-D in Clovis, NM hooked me up nicely.

From a biker's perspective, today's ride had just about everything.

I cruised out of Albuquerque down old highway 25, which runs parallel to the new I-25. They run down the same valley, but on the empty old road I get to ride at 55 mph and fell like I'm doing 100, rather than on the Interstate struggling to hit 70 and be constantly pushed around by the trucks.

I met a group of 3 BMW riders, fully geared for a long ride, standing roadside with a map. I thought to approach them, but contented myself with a toot of the old air horn and a wave.

Ten minutes after passing them, I was lost in the desert.

According to the map, there was supposed to be a road right here ...

Well, there were many roads, but without names. So I took one that looked promising. For the sake of vanity I would rather lie, but won't -- I took the one more travelled. And boy, it made all the difference.

My GPS knew where I was, but insisted the road beneath me did not exist. After 10 minutes of riding blind like this, the Garmin finally worked itself out and showed the road I was on did in fact lead me back to my original route.

And what a fun ride this side route turned out to be. About 40 miles of rough stuff - a combination of hard-packed dirt, gravel roads and some seriously deep sand in many corners. I was riding dirt, for real!

Here I was in a real desert, picking my way slowly along the washboard roads. A half hour earlier I was cruising at 60 mph, now I was down to 25 and standing on the pegs. This is what a KLR 650 was made for!

Thank goodness for my Mefo Exlporer tires. In most places, they keep me sure-footed when the road was doing it's best to buck me off. I was sure something was going to rattle off the bike though. The washboard effect of the dirt road kept 'becca and I rattling for the entire 3 hours in this section.

First I thought I road was headed straight to the mountain, and I thought this would be quite the adventure. 

Thankfully, the road skirted around to the north of the mountain, and it's a good thing. As we go closer to the mountain, the road became more challenging. Up and down, twist and turn. The 318 corners of the Dragon seem like a distant childhood memory. THIS ride was tough!

The highlight was coming to section where the road dipped into a gully and was completely washed out by a slow flowing river. I stood on the bank for a minute to contemplate the best way across. The water was not deep, probably less than 4 inches for most of it. The deep sand on the embankments and the mud below -- those I wasn't sure I'd be able to handle.

After surveying for a minute, my adrelenaine was on over-drive. I didn't want to lose my nerve, so I jumped back on the bike and started across. 

Down the first bank smoothly, then the front tire hit the mud. The handlebars jerked sideways in my hands, and I was sure I was going down. My leg flew out instantly and touched down hard on a rock just below the surface of the water.

The bike righted itself and we pushed forward some more. Crossing to the other bank probably only took about 2 seconds, but felt like 5 minutes.

As we reached the far bank, I twisted the throttle slightly for more power to get us up and out.

Too much.

The rear wheel bit in and the front lifted slightly off the ground. It's an interesting place to pull a wheelie. Not the ideal place however. 

My poor heart must have shot to over 200 BPM for second there, as the wheel came back down in some sand. 

For those who don't ride, sand is very tough. I have yet to learn the practical physics that will tell me which direction the front wheel will go when I hit deep sand.

The bike wobbled left, right, then left again. Rinse, repeat 5 times in the next 3 seconds, and I am fully puckered.

Thankfully, there was no one there on the bank for me to crash into, so I just dropped both feet and slid to a stop next to some cacti edging the road.

After it was done, and my heart rate slowed I thought, "I should have filmed that!"

Sadly, I think my video camera's battery is dead, as I wasn't able to capture anything at all for the day.

I didn't even think to take a photo. I keep thinking my photo skills cannot capture these landscapes I see, the sounds of the desert wind, the feel of the bright sun in clear sky high in the mountains. 

Next time!

After that crossing, it was back to corrugated gravel/dirt for another 40 minutes, before coming out on Hwy 60 near the 'town' of Magdelena, New Mexico.

I gassed up, got my usual power lunch (Red Bull and Snickers), then headed west towards Phoenix.

Then came the coolest part of the day.

In the distance I could see a giant radio telescope.

And another.

It's a whole farm of them.

Wow! I had just come across the Very Large Array Observatory. This is one of the places where they filmed the movie Contact. They actually do real science here, listening to sounds from deep across the Universe.

I get so lucky sometimes.

The sun is starting to set, and we're up on a 7,000+ foot plateau, so it's getting cold.

Really

But there's no way I resist stopping to tour the facility!

The array is made up 27 of these giants, spread along 3 axes. The dish of each can hold the infield of major league baseball diamond. 

Each radio telescope is on a rail track and can be moved and reconfigured depending on the particular experiment at hand. 

Today it seems they are looking at something in great detail, as all of the telescope are close.

When they was maximum distance, they can spread the array to length of 36 kilometres! Wow!

So I take in the 9-minute movie on how it all works, and do the walking tour. They allow you to stand beneath of these silent giants.

The BEST part of the day comes as I am scurrying around the base of the telescope looking for a good shot, and I hear the whine of electric motors high above.

The dish is moving! I can actually look up and watch the disk move a tiny bit as it continues tracking .. something .. out there...

I can't see from here, but I know all of the other dishes are moving in unison.

Wow.

----

On the recommendation from the woman running the gift shop (her husband is a rider, and is trying to raid their savings for a Ducati Multistrada), I ride through the next town and stop 50 miles up the road at the Largo Motel in Quemado, NM. It's expensive ($60) but the rooms are brand new, and warm.

It's almost dark now, and the temperature is down the 32 F. Time to stop.

Today was a good day.

p.s. I'm on the other side now. I crossed the Continental Divide just a few miles ago. From here going West, all rivers flow to the Pacific Ocean.