09 WCT Day 14 - Trek Across NM

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Day 14 - Monday - 28 SEPT - Farmington to Santa Rosa

After spending time last night and this morning I have changed my route home. I was planning to head across the top part of NM and then on home. Pretty much the direct route from here. But after talking to Carol I decided that I would take an extra day and see some stuff on the way home. The first thing I thought of was the town that Wild HOGs was filmed in. I couldn’t remember the name but I have copies of our HOG club newsletters on my computer so I looked it up. Terry Green the road captain at the time had taken a group from our club there on a 4 day weekend. It didn’t take long to find the article and the name of the city.. Madrid. The only thing, not Route 66 affiliated, I had way pointed in NM was the end of the Santa Fe Trail. It was in the middle of some town in NM. I have traveled most of both SFTs but never this low into NM. I decided to pass on this stop. I have had so much fun riding the vast empty areas, I don’t want to get into any city traffic. In my route planning I do the usual browse to see what counties I will be riding through and to my dismay I will be close to a Quay County. Q counties are not common at all. Q and Z are the hardest to find. There are only 3 Z counties in the US, 2 in TX and one in SD. The closest Q county to KC is Quitman County in MS.

Other things of interest was the Cadillac Ranch in TX. I had wanted to see it for a few years and never made it there. So my route home was going to include a stop at Madrid, then on to Santa Rosa for the night. I had a bunch of Route 66 motels way pointed along I-40.

I slept in this morning then called Carol to tell her my plans. I was off shortly after. The mornings have been brisk and this morning was no different. NM has some great views and I enjoy the ride toward Albuquerque. My route has me take I-25 north for a few miles then cut across to hwy 14 south and on into Madrid. I learned within a quarter mile of the exit that the road to Hwy 14 is all gravel. I debated, after all I can see that the next exit up would put me on paved roads all the way to Madrid. But I had ridden a lot on divided hwy and interstate today, I was ready for more of a challenge. This road would be the most memorable of the trip. The vistas seen here were just awesome. I did not see another vehicle while on this road and stopped many times for pictures. It was probably the slowest I traveled on any part of the trip. When I came to the far end of this cut off I was at Los Cerrillos. A town way past its prime. The stores still had wooden hitching rails out front. The only store that appeared to be open on this Monday afternoon was Mary’s Bar. Most other buildings were papered with NO TREASPASSING signs or KEEP OUT signs. I stopped to take some pictures then proceeded the short distance onto Hwy 14 and Madrid.

This Monday afternoon Madrid was is pretty quiet. I stopped and asked a local where the best place to eat was and after chuckling he informed me that there was only one place in town to eat. So I chose to eat at The Mine Shaft Tavern. There were only 2 motorcycles in the parking lot, parked in the back of the lot. I chose to park in the front since I had so much gear on the bike. I had a conversation with the 2 bikers as they were on the terrace. We ended up in the line to be seated together and the hostess thought we were together and seated us all. One of the guys motioned for me to join them so I did. It was Jeff and Mike. Mike had ridden down from MN to visit Jeff his brother who lived just a few miles away. We had a nice conversion about the area as we ate our buffalo burgers. Jeff told me about the Crest ride a 12 mile one way route to the top of a local mountain and the views that could be seen from there. It was right by a gas station that I was going to stop at anyway. After our meal I putting on my coat when someone walked up and asked if I was from Olathe. Funny question, but it was asked because I was wearing my Garmin hat. A Garmin vender in NV (GPSCity.com) had sent it to me. Kenny ended up being from KC but I had not met him. He asked if that was my sporty and then asked if I was the one that had won the ABCs. It still amazes me that people remember that. Anyway he introduced me to all his friends and we discussed where I had been and where I had not gone. One of the guys, Rick, comes running out as I am loading up and talks for awhile wondering why I had not gone to Mexico. I had gone to Mexico because I was scared to. Canada isn’t so bad because I speak the language. Disappointed in me Rick gave me his contact information and told me that he would guarantee a personal guide when I was ready to go to Mexico. He would just need 3 months notice. What an offer.

I finished loading up and headed toward the Crest ride that Jeff had told me about. The drive was indeed awesome. It was not busy I think I had one car coming the opposite direction and other than that didn’t see anyone until I was at the top. There were a handful of cars there. I stopped and took pictures as we headed up. At the top the view was good for miles of the valley below. It had been 14 miles like Jeff had said it would be, the smell of the evergreens was refreshing as we rode up the mountain. The temperature dropped over 10F on the climb to the top. A lot of the road was tight and twisty a fun ride. On the way back down Jeff and Mike were heading up. I was cold in my full face helmet, the cold wind was cutting like a knife. But these guys didn’t have helmets or windshields my first thought was how that just couldn’t be fun. I have all my Sandia Crest National Byway pictures in their own blog 09 Sandia Crest National Scenic Byway. There was too many pictures to put in this blog.

I hopped on the interstate and rode until it was well past dark and even colder, stopping in Santa Rosa, NM. I found the Sand and Sun motel an old Route 66 classic and got a room. This would be the cheapest room of the trip at $33 total for the night. The room was HUGE almost as big as my first apartment. LOL I played for a while trying to get a picture of the neon sign in the dark, but didn’t have real good luck.

359 miles for the day, Effie's odometer is 125737

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Photos

the hitching rails out side this old store
I learned while in CA that the high porches on these old buildings were for horse drawn coachs. So the occupants could step out of them onto the porch, instead of climbing down from the coach.

Madrid, NM
The movie set. Its not a real cafe.

My Lunch companions
Mike and Jeff