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Published: October 8th 2009
3:00 AM is always a nasty time to wake up, but that’s what we did Thursday morning enroute to the International Balloon Festival in Albuquerque, NM. The plan was to meet Don and Benny in Cuba, AL at 5:00, ride hard to Amarillo, TX for steak and a good nights sleep. That plan quickly went down the drain!
We stopped for gas in Jackson, MS and once back on the interstate I noticed how poorly my motorcycle was handling. A dive off at the next exit revealed that my rear shock was blown. What that means is the bike was supported only by the spring without any dampening action. It was like riding a 1000 pound pogo stick!
My suspension is an upgrade from stock, so a call to Traxxion Dynamics got the name and number of a facility in Dallas, TX that was capable of doing the repair. We played phone tag until I finally got hold of Jim at Raceworx. He could do the work on Friday morning so off we went across MS, LA, and TX. Barbara rode with Benny and Don carried my luggage to reduce the weight. Anyone who has crossed the part of
I-20 knows that smooth roads are not part of the bargain so it was bouncy, bouncy, bouncy for 400 miles. We made it to Mesquite, TX for the night, avoiding a major thunderstorm in the process.
We were at Jim’s shop waiting for his arrival Friday AM. Once we were in the shop, he started the laborious process of removing the rear shock and starting the rebuild. A Goldwing rear shock is a complex piece of mechanical stuff, but Jim knew what he was doing! Even as competent a mechanic as he was, it was still a 7 hour process to remove, rebuild, and reinstall the shock but he worked through some issues and by 5 PM we were ready to roll.
Seriously behind schedule, we headed west! Around 2 AM and 500 or so miles later, we stopped for some sleep in Roswell, NM. On the way there in the dark, we noticed hundreds of blinking red lights along the highway and off into the distance. We were unsure if the aliens were coming to get us, or there were huge Texas fireflies. Turns out there is a gigantic wind turbine farm outside of Sweetwater and we
were seeing the blinking lights on the turbines. There were some close to the road and the image of these huge propellers swinging in the night air was a sight to see.
On the road again fairly early Saturday morning it rained. Yes, it does rain in the desert of West Texas and eastern New Mexico.
The rain tapered off later in the morning as we cruised through the mountains enroute to our first stop of the day - The Trinity Site. Open only two days a year, the sight of the detonation of the first atomic bomb is at the very northern end of White Sands Missile Range. There really isn’t a lot to see other than scrub desert, but it was a popular stop. I can now say that I’ve stood on the ground of an atomic explosion!
Our next planned stop was the Very Large Array located outside of Socorro, NM. This is a huge radio telescope farm used for deep space exploration. It also was the location used in filming the movie “Contact” with Jodie Foster. The geeks at the site quickly let us know that the scene of her sitting on the
car hood “listening” was a load of crap and extensive movie making! The radio telescopes capture images……not sound!
Interesting to see 250 ton dishes and to learn how they worked and even more intruiging was how they were moved. The array can go from a “close” configuration to a “wide” configuration. Close in, the scopes are very close together……wide apart they can cover a 13 mile stretch! Rearranging them takes 2 weeks, so they spend 3 months in each different configuration. Very cool looking transporter on rails that can pick up these huge things and move them from point A to B.
Socorro was our base of operations for the next 2 days. In order to see the dawn launch of the balloons, we were on the road the Albuquerque at 5 AM. Soon after hitting the interstate, a suicidal coyote darted across in front of us….skidding to a stop in the middle of the road. Luckily for all, he scampered on into the night, but I was wide awake now.
Estimates were for around 100,000 people to attend Sunday’s Mass Ascension. The Balloon Fiesta has a dedicated 100 acre site and is a very well organized,
orchestrated, managed event. In the darkness, we were quickly guided to parking and a very short walk to enter the grounds. Vendors of every imaginable type filled the main street area and we had no doubts that attendance estimates were pretty close.
We were to meet an old Army friend - Chris Stallings - that morning so with cell phones in hand we maneuvered through the crowds and found each other. After snacking on some hot, fresh, mini-doughnuts we went looking for balloons.
Over 500 hot air and gas balloons were scheduled for the Mass Ascension. Weather was cooperative with only mild breezes. It was interested to watch the process of inflating (they used fans to start to blow the balloons up), then hear the roar of the gas burners as hot air started to lift them up. Every shape, size, color, design you could imagine started to fill the launch area. The sounds of whistles filled the air as the marshalls started the process of safely launching the balloons. There were so many people gathered around each balloon and a vertical launch was not always possible, so the marshalls blew whistles and cleared paths so you wouldn’t
get knocked in the head by the basket of an ascending balloon. Everything was so well coordinated! As each balloon lifted off, the crowd cheered.
We were next to the launch site of Pepe Le Pew! This was the inaugural launch of the balloon closely resembling the cartoon character. We watched as he was filled with air and amazed at the skill of the pilots as they kept the balloon upright but not ascending. Ground crews struggled with ropes until the marshall gave the launch signal. To see them gently lift off the ground with unbelievable grace was a sight to behold.
Soon the air was filled with hundreds of balloons, all jockeying for the right altitude. By now the sun was fully up and the sky was filled with colors, shapes and designs. Pictures are posted online at http://rikkitik.smugmug.com/Travel.
After watching balloons, we headed off to ride the mountains north of Albuquerque and catch some National Park Stamps. We visited Pecos National Park, Fort Union National Monument, and Bandelier National Monument. I’ve said this before and will again…….the National Park System has some of the most amazing things to see! Inexpensive and in most cases free,
the history of our county/land is captured in these amazing places. Over the past few years, I’ve managed to visit well over 120 locations and have yet to encounter a grumpy or disgruntled employee or volunteer. The Rangers love what they do and are so proud of “their” site! Fountains of information, they often overflow with the least encouragement. We startled another coyote going into Bandelier…..he just cowered alongside the road as we passed within a couple of feet.
On the way back, we stopped in Los Alamos for gas. If you have ever watched the Sci-Fi channel series “Eureka”, the you will get the drift of Los Alamos. Home of the some of the highest tech, super secret, research facilities in the country, you have to go through a guard gate to get into town. We thought that was pretty cool.
We were going back to Albuquerque for the Evening Glow where the ballons are inflated but not launched……just illuminated by hundreds of gas burners…..but the winds had picked up to the point where not only was it unsafe to inflate a balloon, it was a challenge just to ride on the highway. We parted company with
Chris and headed back to Socorro.
The problem with sightseeing in New Mexico is the ride home. The plan was to follow US Hwy 82 all the way home, but that quickly went by the wayside when we realized it would take way too much time to go through hundreds of small towns. So we picked our way back through the mountains……Ruidoso, Hobbs, etc. and hit the interstate again. We did manage to see that wind farm in the daylight. There were hundreds of giant wind turbines generating a lot of electricity since the wind was blowing quite well.
We pulled into Abilene, Texas for the night. After a good night of rest, we tackled the final 758 miles to the house. Everything went smoothly through Texas and Louisiana, but as we left Jackson, MS the rain started. Intermittent at first, by the time we hit Meridian it was raining hard! A stop for rain gear was necessary but quickly proved not necessary as the rain tapered off in a few miles.
13 hours later, we were all safe and sound at home. We rode 3315 miles in 6 days, one of which was basically ruined for repairs. Not bad for a long weekend with friends!
Rick and Barbara
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sherry rose
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Thanks
Thanks for the memories. You were in my old stompin grounds. Went to Bandelier on my honeymoon - the balloon festival photos are wonderful. I spent lots of years in that part of TX and NM.