Retired and Trippin

We left the motel at 9:15 in some light fog.  It was 61 degrees.  We jumped on the turnpike (I-35) north to Cassoday where we rode north on Hwy 177, which is designated as the Flint Hills Scenic Byway.  I always enjoy this route. The Flint Hills Scenic Byway continues north to Council Grove but after a stop in Strong City for a break and gas we rode Hwy 50 east to Emporia.  Hwys 99 (north) and 170 (east) took us to Reading, which was mostly destroyed by a tornado on May 22, 2011.  Chris and I had been here with a church group before and we wanted to see how rebuilding was progressing.  We enjoyed lunch at the new Miracle Cafe and then drove home on Hwys 170, 50, and I-35. We arrived home before 2:30 having ridden 230 miles.  The high temperature was 77 and after the fog burned off it was mostly blue clear skies. For more pictures from today click on the following link: https://picasaweb.google.com/104542123131082631220/TaosNMDay8091712?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCPO5gv277sTffQ&

Interesting factoid: We read in our motel room last night that Guymon became an important town in the Oklahoma panhandle in 1901 when the Rock Island Railroad added a line from Liberal, KS to Guymon.  This explains the significance of the Rock Island caboose in the city park. We left Guymon at 8:45 am.  It was partly cloudy and 54 degrees.  Another cool start.  We rode north and east on Hwy 54.  Some say riding in Kansas is boring with nothing to see.  Not so.  There was an interesting train bridge running parallel to Hwy 54 (see pictures) and at two separate locations we saw grain being unloaded from trucks.  I had never seen that before. As we were approaching Meade, KS it appeared as though we were approaching a low bank of clouds that spread across the entire horizon.  We soon realized that is exactly what it was and we were riding in fog. Just past Meade we turned west on Hwy 160, rode into Clark County (what a fine name!), and rode through some interesting looking country. 

We started back home today and departed the motel at 9:15.  It was sunny and 50 degrees. Highway 64 east from Taos was a pretty but slow ride.  Slow due to speed limit and slow moving vehicles.  As we gained altitude east of Taos the temperature dropped to 46. It took us well over an hour to make the 55 mile trip to Cimarron, NM, where we stopped for a bathroom break.  From Cimarron we rode Hwy 58 south and east to I-25 and then south to Springer, NM, where we picked up Hwy 56 eastbound.  It is 83 miles from Springer to Clayton, NM with not much of anything except antelope.  My ace photographer was able to get a few pictures of them. In Clayton, NM we stopped for gas and then for lunch at the historic Eklund Hotel and Restaurant.  The food was very good and it was an interesting place to stop. From Clayton it was eleven miles to Oklahoma. The WILDCAT logo in Boise City, OK made us feel right at home, even if it was the Boise City High School mascot. Just east of Boise City Hwys

Today is my mother-in-law’s birthday.  HAPPY  BIRTHDAY   ROSIE ! Today we are following Uwe Krauss’ day 3 route from his article in the April 2012 RoadRunner magazine. We left the motel at 9:20 under mostly clear skies and it was 48 degrees . . . . chilly.  My ride was shining and beautiful because I washed it this morning. We rode to Chama, NM via Hwy 64.  On the way we stopped at the bridge over the Rio Grande Gorge where we walked out on the bridge and took some pics.  It was beautiful. Next we passed a new development of strange houses built with mostly alternative building materials. It was a beautiful ride to Chama and at higher elevations it was cold, windy and BEAUTIFUL! In Chama we stopped at the visitor center, gassed up the beast, ate lunch, and took some pics in the rail yard of the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad.  Anything railroad related always reminds Chris of her Dad.  Chris also did some shopping and found the perfect coffee cup (she’s such a big sp

Today we are riding the day 2 route described by Uwe Krauss in the April 2012 RoadRUNNER magazine (see Taos, NM; Day 3; ( http://shawneegoldwingertrips.blogspot.com/2012/09/taos-nm-day-3-september-12th.html ). After another complimentary breakfast we departed at 9:20 am (54 degrees) and rode south on Highway 68 to Espanola, NM.  We found Hwy 30 and rode south to Hwy 502 and into Los Alamos.  While we were leaving Espanola, going about 45 mph, Chris accidentally dropped our digital camera. WHOOPS! We turned around to find that an older guy saw it happen and he’d stopped along the road by the camera.  We retrieved it, bent it back into shape and . . . . .  SHAZAM . . . . . . it still worked. We rode into the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) grounds passing signs that said visitors were welcome.  We rode around looking for a visitor center that we found out later is in the town of Los Alamos.  We were approaching a checkpoint that said security badges were required to pass so I

We had our complimentary breakfast (a good one) at the motel before we departed at 9:15.  It was cloudy, 59 degrees and sprinkling so we had our rain gear on. Early this year I read the April 2012 edition of RoadRunner Motorcycle Touring & Travel ( http://www.roadrunner.travel/ ).  An article written by Uwe Krauss inspired this trip to Taos.  He spent four days in Taos and did what was called the Shamrock Tour.  Each day he took a day trip, which was a loop that ended up back in Taos.  I had the magazine and the maps provided so I could retrace his trips.  In fact, I scanned the maps and planned to provide a digital map of each day’s trip but I failed to copy the cans to my laptop before we left home.  I’ll add the maps to the blog after I get home. Today we were riding Uwe’s Day 4 route.  As we turned onto Hwy 512 headed east and south we saw this was the High Road to Taos Scenic Byway.  And scenic it was. My map of New Mexico led me to believe (because I’m a dumbass) that i

A very wonderful thing happened on September 11th . . . . . 2008.  Grandson JACK was born.  Happy birthday Jack! We left Garden City at 8:05.  It was mostly clear, 68 and windy.  Chris was NOT looking forward to another day of wind.  We rode west on Hwy 50 and before we reached Syracuse the wind died down – HALLELUJA! So the weather was fantastic as we hit the Colorado line. We also picked up an hour so we’d be riding into Taos in good time.  We ran into some construction but we had a lot of really great resurfaced road.  We stopped for gas and a break in Lamar and then somewhere between Lamar and La Junta my motorcycle rolled over 120,000 miles.  Another milestone, another first for me. As we rode into La Junta neither of us needed a break before attacking Hwy 10 into Walsenburg (73 miles with no towns and no service) so we kept on riding.  Before we reached Walsenburg, however, Chris needed to take off her heavy coat so we stopped alongside the road. There is not much traffic

Chris and I are off to Taos, NM.  We departed home at 10:00 am.  It was 72 under blue clear skies. We rode west and south on I-35, Hwys 50, 150, 56, and 156 to Garden City, KS.  We stopped for gas in Emporia and a short time later we were on Hwy 150 riding through the Flint Hills.  My pictures don’t do the Flint Hills justice. We ate lunch at Applebee’s in McPherson, KS, and gassed up again in Larned.  We rode past Jetmore, the small town in western Kansas where my Mom grew up. We arrived in Garden City shortly after 5:00 pm, did some shopping at Wally Mart for items I forgot to bring from home, and checked into the Comfort Inn.  The motel provided popcorn and tuna salad sandwiches for dinner.  We had a dip in the pool and turned in early.  LIFE IS GOOD! This motel is the same place where my motorcycle was blown over by a storm on July 1st of this year. (http://shawneegoldwingertrips.blogspot.com/2012/07/colorado-day-10-july-1-2012.html )  I’m hoping it won’t happen this time.

We rode away from the Lynina Inn at 8:00 am.  It was a cool 70 degrees.  We rode north on Hwy 65 to Ozark, MO where we stopped for breakfast at Shoney’s. The Lynina Inn offered a good complimentary breakfast but Mel had wood for the Shoney’s breakfast buffet. We rode around Springfield and north to Lowry City, where we stopped for gas.  We also said our goodbyes here as this was our last stop together. We rode through Clinton, Harrisonville on our way home, where arrived before 1:00. It was 91 as we were riding through Shawnee.  Today we rode 228 miles. Our tour guides, Mel and Trish, orchestrated a great ride!!!

Carl and Marge took off for home early this morning.  I know they were still at the motel at 6:10 but I don’t know for sure when they left.  I’m guessing they were on the road by 6:30. Mel, Trish, Chris, and I rode north out of Hot Springs on Hwy 7 at 8:30.  It was 75 degrees and very humid.  I cleaned up my Goldwing this morning and I was sweating like a pig. Hwy 7 is a beautiful ride.  This morning, riding the curvy tree lined road, brought this point home nicely.  At one point I was riding along and saw three vehicles approach quickly from the rear.  They were red, yellow, and silver Corvettes.  It was obvious they wanted to haul ass through the twisties so we pulled to the side of the road and let them pass.  The throaty sound of their exhaust as they accelerated past us was impressive. We stopped for gas in Russellville, crossed the Arkansas River, and continued north on 7 to Hwy 123.  This highway was also a lot of fun. It provided curves galore and even a few hairpin turns

We left our motel today at 9:00.  It was sunny and 73 degrees but it was already humid. We rode east, south, west, back north across Lake Hamilton and back into Hot Springs. We found a place to park on bath house row and hit the Hot Springs National Park visitor center located in the old Fordyce Bath House.  After a short informational movie we took a self-guided tour of the Fordyce Bath House. Our next stop was the gangster museum, which was very informative.  We learned all about the corrupt and slimy underbelly (which was considerable) of old Hot Springs. Granny’s Kitchen provided us with a very forgettable lunch served by an ignorant and lazy waiter. After lunch we rode the Hot Springs Mountain Scenic Drive, shopped at a big indoor flea market and nabbed an ice cream cone at Scoops. By afternoon we returned to the motel and took a swim until it started raining.  Carl and I remained in the pool until we heard thunder . . . and Carl finished his drink. Before turning in