I haven’t posted for a long while. This has been a wild week. I had planned to go east but we canceled that. I had 9 days off of work. Loraine was in AZ and wanted to extend her stay. She needed something that couldn’t be sent through the mail. She talked of me delivering it to her. Then she decided to fly home. As is her perogative… she changed her mind and told me to come pick her up but bring the items too. As a well trained husband of 42 years I said… ok. Rode down to Phoenix in two days. First day just over 600 miles. I got a hotel in Platt, Kansas as my weather map showed I was soon going to be in rain. It was 7 pm and getting close to dark and it was 63°F and dropping. I chose to get the hotel! Next day I continued SW until I hit Tucumcari NM. Buzzed west on I40 then angled down to Phoenix from Holbrook AZ and put in just over 1100 miles on Thursday. I asked Loraine if she realized that she would have to put in 350 to 400 mile days for 5 days in a row going home. She was determined to try. She had ibuprofen. I wasn’t sure about this. She thought I had more time. Even two days would have made a big difference. I promised to take her riding more often to build up her seat time tolerance. But to start off your season like that isn’t a good idea. She wasn’t happy but she agreed that it was probably a good idea not to do it. I could have flown her out of Denver but she chose to stay in AZ another week.
I went to bed early at 10 pm and woke up before 5. Showered and got gear on and out the door and on the road by 0510. 71° and no traffic. Sun about to come over the horizon. When it did it jumped to 75°. I was headed East towards Tempe and going to Globe. When I left the concrete jungle and was out in the desert temps dropped to 71. At Globe I started to climb and the roads had some tight turns and then a lot of sweepers too. Fun fun fun. When I climbed the temps dropped to 61 then worked up to 63 and then steady around 65. Kinda chilly with no layers on and the vents on my suit open. I told myself to enjoy the cold while I could before I got out of the mountains I finally hit Sanders on I40 around 1130 PST. Went east on I40 for 38 miles and got off and circled north around Gallup NM. 75° and very pleasant. Some clouds building in the distance over the mountains but clear blue above me. Speed limit was 55 out in the middle of nowhere and I might have been cruising somewhere above that for a while. I was headed to Chaco Canyon.
I have been wanting go to Chaco Canyon since I read about it in an author’s note in a Louis L’Amour western. What I didn’t know was that the last 19 miles of hwy 57 to the park was crusted dry clay with ruts that had hardened along with bedrock sticking out and also very wash boarded gravel with the occasional patches of sand thrown in for real fun. Even had a few big uphill inclines that broke off sharply. You didn’t know what was on the other side. All ok if I was on my Adventure Bike (Super Tenere 1200 or on my Honda 450L with 12” of ground clearance instead of the Wing’s 5.9”) I saw the beginning of “The road” and it was not good but I wasn’t going to let 19 miles of a gravel road stop me… oh, but I should have! There were a lot of “uh ohs” uttered and I was thinking… what have I gotten myself into? It got better for a bit. Just washboard stuff that I handled at 40 mph to lessen the shaking… then more uh, oh sounds. Then sand. I don’t care for sand on my 300# enduro and now I was riding a 1000# Goldwing. I also saw cows and horses. Horses right by the road and cows earlier all around the road one mama and her calf standing in the middle of the road. I slowly approached and they just stood there watching me almost idle by. Horses didn’t run either. Lots of Elk crossing signs earlier in the day and I thankfully saw none. I finally made it to the park entrance sign. I turned around from taking the obligatory I was here picture and saw a sign on the other side of the road that I just came over stating “This road may be impassable. Travel at your own risk” I quit reading there. Yeah, I did it mostly at 40 mph to lessen the shaking of the washboard. Passed 4 tesla cars and one gas truck. Had many a 2nd thought in that 19 miles but Iwas in to far to turn around. Then the last 1.5 miles after the entrance sign became sandy! Egads again!
I finally got to the visitor center. Got in for free. Thank you President Trump for making parks free for veterans or Gold Star families.
I only walked around the biggest of the 9 remains of the buildings there due to time restraints and lack of water. It was just amazing. The construction and what impressed me the most was that all the stones on the interior and exterior walls were squared off so they were even faced like a brick building.
The Ranger said going out the north gate would be better. Freshly graded gravel and only 13 miles of it instead of the rough 21 miles that I came in on. Hah, she lied. 13 miles… first 4 was a lot of sand and in between was worse washboard than I came in on and I couldn’t maintain speed over it cause those sand patches blended right in and showed up without much warning. The sand was way worse than the southern route. After 4 miles… and I was really counting down those miles… as each mile was a major victory! It turned to straight washboard gravel… shaking me apart. Rode through one dust devil and missed a bad one by 5 feet as it went across in front of me spinning up thick dust and 4 or 5 tumble weeds were trapped in it. Thought I was done with sand as I was up out of the Canyon bottom. Nope, had a lot of drifted sand dropped in corners that had banks protecting them. Last mile was thick gravel and my front end started sliding out. A quick desperate foot dab saved the day.
Finally I made it back to pavement, Yeehaw!
I was low on gas and kept it to 55. 5 miles later on US 550 there was a gas station. I was filling up and an old local Indian came up to chat. How far are you going? Not sure but I just came up 57 to the park then left out the Northern gate and made it to here. He looked at the Wing and said… On THAT? Yep. He continued. Those are bad roads. I live just East of the park. If I want to go to the Park I get on my dirt bike and take a way up over the Mesa and down into the Park. I never take those roads and if I did only on a dirt bike. We chatted some more and said our goodbyes. An hour later I checked into a Motel 6 in Farmington NM.
Cooled off a bit then went and washed all the dust off the Wing and went to dinner. I was headed to an Olive Garden but it turned out to be 3 miles away and I saw this Mexican Restaurant so I pulled in. It was good! Tomorrow I go up through Durango on 550 (Million Dollar Hwy) to Montrose then East on US 50 until almost out of the mountains and then I will stop by to visit with an old work buddy who is happily retired.
Adventures By Guy 
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