Sooner State Valkyrie Riders

*Note: I put lots of links in this writeup and they *should* open in a new window if you click them. I hope you enjoy our adventure.

Raymond and Rhonda (W0QNX) from Wichita, KS arrived at my home on Sunday Sept. 19. Early Monday morning we loaded the bikes and headed off on a week long adventure with a very loose ride plan that pointed us in the general direction of Alamosa, CO for the night. We headed out through the panhandle of Oklahoma through Guymon, Boise City and then to Clayton, NM. A quick lunch at the DQ and we were off again heading to Raton. We made a little side trip at Capulin Volcano which is right off the highway east of Raton. It is a neat place to stop if you are ever passing through. The Volcano Rim is right at 8000ft elev. with a great view of the surrounding area. After viewing the Volcano we made our way to Raton, north on I-25 to Walsenburg where we headed west again on Hwy 160 over La Veta Pass to Alamosa. Did I mention the wind was horrible all day? 30+MPH crosswinds ALL day long. Anyway, back to the story… We arrived in Alamosa and met up with Gary for a most excellent Mexican dinner. Great food, and great company!

Tuesday morning we were met with cold temps and snow in the upper elevations where we had planned to ride for the next few days. A quick review of the map sent us south into New Mexico to get away from the bad weather looming over our shoulders. We took Hwy 285 south out of Alamosa to Tres Piedras where we met Hwy 64 east to the Rio Grande Gorge. The Gorge was a wonderful surprise for me as it just appears out of nowhere with a huge metal bridge spanning the rocky cliffs on either side. We pulled into the rest area on the west end of the bridge to stretch, take photos and enjoy the view. Soon after, we crossed the bridge and parked again so we could walk out on the bridge for a more intimate view of the surroundings. Standing in the middle of the bridge while a Semi truck passed over was quite an experience! Next on the agenda was the Taos Pueblo in Taos, Nm which was just a few miles on down Hwy 64. The Taos Pueblo is a group of multi storied adobe buildings that have been inhabited for over 1000 years by Native Americans. After a nice lunch at Susies Grill in Taos we secured a room for the night, unloaded the bikes, and geared up for an afternoon of riding in the surrounding mountains. We chose the Enchanted Circle for our afternoon ride. Great twisties, and awesome scenery everywhere you looked! The Aspens were just beginning to show their fall colors too! The Circle takes you from Taos, through Eagles Nest, to Red River and back around to Taos. A nice 85 mile ride that you can waste a day riding!

Wednesday morning we ran into Brett and Trudy (dalai-lama) from Connecticut at our hotel in Taos. They had arrived the night before after a horribly cold, wet ride down I-25 through Denver. As it turned out they had the same plans we did for riding the mountains before heading down to Albuquerque for the Blast. We agreed to show them the Enchanted Circle since we had such a great ride the day before and wouldn’t wait to do it again. This time we decided to widen the circle a bit so we headed south out of Taos on Hwy 68 and then taking Hwy 75 back east through Dixon, Penasco, and Vadito before hitting Hwy 518 through Sipapu Resort to Mora. A fantastic ride! Just when we thought it couldn’t get any better we took Hwy 38/434 north out of Mora heading to Anglefire. We call this road the “Sidewalk” since it is so narrow, but what an awesome little motorcycle road. The road seemed to be carved around the trees and just went on for miles and miles. This is a must ride road in my opinion, but caution should be taken for oncoming traffic though we didn’t see many cars. We continued on through Angelfire to Hwy 64 where we followed the rest of the Enchanted loop back around to Taos for the night.

Thursday morning the temperature was a brisk 28°. We took our time loading the bikes and had a late breakfast before heading south to Albuquerque. Our leisurely pace paid off as the temps rose to a comfortable level for our ride down. We arrived shortly after noon to several other Valkyrie riders hanging out at the hotel. The rest of the day was spent acquiring a helmet for Brenda, kicking tires and a trip to the airport to pick up my co-rider. Later in the evening everyone hung out behind the hotel with a little Dragons Drool.

Friday we joined the group ride through the mountains north of Albuquerque. The ride began by taking I-25 to Sante Fe, then Hwy 285 north to Hwy 4/502 at Pojoaque where we headed west. We followed Hwy 4 through Los Alamos, and into the Sante Fe National Forest. This was a beautiful scenic route with twisty roads that went from forest/trees to big open meadows, to giant rocky bluffs. After a stop for lunch, we made a side trip up a small canyon road through two rock tunnels with a view of a mountain stream below. Finally we made our way on to Hwy 550 taking us back to Albuquerque for the night.

Saturday Brenda and I slept in after a horrible experience trying to get home from the Isleta Casino the night before. Instead of blazing down I-25 as part of the poker run we decided to cruise around and see the local sites in Albuquerque. While looking for the Albuquerque Aquarium we ran into the Old Town Plaza. We parked the bike and browsed through the various shops and generally just enjoyed the sites. Next we went on to the Albuquerque Aquarium and Botanical Gardens. We saw all kinds of cool aquatic creatures and local plant life. We also goofed around a little. Later as we cruised through town we ran into the local downtown Arts Festival where we sat in a small sandwich shop and listened to a live Mariachi band playing at the festival. The bike games back at ground zero we scheduled to start at 4pm and we made it just in time to see Rhonda win the Wiener bite and Raymond race on the mini bicycles. Of course we got in on the action as well but came away without any awards. The evening ended with a huge BBQ dinner, raffle and awards ceremony. Everyone said their goodbyes in preparation for the trip home on Sunday.

On Sunday morning, before any sane human being should be out of bed, I took Brenda to the airport for her flight home. After loading up and eating a giant breakfast burrito Raymond, Rhonda and I headed down I-40 only to find rain 120 miles into the trip. The rain stayed light but steady for 250 miles until I finally found sunshine again as I approached Shamrock, TX. I finally arrived at my home after a long 498 mile ride, mostly in rain, about 4:30pm.

With the exception of rain on the trip home it was a most wonderful adventure. I made some new friends and got to hang out with old ones as well. In the end I put 1810 awesome miles on my Valkyrie.

My pictures of the trip can be found here and Brenda took a few also. The New Mexico group has a page up with links to more pics here.