Roswell, NM

Day 2 April 18, 2010



For the first night, Ken and I were roommates. C.E. and Jan roomed together and Chuck and Bruce were together. I woke up at 6 AM and Ken soon followed. We got dressed and packed. We went out to our Motors and gave them their morning TLC. Off to breakfast we went...back into the building as breakfast was included in the night stay. We were there by ourselves for quite some time until, lo and behold, Chuck came in, followed by Bruce. Ken and I were just talking and saying that Chuck wouldn't come out of hibernation until his usual 8:30 AM or so. What a surprise! Soon after, C.E. came down and went out to his Motor and gave it some TLC. When C.E. finished, he came in for breakfast and I gave up my seat for him. I had to go back to my room to get my stuff so that I could pack my Motor. When I got down to my Motor, Jan had come down and was giving TLC to his Motor. We all finished packing and left the Holiday Inn and rode about a half a block north to a Phillips 66 gas station and we all filled up. It was 59 degrees and we left at 8:59 AM southbound on I-25 with Bruce leading. We were headed to Roswell, NM to go to the museum. Ken was hoping that we could go and feed the caged aliens.



We turned onto US 380 and after riding for 79.1 miles, we stopped in Carizozo, NM at 10:00 AM and 57 degrees for...you guessed it, a much needed pit stop. After all, we had a lot of coffee for breakfast. The ride was awesome! The road was in great shape, hills, curves and not very much traffic. There was a lot of farmland. The clouds were hanging very low and it seamed as if we could just reach up and touch them. After our break, we left at 10:32 AM with Bruce still leading. We were enjoying the ride and making some good time when Jan, who was third in line, got out of formations and accelerated to get next to Bruce. Jan motioned to Bruce and gave him our "pit stop" signal. Jan then accelerated, passing Bruce and led for a short distance and then pulled over to the side of the road at MP 312. For those who don't know, MP is milepost. We all pulled over. It was 63 degrees and we had only ridden for 74.5 miles. Let me go back a little. Bruce was leading, Chuck was next, then Chuck, Ken, C.E. and then me. Jan ran down the embankment for his pit stop. Chuck followed and then Bruce. The three were taking "care of business" while I got a great picture! Did you notice that the three that went down the embankment we the Harley riders? Chuck came up and quickly told me that for the purpose of the "blog," he followed Jan so that Jan didn't go down by himself. Chuck stated that the reason that the Harley riders "had to go" was because the vibration from the Harleys was affecting their bladders. Blah, blah, blah! They should get Gold Wings and they wouldn't have to worry about the vibration affecting their bladders. We continued at 11:44 AM.



We arrived in Roswell, NM at 11:59 AM after riding 18.9 miles. Bruce stopped at a gas station for another pit stop. It had warmed up by 2 degrees from Jan's panic stop. We decided to get gas and then find a place for lunch. C.E. led us a few block away where we pulled into a Subway. C.E. parked right in front of the front door and we all followed. At 1:17 PM, after lunch, C.E. led us to the Roswell Museum. We arrived at 1:25 PM after riding for 3.3 miles. It was 68 degrees. We all parked in the parking lot just south of the museum building. The signage was on the wall of the building marking it as the museum. As I was off of my Motor and writing my information onto my steno pad, Chuck asked me how far it was to Amarillo, TX. I reached into my trunk and got my Best Western book to get the address of the motel that we were going to stop at and put it into the navigation. The next thing I knew, everyone was on their Motors ready to leave. I asked Chuck what we were doing and he told me that we were going on and not going to go into the museum. I was dumbfounded! I didn't understand. We were there! Why didn't we just go in? In only cost $5 for admission. OK, I just put my stuff away and saddled up on the Motor and I got back into formation. We left at 1:34 PM.



Now, normally, after lunch we like to stop after about 20 minutes or so. You know how you get after you eat...sleepy. C.E. was looking for a place to stop to take a break and after riding for 60.8 miles, we stopped at 2:30 PM in what looked like an abandoned building with a couple of signs in front. One sign posed was, " Kenna Store." The other sign was, "U.S. Post Office." The couple of buildings by the main building were dilapidated. The store looked like it was a working store. We looked in the windows and saw some tables, chairs, grocery items and office goods. It was getting warmer, 70 degrees, so after making a pit stop behind the building, we shedded our jackets. We left at 2:44 PM.



We continued on with C.E. leading. We stopped in Portales, NM at 3:16 PM after riding 35.7 miles a gas station/mini-mart. It was still 70 degrees. We took a break, made our pit stops and drank coffee and water. We left at 3:49 PM.



Since we were headed to Amarillo, TX. Chuck and Jan decided that they would top off their gas tanks at the next stop so that we could make Amarillo without having to risk running out of gas.

We stopped in Clovis, NM at 4:08 PM after riding 18.7 miles. Chuck, Jan AND Bruce all topped off their "peanut" tanks with gas. C.E., Ken and I still had over a half tank of gas left. It was starting to cool off and Ken put on his jacket. It was 68 degrees. You know how these "old guys" are! We left at 4:20 PM.



We drove for a few miles to the Texas/New Mexico border. We were back on US 60 and we stopped by a US 60 sign just inside Texas. We made a quick stop to take pictures of the sign and with each of us parked next to the sign. We continued on. As we crossed into Texas, we lost another hour. We we were on the road, Chuck got a hold of me on the CB and told me that we had just passed a sign for a Holiday Inn Express in Hereford, TX. He told me that he had had enough riding for the day and that if I could tell C.E. to stop in 25 miles in Hereford at the Holiday Inn. I told him that I would and I did. (He should have been on a Gold Wing...he wouldn't be tired.)



We arrived in Hereford, TX at the Holiday Inn Express at 6:19 PM after riding 58.9 miles. It was 66 degrees and it was a good time to stop. If we had continued, we would have had to stop and put our jackets on and would have arrived in Amarillo in the dark! We checked into our rooms, unloaded our Motors and tucked them in for the night. We kept the same roommates for this night. After going to our rooms and putting our bags away, we walked to the end of the parking lot of the motel to a Pizza Hut for dinner. We had to! It was either that or Long John Silvers. We were told by the motel clerk that all of the other restaurants were closed on Sunday night.



Today we rode 346 miles. It was beautiful country heading towards Roswell. It was OK scenery from Roswell to Hereford, but not as beautiful. There were a lot of cattle ranches. Tomorrow we will get out of Texas and into Oklahoma. We will see what that brings us. Until tomorrow...







We stopped after riding 18.7 miles