Day 4 on the Road

Today proved the maxim that travel itineraries should be flexible. We headed out of Taos early in the morning for the High Road to Santa Fe. Along the way, one of our pre-selected roads quickly turned to dirt, causing some route changes. We easliy made the change & got back on route for some twistes over and down the mountain, traversing from high mountain firs to desert scrub. Nice road. Great views.

Afterwards we shot down 285, across a short streatch of I-25 to NM-14 which carried us into Madrid, NM. If you have seen the movie "Wild Hogs" you will remember Madrid. Boyd, Brian & I had a beverage on the front porch of the Madrid Boading House with the owner and a few local characters. Pete, who rides an old Russian cycle complete with sidecar, told us about a ride that he especially likes. After a few more stories, we decided to follow his suggestion and headed south out of Madrid towards Sandia Crest. The road up is about 16 miles of hard switchbacks, curves and very short straightaways. Bryan even managed to scrape the pegs on his Yamaha on the way up (a first). Once at the top (elev. 10600 ft.) we were treated to a breathtaking view of the surrounding countryside, include an panorama of Albuquerque. They say you can see eighty miles from up there.

Our next stop was to have been in Chambers, AZ, but after learning that the only motel there wanted $89 per person, we decided to move on to Holbrook, AZ, where we have holed up for the night. I thnk we may be changing the itinerary for tomorrow as well. We will keep you posted.

Gunny