Saturday, May 9 Today we are setting out for the final stretch of our adventure, riding from Houston, TX to our home town of Seattle, WA. While we are still working out the particulars of our route, the plan is to ride northwest from Houston to New Mexico. Then we will visit Taos and Santa […]
Saturday, May 9 We left around 10 AM and headed northwest out of Houston. The terrain between Houston and Austin is old territory for me but an easy enough ride. My dad had provided us with a great route across Texas, avoiding major highways and truck traffic. Most of the time the roads were deserted. […]
Sunday, May 10 We got an early start and followed the empty roads across the plains of the Texas panhandle. All of the small towns we drove through seemed to be on their last leg – boarded storefronts and empty streets. We did ride through some beautiful fields of wildflowers and once even an eroded […]
Monday, May 11 We woke up to a gloomy morning. While packing the bikes in the motel’s courtyard we met a professional photographer Rene Heil and his wife who travel the US documenting the work and life of American cowboys. He publishes a coffee book of his work every year. Rene was very enthusiastic about […]
Tuesday, May 12 We contemplated staying in Taos for another day, but decided to press on towards Santa Fe and possibly beyond for today’s ride. On the way out of town we stopped to look at the San Francisco de Asis Church, an old adobe Spanish mission that was depicted in Georgia O’Keeffe paintings and […]
Wednesday, May 13 It’s hard to overstate what a strange experience it is to have someone come up to you in a parking lot who recognizes you from your blog. It was our good fortune though, as Bill is a fantastic guy, a true cowboy. He told us we could stay the day and another […]
Thursday, May 14 We fixed ourselves a simple breakfast and leisurely packed the bikes. It was another perfect day so we knew we had good riding ahead. Bill was out front doing chores while we packed. Once we were reasonably packed, I chatted with Bill as he did some leather work in his shop. Once […]
Friday, May 15 After a quick breakfast, we packed up the camp and were on our way towards Durango. From Durango we rode on 550 through two spectacular passes surrounded by snow peaked mountains and dense forests. We arrived in Silverton, an old mining town set in the middle of a valley. I love towns […]
Saturday, May 16 It felt nice waking up in the middle of the red desert surrounded by cool rock formations. Matt said that all night he had been listening to the wild sounds of the desert. I wear ear plugs at night to escape Matt’s snoring, so missed all the spooky night desert chatter. Maybe […]
Sunday, May 17 After a bizarre free motel breakfast of muffins, terrible coffee, and giant Memorial Day cupcakes, we set out for the Tetons. We rode through the Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area, which I expected to be more red rocks like Utah but it was mostly brown and green. We rode along some high […]