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bullfrog
0
Day 1: 16SEP09 Hobbs, NM to North of Moab, UT - 700 Miles.
MAP
I had a meeting to attend Wednesday morning so I did not leave Hobbs, NM until a little after 900am. I saw dark clouds ahead and followed my better judgement and pulled over in Lovington, NM to put on my rain suit. Good idea. It rained for the next 200+ miles. My rainsuit was nice and dry by the time I pulled up in Rolando's driveway in Albuquerque, NM so it got rolled up and stashed.
Rolando is a nightshift truck driver. He had made a run on Tuesday night/Wednesday morning. The original plans were that he was supposed to have been sleeping while I was on my way to his house. He was too excited and couldn't get to sleep. This would not be good.
Off we go on US550...
We made it to Cuba, NM when the clouds started getting dark. We pulled over to have a quick bite at my favorite Irish restaurant and put the rainsuits on. Not five minutes later, the heavy rains hit. We rode in the rain well into Shiprock, NM. The rains stopped for a minute at the CO/NM border on US491 and we were treated to a beautiful sunset.
We continue riding and hit rain a few minutes later. We stopped for fuel in Monticello, UT. Our original plan had us camping somewhere around Monticello but somewhere around Monticello was covered with rain. We decided to try and find a room in Moab, UT. That did not work. Moab at Midnight is not a good place to look for a room. It had stopped raining about 15 miles back so we left Moab with the intention of finding a place to camp down the first dirt road we saw. The first road that looked suitable was the road to Gemini Bridges. We head up the road on our overloaded bikes in the dark to find ourselves stuck on a steep, narrow, very rocky and rough two track road. The first pullout we saw had a "NO CAMPING" sign. At 100am logic dictated that the only reason someone put up a "NO CAMPING" sign was that this place was at once a great place to camp. It really wasn't. But I was too tired to turn around and go back up the highway to look for another dirt road. The skies we clear so we didn't bother with the tents. Rolando threw his ground cloth and sleeping pad down and slept in his full riding gear and used his helmet as a pillow. I threw down my ground cloth, inflated my $20 air mattress (which rolls up smaller than a thermarest) and slept in my full riding gear minus the helmet. I carry a ski mask with me at all times (you never know when a ski mask will come in handy) and brought a pillow from home. From his tossing and turning I know that i would have slept better than him if I weren't waking up every time he would toss and/or turn. At 430am he finally gave up on getting and sleep and asked if I was ready to go. 3.5 hours of "sleep." This would not be good.
MAP
I had a meeting to attend Wednesday morning so I did not leave Hobbs, NM until a little after 900am. I saw dark clouds ahead and followed my better judgement and pulled over in Lovington, NM to put on my rain suit. Good idea. It rained for the next 200+ miles. My rainsuit was nice and dry by the time I pulled up in Rolando's driveway in Albuquerque, NM so it got rolled up and stashed.
Rolando is a nightshift truck driver. He had made a run on Tuesday night/Wednesday morning. The original plans were that he was supposed to have been sleeping while I was on my way to his house. He was too excited and couldn't get to sleep. This would not be good.
Off we go on US550...
We made it to Cuba, NM when the clouds started getting dark. We pulled over to have a quick bite at my favorite Irish restaurant and put the rainsuits on. Not five minutes later, the heavy rains hit. We rode in the rain well into Shiprock, NM. The rains stopped for a minute at the CO/NM border on US491 and we were treated to a beautiful sunset.
We continue riding and hit rain a few minutes later. We stopped for fuel in Monticello, UT. Our original plan had us camping somewhere around Monticello but somewhere around Monticello was covered with rain. We decided to try and find a room in Moab, UT. That did not work. Moab at Midnight is not a good place to look for a room. It had stopped raining about 15 miles back so we left Moab with the intention of finding a place to camp down the first dirt road we saw. The first road that looked suitable was the road to Gemini Bridges. We head up the road on our overloaded bikes in the dark to find ourselves stuck on a steep, narrow, very rocky and rough two track road. The first pullout we saw had a "NO CAMPING" sign. At 100am logic dictated that the only reason someone put up a "NO CAMPING" sign was that this place was at once a great place to camp. It really wasn't. But I was too tired to turn around and go back up the highway to look for another dirt road. The skies we clear so we didn't bother with the tents. Rolando threw his ground cloth and sleeping pad down and slept in his full riding gear and used his helmet as a pillow. I threw down my ground cloth, inflated my $20 air mattress (which rolls up smaller than a thermarest) and slept in my full riding gear minus the helmet. I carry a ski mask with me at all times (you never know when a ski mask will come in handy) and brought a pillow from home. From his tossing and turning I know that i would have slept better than him if I weren't waking up every time he would toss and/or turn. At 430am he finally gave up on getting and sleep and asked if I was ready to go. 3.5 hours of "sleep." This would not be good.
