Ridin' Round Red River

[RedPill]

This was a trip that we threw together at the last moment. Last Friday, my wife's father fell and broke his hip at his place in Halfway, TX, just west of Plainview. We thought we might have to go out to help her mom with her, but it was just a hairline fracture, and they sent him home from the hospital without surgery and without a cast. Then on Sunday my wife's uncle died in Lubbock. The funeral was to be on Thursday, so we decided we'd head out to Halfway Tuesday evening. We weren't really planning on a vacation this year, but since we were going to be in Halfway, we decided to spend a few days in Red River. I swore I'd never come back out here without my bike, so I scrambled to borrow a trailer from my cousin and build a ramp. My wife doesn't ride, and we were bringing my daughter and one of the dogs, so it was trailer it or nothing. Here's the rig:

We actually didn't head toward Red River until Saturday. Once here I unloaded the bike and took a short ride to Questa. Nice road, really with more sweepers than tight turns. I didn't have much time, and I knew I wouldn't get much time to ride the whole trip. Part of the reason to be here was to spend time with my wife (we put my daughter on a plane home), and as I said, she doesn't ride. So I basically pulled the bike out her for three short rides. Totally worth it.

I only took one picture at Questa. Must be nice to have mountains outside your front door:

Saturday evening we had a nice mountain rain shower with a beautiful double rainbow. No, I did not wet myself like the guy in that YouTube video.

Sunday morning I rode to Eagle's Nest and down toward Angel Fire. Note to self: Don't ride east on sunny mornings.

The road ahead:

As I approached Eagle's Nest, there was a fogbank rising off the lake:

Riding through the fog was fun. Eventually, I broke out of it, and saw about a dozen balloons, some high, some setting up to land. Cars were pulled off on the shoulder everywhere. It was a gorgeous, sunny morning. Here's a few balloon shots:

Here's one about to set down:

More later.

 

[lonestarrider]

I bet it is nice and cool there also. RP if you can get the time, you should try and ride over to Terra Amarilla. You'll ride over the Rio Grande River gourg and past the mother earth community west of Taos on US 64. Then of course there is Chama to the north.

Nice photos too.

 

[RedPill]

Thanks. I didn't have much time, but lots of fun anyway. More to come.

 

[RedPill]

After watching the balloons for a while, I continued to the New Mexico Vietnam Veteran's Memorial. I got some nice shots there. The morning light was great.

Viking Surprise (Smoke Dropping Huey)

Peace Wall

Memorial Garden

The shaft of light in this one lances down toward the grave of "Doc" and his wife. They started the memorial after their son was killed in an ambush in 1968.

Not much more time to ride that day, so I headed back to Red River.

Monday I took the road toward Raton, which runs through Cimarron Canyon. It's a beautiful ride, and although I didn't have time to go all the way to Raton and back, I still had an interesting time. I ran up on a group of three cars, a Bentley, a Corvair, and a '54 Cadillac convertible. They were puttering along, so after a few minutes, I pulled over onto a gravelled stop to let them get ahead. They turned into a parking area just across the road. At the entrance was this Austin-Healey:

It was a meeting of a classic car association. Those were some of the earliest cars, but I went across to take some pics.

Bentley (they were changing a flat tire)

Front view

Hood ornament

Cadillac with trailer (I talked to the guy, and he made the trailer on top of a 1947 chassis, copying the original)

Plymouth Fury Convertible

Fin, Baby!

'54 Caddy Convertible

This was across the road from the parking area.

The flower

When I started back toward Eagle's Nest, I passed about 3 or 4 dozen classic cars ranging from a Model T to a mid-70s Cutlass. Wish I could have stuck around to see more.

In our driving around the rest of the day we were treated to some great skies.

We went back to the Memorial, too, but I'll have to get those pics off my wife's camera. And of course, the road between Angel Fire and Taos is off-the-charts fun. But I didn't get any pics of that one.

 

[Texx]

Great report, great pics, and my favorite places on earth. My family has owned a home in Angel Fire for over 20 years, and I spread my mom there. Throw in the classic car pics, and your trip must have been heaven! Congrats!

 

[tshelfer]

Nice pix, Danny, & a trip to totally envy. We've got to talk Tom into building a trailer big enough for 2 bikes - and then borrow it. Hey, Ryan Inlow told me that mornings in the campgrounds there were mid-forties this week. A tad different from the frying pan known as Arlington.

 

[RedPill]

Yep. 44 or 45 for a low, highs between 67 and 77, roughly. When we got back to Texas, I opened the car door in Tulia and yelled, "I want to go back!"

 

[achesley]

Great report on a great riding place. The Memorial Building was closed last time I passed through there. Want to go back and see what changes they made in there. And, did they paint the sign at the entrance? It was getting pretty shabby last summer.

 

[tshelfer]

You know Danny, a great road sometime would be from Las Vegas to Taos. I've taken it as a long short-cut coming back from Santa Fe. The hills, curves and passes that really slow me down while pulling the camper would make a great bike ride. And the scenery is oh-so-gorgeous.