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Cloud Country - 6 days, 5 nights to & from Cloudcroft, NM

I enjoyed your report and great pictures. I have a lot of memories from that area. I don't know why they are so highly patrolled at Cloudcroft.
 
I enjoyed your report and great pictures. I have a lot of memories from that area. I don't know why they are so highly patrolled at Cloudcroft.

If you're referring to my comments about the road down to Alamogordo, that road didn't use to be heavily patrolled. But over the years, they've probably had a few bikes & Trans Ams end up in a canyon. So they do tend to stake out that road now. On the other hand, there were always other riders going the opposite direction from me, and they weren't shy about pointing out speed traps.
 
Great report :clap:

Not only is there some great paved riding in that area, but there is some fantastic unpaved riding! The ATV trails are especially fun :trust: :flip:

There is actually a cafe in Timberon, looks like a double wide perched on a hill top. Hours are iffy. Food was surprisingly good. There is gas there as well... hours are iffy...

Heading back up from the observatory, we got hailed on :eek2:

There is a little restaurant on the East end of town that is owned by a Texan and has great BBQ! Can't recall the name though.
 
Hmm, I should have explored the whole town. Guess I didn't want to spend the extra 90 seconds. :mrgreen: Oh well, you can't go wrong with root beer and Eskimo pies.
 
Could you be persuaded to post a GPS file or Google Map?

For the different roads? I'm a little clunky with GPS files. Okay, I'm hopeless with them. I can post links to Google maps to show the different places I rode.

This one is from the campground through Cloudcroft, and down the mountain (on US 82) to Alamogordo. You can see from the squiggly lines that it gets pretty good west of Cloudcroft.
http://goo.gl/maps/nIDT

This one is through Cloudcroft on US 82, then south on the Sunspot Highway to Timberon - what Scott and I were just talking about. The Sunspot Highway is never ending perfectly arced curves. An absolutely perfect rider's highway.
http://goo.gl/maps/OVJK

This one is from Cloudcroft over to Ruidoso. Hwy 244 goes through the Mescelaro Reservation; I'm told they are one of the wealthiest tribes in the US because of their land. Forests, hills & nicely twisty roads all the way until you hit US 70, where it gets a bit boring.
http://goo.gl/maps/YZCn

And this last one, which I did just before heading home, is the "back way" from my campground at Mayhill over to Cloudcroft via County 130. A narrower, slower road than the others. But very pretty. And there are some very lucky ranchers who own land along that stretch. At the west end, 130 connects into the Sunspot Hwy, and brings you back into Cloudcroft.
http://goo.gl/maps/kYKG

Hope that helps, and I hope it wets your whistle. If you want info on dirt routes, I'll defer to Scott for that.
 
Tim - Nice report. How did the 755T treat you on this trip, and how you liking it in general?
One more question...which saddlebags are you using?
 
Tim - Nice report. How did the 755T treat you on this trip, and how you liking it in general?

It did just fine. First of all, I have it handlebar-mounted with a $10 widget I bought on Amazon, and reinforced with a hose clamp. Second, I tapped a spare 12V receptacle directly into the wiring, so it's always powered.

I've been pretty pleased with the way the 755 handles routing. As long as I provide sufficient waypoints, it'll give me the route I want. And creating a route is quite easy. Actually, it's even easier to create the route with my MapSource software and upload it, but MapSource doesn't seem to realize there are roads in New Mexico. So I direct-programmed the 755 each time I used it on this trip, and it worked quite well.

I've also used it to plug in a particular map coordinate I was looking for - i.e. a picnic area along a dirt road - and it's been dead accurate in getting me there.

One minor annoyance I've had with it - this is a bit hard to explain, so bear with me. When I tap the screen to plug in waypoints on a route, I may accidentally tap the "left" side of an intersection when I'm actually turning right. That results in the purple line sometimes telling me I need to turn left, do a U, then come back to the right. Annoying, but if you're paying attention and have at least the IQ of a light bulb, it isn't hard to recognize what's going on and stay on your intended route.

Response was plenty quick enough - the 755 was always ahead of me - no waiting around for the map to catch up. Like all Garmins, it gives the display options of North-up or 3D - I used both at different times, depending on what I was doing. It's also pretty tough. It went through a couple of rainstorms without being covered, and it got dropped in the campground 2 or 3 times, with no ill effects.

A nice side benefit to the 755 is that it came with a built-in MP3 player. My aging Zen has never been satisfactory for riding, for a number of reasons. The 755 makes it easy to do touchscreen changes, and it has more than adequate volume. One shortcoming is that it has no EQ capabilities and the sound is very flat. I fixed that by plugging a Fiio E6 inline - it has 3 preset EQs that give me the needed bass/treble response that was missing. One thing that's missing on the MP3 player is the ability to play random tunes. You can play albums in order, everything on the player alphabetically, or a preset play list. But no shuffle capability.

One thing I DON'T like is the exit picture. On some intersections - usually exits on interstate highways - if I have an exit coming up, the map will disappear and be replaced by a 3D picture of the exit to show what it looks like, and which lane to be in. That's probably great in a car. On a bike the problem is visibility. It's already hard enough to see the screen; the exit picture is practically invisible if you're riding in bright sun. But touch the 'back' button and it reverts to the map. A plus, however (again, usually on interstates), is a graphic of arrows in the upper lefthand screen that shows you what lane(s) to be in, so you don't accidentally end up on some spur.

I'm sure the Zumos are far better for the MC application. But for the price, the 755 is a bargain. Also, I need some updated software on my laptop, but just don't know enough about it to know what to buy.
 
There's a special place in Heaven for your brother. :sun: Thanks for the maps. Cloudcroft lived up to it's name for us in '08, Sunspot Hwy... We'd just broke out of the heaviest fog I've ever ridden in, all you could do was watch the lines on the road. 0 visibility!!!!:eek2: Then it rained!:lol2:

cctrip214.jpg
 
Tim - Nice report. How did the 755T treat you on this trip, and how you liking it in general?
One more question...which saddlebags are you using?

Oh, I missed the 2nd question. The saddlebags are Cortechs that I bought from MCSuperstore about a year ago. They fit quite well across the pillion area of my seat. They're not particularly large, but I can cram a surprising amount of stuff into them. The included mounting straps were worthless (usually are on universal saddlebags), but I fixed that with a couple of bungee cords.

Like most saddlebags, they're water "resistant" and came with a pair of stretch covers for rain. Unfortunately, I lost one of the covers on the trip. But the light rain I drove through was never enough to cause a problem. If I ever run into that, I suppose I'll revert to garbage bags & duck tape.
 
How many of us fondly remember a particular teacher for the rest of our lives? That's a great legacy to leave behind.
 
How many of us fondly remember a particular teacher for the rest of our lives? That's a great legacy to leave behind.
Mr Fleece, high school physics, rode a beat up Shovel Head. Santa Claus looking dude that cussed like a Jersey City Stevedore(not in class mind you). :lol2: He was more of a friend than a teacher, even showed up to watch us race back in the day.:clap:
 
Mr. Bradley - Geography. Drove a fully rigged Land Rover (real one with the spare on the hood) and bummed cigarettes from you. Understood that just because this particular student was not cut out for academics he might have some other qualities.

Died of cancer many years ago.
 
Great report. Must've missed this when you first posted. I would agree on the observation that camping with friends is a little better. I've camped at least a couple nights in a row on the last 5 trips I've done, and while I really enjoy the camping, it's gets really boring if you get early(if there's no hiking to be done), and not much to do once the sun go's down.
 
Enjoyed reading your story and seeing the scenery. Great photography! Sounds like you had a really good trip. Sure brings back memories of our trips to The Cloud Country. Good eating tips: Texas BBQ and Big Daddy's. And my favorite - the homemade cinnamon raisin bread made fresh daily in the Mountaintop Mercantile. Take a loaf back to the tent and munch on it all week. Thanks for the great write-up and memories. I can smell the bread now! :drool: :eat:

Sam
 
Great report! I enjoyed reading your narrative as much as looking at the pictures. Thanks for sharing your adventure. :clap:
 
Cool ride report. Inspiring me to plan a long trip this summer.

FYI, thanks for the pictures of Cloudcroft. Lots of good memories. I went to Texas Tech and we used to spend some time up in the area. I seem to recall that the middle of that old rail road trestle is a great place to watch the sunset....just watch your step.
 
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