Puye Cliff Dwellings, Jane to Albuquerque, Socorro, White Sands, Roswell

 On Sunday we drove to and joined a guided tour of the Puye Cliff Dwellings, an historical landmark and home to he Santa Clara Puebla people, about an hour northwest of Santa Fe. After our visit there we ove to Los Alamos, the secret location where much of the work associated with the WWII Manhattan Project was conducted.

We were able to get a reservation for dinner at Geronimo, another of the top 5 restaurants in Santa Fe.  We were seated at the bar along with two charming Gay couples, one of whom was celebrating their first wedding anniversary. The service and the food were excellent and worth the expense.  Here we are before digging into our deserts.

Monday we resumed our convoy and drove from Santa Fe to the airport in Albuquerque where Jane returned the rental car and started her return trip to Ottawa via Chicago. I then made a stop at the National Museum of Nuclear Science and History. The exhibits are well done, particularly those that depict the history of the discovery of nuclear energy and the development of the bombs that would be dropped n Hiroshima and Nagasaki and that led to the surrender of Japan and the end of WWII, and the start of the Cold War and the ensuing arms race between the USSR and the USA.

After the stop at the museum I continued my journey south to Socorro where I spent the night.

Today I rode to White Sands National Park the furthest point south on this year’s trip. New Mexico is a vast state with some of the most beautiful scenery in the USA. The following pictures present some of the diversity of the landscape. The first two are of the Valley of Fire, a ancient volcanic lava flow that extends for miles and in which trails have been set up for visitors to walk on.  The last three are from the White Sands Dunes.

Today was a long day of riding under sunny skies with the temperature rising from 28 degrees when I set out from Socorro this morning to a high of 39 at White Sands. Stopping to rehydrate is really important. Tonight  I am in Roswell New Mexico. I have had a good dinner and, as yet, I have not met any aliens, though one couple at the restaurant looked a bit weird, or was that the Margarita I had. Well there’s always tomorrow.

Salida to Santa Fe

Friday we rode in convoy from Salida to Santa Fe where I had rented a great room at Puebla Bonita, an easy walking distance to all the great sights in Santa Fe. The ride along the Rio Grande river was very impressive. At many points along our route we could look down into the gorge and see people on rafts going down the fast moving river. We had a good lunch at a really good burger joint in Taos. 

After arriving at the hotel we found a Whole Foods nearby and were able to pick up fruit, yogurt, wine and a platter of oysters;  a really nice selection of 24 $1-each shucked oysters packed on a bed of ice that we brought back to our room for a late afternoon snack. Afterwards we walked to the central plaza where a show of vintage cars was happening.

Today we visited the oldest church in America, the oldest house in Santa Fe,  the Loretta Chapel with its remarkable spiral staircase to the choir loft, 

many fine art galleries along  Canyon Road, and the Georgia O’Keefe Museum. 

 We also had a really fantastic lunch at The Compound, on Canyon Street,

and a superb dinner at Radish and Rye, the second top ten restaurants in Santa Fe we have been to so far and which conveniently just happened to be a mere two blocks way from our hotel. The service and the food at both of these establishments were of the highest possible standard.

Touring by car, and a convoy to Salida

 Yesterday we drove from Denver to Rocky Mountain National Park and back in the Nissan Sentra that Jane rented after she arrived Monday.  The long and winding road that leads to the Alpine Visitor Center offers breathtaking views of the snow capped mountains and deep valleys between the peaks. I must say that I found the driving fairly stressful. Though we were in a car and the road is in great shape, there’s something unnerving about the combination of the never-ending series of curves, the cliff-like drop offs at the right edge of the paved surface to the right, or the high snow banks that are perfectly perpendicular to the road. While the passenger can enjoy the scenery, the driver must remain intensely focused on the task at hand; “scenery, what scenery”. 

As we arrived at the summit, the rain turned to sleet and the temperature nose-dived to not much above very cold.  We stayed long enough to take a few pictures and visit the gift shop.

The trip back to Denver was longer than the ride up to the Alpine Visitor Center but it felt much easier. We  took a taxi to dinner at a very good Italian restaurant across the street from Denver’s landmark Union Station.

While the place was quite noisy, the appetizers, main dishes, Jane’s tiramisu, and the Sicilian Etna wine were all excellent. Here are a couple of pictures of our appetizers.

We left the Peterson B&B, that we both loved and would recommend to anyone visiting Denver, and began our two vehicle convoy to Salida, Colorado. And yes, because I was riding my motorcycle with Jane driving the chase car behind me, we encountered some rain, again! But the scenery, with the snow-capped peaks of the Rockies all around us at times or the vast high plains at others, is well worth the long ride.

We stopped for lunch at a good pizza place on Main Street in Bona Vista, a wide Main Street like you see in many towns in this part of the USA.

And now we’re in Salida which is located on the Arkansas River, and where they are celebrating the 75th FIBArk Whitewater Festival, and where the sun is peeking through the clouds. Let’s see what tomorrow brings.

Things to do in Denver

 Jane’s flight arrived on time but by the time she was through the airport terminal, that we had picked up the rental car from Hertz and driven to our B&B it was past midnight.

This morning we had French toast with coconut whipped cream for breakfast prepared and served by Jackie. Afterwards we walked to the Denver home of Margaret (Molly) Brown of Titanic fame. The museum tour was excellent and we learned a lot about this astonishing women. 

 We followed this with a guided visit of the State Capital Building. There we had a great view of Denver’s City Hall and the mountains off in the distance from the dome of the Capital Building.

We rode a free bus to Union Station and had a very nice meal there at the Stoic and Genuine restaurant with a menu that featured oysters and other shellfish and fish dishes.

After lunch we visited the Denver Art Museum on what turned out to be free day. The building is a brilliant piece of architecture with an extensive and varied collection, including many works by the most renowned impressionist painters. One could easily spend a day visiting the galleries on the many flours in the two buildings that make up the DAM.

This evening we had an exceptionally good meal at Atelier By Radex, one of Denver’s best restaurants. Jane had the Baramundi, I had the Colorado lamb chops, accompanied by a very lovely Oregon Pinot Noir. 

Southwest Nebraska, Southeast corner of Wyoming and into Colorado

 A relatively short ride yesterday from Scottsbluff Nebraska to Loveland Colorado through (by) Cheyenne Wyoming. But not too short to avoid another spell of rain. I think that there’s a definite theme with the weather on this trip as I have encountered, i.e. had to ride through a lot of stretches of rain, sometimes quite heavy as I have mentioned in earlier posts. All part of the long motorcycle trip experience I guess. Thankfully because I tend to avoid the high speed ( 75 mph here in Colorado) Interstate Highways the traffic has been very light, and my trusty Beemer has handled the weather and road conditions very well.

My Wingate by Wyndham room came equipped with that very rare amenity, his and hers widescreen HDTVs. 

No more couples arguing about which channel to watch, ESPN or HGTV say. But as I told Amy at the front desk, the debate moves to who gets sound with his program.

The gastronomic side of this trip has been disappointing, well except for that slice of ham with breakfast at the Antilope Creek Cafe; but last night’s dinner, a nicely done piece of Chilean sea bass with lemon caper butter, mashed potatoes and brocoli, and a lovely glass of Californien Chardonnay sure hit the spot.

The fact that I had to walk back the half mile from the shopping mall where the restaurant is located in the rain under dark gray skies hardly mattered. After all my clothes could dry overnight and I would be ready to ride south to Denver where Jane will be joining my this evening, assuming no rain delay of course!

Rain and stuff between Valentine to Scott’s Bluff Nebraska

 I left Valentine early to avoid the forecasted heavy rain. It worked for a while and then I saw this

so I decided to put on my rain gear; and a good thing I did because it really came down hard. With high beam and four-way flashers on I continued until I found a place to take shelter under the canopy of a gas station, a place I curiously had all to myself for 15 minutes. When the intensity of the rain dropped I pulled back onto the highway and rode on to Antilope Creek where I stopped for a real breakfast. Check out the required reading s one waits for a meal, and the thickness of the slice of ham on my plate.

And yes, the guy at the next table is wearing a gun and three extra magazines (in case of what exactly?) on his belt.

You might think you’ve seen it all, but America never ceases to amaze. Just outside of Alliance Nebraska you come across Carhenge, the creation  by Jim Reinder, a retired petroleum engineer, of a replica of Stonehenge made with old cars. It’s quite a sight that attracts a steady stream of passers-by.

My last stop before arriving at my hotel in Scottsbluff was at the nice Chimney Rock Interpretation Center. The rock served as a landmark for fur traders, rappers and mountain men, and for emigrants as it marked the end of the plains and the beginning of the rugged mountain portion of their journey.

Rather than a simple ‘Keep of the grass’ sign the authorities are using a more novel approach.

St Cloud to Sioux Falls SD, then to Valentine Nebraska

 It’s also about the people you meet. Yesterday when I was stopped for gas in Cold Spring Minnesota guy walked over from his pickup to have a look at my motorcycle. As it turns out he’s a Vietnam War veteran and a Harley rider, which you can tell from the tattoos on his big beefy arms, and has been for a long time and has gone to Sturges, the location of the largest annual motorcycle rally in America, and possibly the world, some 50 times. He remembers when it wasn’t the tamed version it has now become. Brawls between members of different groups were common, often involving blades of one type or another, and I disturbed by officers of the peace who would only step in after the fighting had stopped.  In 2018, because his knees weren’t so good anymore and he still wanted to ride, my friend bought himself a three-wheel CanAm that is much easier to steer than the Harley trike. He wished me safe journey; I don’t know his name, nor he mine, but we both have a love of riding a motorcycle.

A picture of one of the wide streets in the downtown core of St Cloud MN.

The Paramount, a former movie theatre has been turned into a performance centre.

This is the court building in St Cloud

The St. Cloud State University Administration Building

There was thunder and lightning all night in Sioux Falls and the weather forecast for today called for more of the same. After a quick breakfast from the buffet at the hotel I decided to take advantage of a break in the weather and make a run for Valentine Nebraska. Well the first hour was ok, but the next two, not so much. Rain by itself isn’t so bad, but when wind, lightning and thunder join the mix, well, it can slow you down quite a bit, an that’s what I did for a fair distance in Nebraska.  Honestly there’s a reason why there are fly-over states; there are fields, and fields, and more fields, with herds of cattle and large wind farms.

So I am now in Valentine Nebraska where I have had a good prime rib roast dinner, and where I am now going to catch up on the news with a call to Jane and with my friends at CNN.