de tour 2006 ** day fourteen**

[Jeff Saline]

----- Forwarded Message ----- Listers, Reserve to Grants, NM Travel time: 4 hrs 22 mins Distance: 153 miles This started on day thirteen. Up with the crack of dawn and the birds and the bees and the other critters making noise. My air mattress held air all night. I'm a happy camper. Steve and I pack the bikes and head to Grants. It's only maybe 15 miles to Grants and we want to get breakfast there and I want to do an oil change with analysis sample. The temperature is nice this early and the road is void of traffic. We get to I-40 and cross over. I'm reminded how last year when we got off I-40 at this exit the traffic heading east was stopped for about 15 miles. A truck had caught on fire in the east bound lanes and it was just miles and miles of parked traffic. I'm guessing but some of those folks had to have been waiting for 4 hours or longer. We pass over the interstate and follow a service type road to Grants. Steve's been here before and has an idea on a restaurant for breakfast. He takes us straight to it and we get off the bikes. We're getting ready to go in and a fire fighting crew pulls into the lot. Waiting for seats we're just in front of them. The waitress takes the crew and seats them in their usual spot. Steve asks for a table by a window and we seem to wait for at least 5 minutes before we get to sit down. We have breakfast and loiter just a bit when done. We ask if we may fill our water bags at their big sink and they say yes. We pay for our meals and fill the water bags. The next stop is Walmart for oil for the oil changes and also to get some new batteries for my mattress. And I also need a new XD card for my camera as I've filled the 512mb card I thought would be enough. I don't want to put the pictures on a CD and erase the card until after I'm home. I find the card and then locate Steve in the automotive section. We grab the oil, a drain pan and I grab a 4 pack of batteries. This Walmart doesn't have an automotive section so I ask the guy working in the auto section if he can suggest a place locally that will take our used oil. He asks how much and then says he'll take it home and pour it in his 55 gallon drum. He's got a 68 Camaro in the lot next to the garden section. Just leave it in the oil bottles next to the Camaro and he'll take care of it. Then he says he's coming up on break and will stop out and see how it's going. We ride the bikes next to his car and drop Steve's oil first. He fills the engine and gives me the empty bottles. I fill the bottles with waste oil and then drop my oil and take an oil sample for my oil analysis project. Mike, the guy with the Camaro shows up and we talk for a few minutes while Steve finishes filling the bottles with used oil. We give Mike the drain pan, the oil and $5 as thanks. We also get a picture with him and of course the sun is shining towards the camera. Mike goes back to work and we head to the filling station for fuel and a chance to save the GPS track and log it in the book. The filling station is only a block or so from Walmart and we pull in and get fuel. I have the paperwork to do for the oil analysis sample to get it ready to mail to North Dakota. I also want to save the track from Reserve to Grants and make a few notes in the log. I pull my bike next to 7 or 8 V-twins. Steve and I are both looking a bit grubby I guess and also like we're ready to handle a situation. The guys are kind of watching me while I do the paperwork and also play with the GPS. One of them asks me if we're with the fire fighting crews. I tell them no and we get talking about our trips. They're from San Diego and riding around a bit. Sounds like they're mostly on the interstate and don't want to venture off it. I talk up Pie Town and one or two guys are interested but only a little. We joke back and forth a bit and then they ride off. I'd guess most of them are in their 40s and 50s. I finally finish my chores and Steve suggests I stop at the motel across the street and mail my oil sample there. I ask the front desk help if that would be alright and she tells me the mail has already been picked up for the day. The mail receptacle is just a basket on the wall and the oil analysis sample fits down in the bottom. I figure it won't ever get picked up there as it'll be hidden. I ask the clerk if she could hold the sample until the next day and give it to the mail person. She says sure and I say thanks. Steve and I are finally ready to be off towards Cuba. That's Cuba as in Cuba, New Mexico. Grants to Albuquerque, NM via 25 miles each way on 279 Travel time: 3 hrs 39 mins Distance: 152 miles Steve leads as we decide to try to get to the 279 turn off using secondary roads instead of I-40. I just really don't like interstate on a bike anymore. He does a great job of navigating and I find the pace and lack of traffic refreshing. I stop once along the way to take a picture of a lava field with a marshy area in the middle of it. I have a bit of experience with lava fields and they are really tough to navigate through and tear up equipment. We finally get to the 279 turn off and after a mile or so Steve pulls over and asks if that road back there was the turn. I missed it entirely as I was really enjoying just following Steve for a change. We decide it was probably the old 279 as I've seen the GPS be incorrect a few times on this trip. We continue ahead and the road is in good shape but not special at all. Finally it looks like we've come to a dead end. The mail lady is loading mail at the plethora of mailboxes in the turn around at Seboyeta. Steve kind of rode right through on the last little bit of road available. I ask the mail lady if we can get to Cuba on this road. She's not sure and says to ask the lady that just pulled up. I ask her and she says no you can't get there. I thank them and say I need to get my buddy and let him know. Steve is waiting about 200 yards ahead and the setting reminds me of a village in the Azores. Or I suppose a village in Mexico. We talk about what we want to try and I think I see a way to give it a try. We head out and the GPS again amazes me as it takes us through the streets. We make a left turn and the road seems to get larger and is in better condition. We ride it for a few miles and it's not on the GPS. It is a newer road so I'm not surprised. Steve thinks we've given it a shot and should turn back now. I like the idea of continuing as I figure it's kind of pointing in the correct direction and I can't believe they'd build a road that doesn't go anywhere. I suggest we continue for 8 miles and then evaluate what's going on. Steve agrees and off we go. The road is really pretty good and starts to swing to the north and I'm thinking we're on to something. At the 8 mile mark I stop and Steve agrees it's looking better and we should continue. Another 5 or so miles and we're getting into some tighter canyon country and I signal Steve to lead so I can take a picture. He passes me and I snap a shot and he's out of sight. We ride for another mile or so and the road gets pretty rough and we come to a small community in the middle of nowhere. It's called Marquez. We kind of get turned around here and let me tell you this is an undeveloped community. The roads are rough if they exist at all. One section we cross is slip rock for maybe 200 yards. It's pretty cool but... When we get past the 10 or 15 buildings in Marquez the road is all of the sudden freshly bulldozed. I take this as a good sign and we ride for about a mile or so until we get to a fork in the road. I take a right and then stop so I can check the GPS. Steve pulls up next to me and his Kermit chair is hanging by one strap next to his rear tire. I tell him about this and he gets off to adjust his load. Then he tells me his tent is missing. I ride back into the town where I caught up to him and look for it and don't see it. I come back and tell him while he's restrapping his load. He doesn't want to lose his tent and we decide to go back the way we've come and look for it. Then I remember the picture I took of him and we zoom in and decide the tent was missing when he passed me. About this time a rancher pulls up on an ATV while his "boys" are in a Jeep like vehicle pulling a horse trailer. He asks us how we're doing and I suggest we may not know where we're going. He laughs and says he was just telling the "boys" that very thing. We talk for a bit and he says yes this is 279 and no it doesn't go through. The L Bar ranch locked a gate about 2 miles ahead last year. He says he doesn't know of anyway to get to Cuba from here other than going back to I-40 to Albuquerque and then heading north. That'll be something like 140 miles from where we are to get about 35 miles as the crow flies. We thank him for the information and he tells us of a short cut that's about 25 miles of dirt heading towards Albuquerque. We head back the way we came and get turned around in Marquez. Thank goodness for the TRACBAC feature and we figure out how to wind our way out of this rustic community. Steve is leading now and goes about 5 miles and finds his tent in the middle of the road. It's in good shape and I take a look at an Arroyo while he restraps his gear. When he's sure his gear will stay on the bike this time we head off with him leading. We go a very short distance and see a power station. The rancher's instructions were to go past the sub station about 1/4 mile and then turn left on the dirt path. Follow it for about 30 miles and we'd come out at the Indian Casino just west of Albuquerque. The road is about a mile past the sub station. We decide not to take it as we think there's another sub station further down the road. Steve takes off and I start and then I realize I've seen the pot of gold at the end of a rainbow. Well, it kind of felt like that even if it looked like a bolt about 5 inches long and maybe an inch in diameter. I go back and take a picture of it real quickly and then put it in my tank bag. I can't let Steve know I've got it. I hurry to catch up and Steve doesn't seem any wiser to my quick stop. It seems that each year Steve or I get a bolt and hide it in the other's gear. On the Great Divide Ride I found a railroad bolt about 7 inches long. He was home before he found it. Last year I didn't put a bolt in his gear although I wanted to. That was on our ride in June 2005. In January 2006 while working on my bike for the 195 degree thermostat housing I was building I discovered a 3 inch rusty bolt in my tank bag side pocket. Man did I get a laugh and Steve enjoyed it too when I posted to the OKie Airheads list about finding it. So now I had the bolt I was going to hide on Steve's bike. Steve stops just past the next sub station and points at a road to the left. I tell him I don't think I'm interested in testing that rancher's information. I'm hot and tired and we've just taken a 60 mile ride to nowhere and back. He agrees and we think De Tour is almost over. Steve is going to meet his son in Canyon, Texas on Wednesday and this is now Monday around noon. There isn't much riding time left. We ride to Seboyeta and turn south on the pavement. At a C store in Cebolletita we get something to drink and also some ice cream. Heck, ice cream two days in a row. This trip keeps getting better and better. We decide we should visit our friends Kent and Carol who live in Albuquerque. We haven't seen them for about 15 days since they were in South Dakota for the Airheads Tech day I hosted. I call Kent and tell him we're about 1 1/2 hours away and the road just quit. He said we should stop in. I tell him we're on the way and will see him shortly. Steve gives me the coordinates for Kent and Carol's and I punch them into my GPS. The I hit "Go To" and I've got a line on where I'm heading. Not a route, just a heavy line ending at what will be the end of our ride. We head south towards I-40 and I think we're both dreading the grind to get to Albuquerque but there isn't any other way that we can see. So we get on I-40 and stay in the right side of the right lane and hum along at about 60 mph. The road is in good shape, crowded, busy, hot and all the stuff I don't like about interstates. We've been spoiled the last two weeks. The temperature is just about 100 degrees and I can feel the heat radiating off the pavement. In the city the traffic is thicker but folks seem to give us just a little bit of room. We get into the stop and go traffic and Steve asks me to lead as his GPS has quit again. He's using a Garmin GPS V and it doesn't have batteries and is running off the bike power. I've been here twice and the GPS makes it easy. Kent is waiting for us when we show up. We pull the bikes in the garage and get a wonderful surprise when we discover Carol is home too visiting with her grand daughter Bricen. We visit for the afternoon sitting on the back porch drinking cool drinks and enjoying the afternoon. Stories get told about our trip and we have a fine time. We eat dinner and visit some more and set up camp. I put the new batteries in my air mattress. When I turn on the pump Steve calls over about how much better it sounds now. It's kind of a cross between a sport bike being wound tight and a turbine engine winding up. The mattress inflates very quickly. Steve uses the living room floor for his air mattress and I use the TV room floor for mine. I call my sister to let her know where I am and what I'm thinking my travel plans will be. Next I take a shower and it feels great to be clean again. I lay down to go to sleep and Doodee the cat comes in to check me out and lays down by my head for a while. He's gone when I wake up later in the night. End of Day Fourteen. Jeff Saline ABC # 4412 South Dakota Airmarshal Airheads Beemer Club www.airheads.org The Beautiful Black Hills of South Dakota 75 R90/6, 03 KLR650, 79 R100RT . . ____________________________________________________________ Get Free Email with Video Mail & Video Chat! http://www.juno.com/freeemail?refcd=JUTAGOUT1FREM0210 [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]