Featured Touring Our Annual Tour Of The American Southwest: V.2024

Our June "Tour of the Southwest" has become a much-anticipated annual event. And so it should as we love traveling through New Mexico, Colorado, and northern Arizona. This year saw only three of us on the road together--hubby Steve, friend and ace riding buddy Russell, and me. The Three Musketeers, perhaps?!

Our trip was 8 days and 7 nights and covered just under 1,800 miles. I'll share our adventures over the next week, posting one or two trip days each day. So if you're enjoying, you can tune in each day. Conversely, if you're like "meh" after today, you can ignore my thread. The beauty of "online stories".



Day #1: Tucson, Arizona to Quemado, New Mexico (292 miles)



Russell, Steve, and I met up at our usual gas station that's on the way north out of town. Our meetup time was relatively early to try to beat the heat.





Our first stop was in the town of Globe, 100 miles to the north. Our tanks all hold 6 gallons with a range of about 300 miles. But our old(ish) bodies like to dismount and stretch long before that. And between Globe and the next town of Show Low it's about another 100 miles with no towns in sight and much of which is in national forest, so Globe is a typical "refreshment" stop for both our bikes and ourselves.

We did stop coming out of the Salt River Canyon which is a beautiful stretch of decending and ascending twisties. I often refer to it as the mini Grand Canyon. There was some water in the Salt River at the bottom of the canyon...but precious little. We came through early enough on a weekday (Tuesday) that we were the only ones at this turnout.



I didn't recall these two helmets--a roadside shrine of sorts--being here the last time we stopped at this spot. Very sad...and sobering.



We agreed that a restaurant called "The House" would be a good place to stop for lunch when we got to Show Low. Last year on our way home from Sturgis one of our riding buddies introduced us to it and it was well worth a second stop. In fact, I'm pretty sure we'll go there again on our next trip! We arrived just a few minutes before they opened so perfect timing on our part--well, coincidence really.



The House is just that...a little old house. Therein lies the kitchen, ordering counter, and a smallish number of tables. But there are lots of things surrounding the house including picnic tables out front, outdoor tables with umbrellas, a bag toss "arena", a bar, a large fire pit, a stage, and a large open area for apparently whatever moves customer.





Steve and Russell each had burgers and I opted for what turned out to be the best grilled chicken sandwich I've ever had. Truly! And I topped it off with some of this.



We made another gas stop down the road in Springerville, the last town in Arizona we'd be in prior to entering New Mexico and arriving at our days destination, Quemado.

Day #1 continued in my next post........

 

Day #1 continued: Tucson to Quemado

We've stayed in the teensy-weensy town of Quemado a number of times now. Initially it was because of it was (is) in a good spot mileage-wise if we're going to Santa Fe. But since we began staying at The Largo Motel, it has now become a tradition of sorts to stay there...and mostly because of Phyllis. Well, and the hotel is quite cheap, too, which doesn't hurt any. The rooms are simple but clean and Phyllis takes good care of us.



Russell just love one of Phyllis' two cats, a young calico named Jo-Jo. I'm pretty fond of the little guy, too.



Jo-Jo and Russell having a stare down.



Phyllis told me that the granddaughter of her housekeeper (The Largo Motel housekeeper) did this drawing for her. She's 8 years old...the granddaughter that is. Phyllis is now a very spry and slightly cantankerous 82!



After unloading our bikes and taking a quick shower, we wandered down to the General Store which is about a block away. The whole town is probably about four blocks long (at most). This place seems like it has been here forever! So did some of the produce in the refrigerator case--the raspberries in particular.



We were hopeful that Chubasco's was open for dinner but no dice. There were a couple of interesting ol pickup trucks along the way that looked like they were simple town decor now.





There's now a food truck near Chubasco's, too, but that wasn't open either. Uh oh, things were starting to look rather bleak in terms of our dinner options.



Well, fortunately (or unfortunately depending on what you ordered), The Largo Cafe was open. It wasn't terrible but was at the bottom of our restaurant list for the trip. On the other hand, we'd all had a large and extremely delicious lunch at The House so that was helpful. No photos but I had mac and cheese with green chilis accompanied by a fine bowl of green beans. No photo needed.



These trailer homes are out back behind the motel and beyond those is an airstrip. There is a "wind farm" not too far from Quemado and some of the folks who work there rent out the trailer homes.



Tomorrow (Day #2) we're off to Santa Fe! I'll post about that tomorrow. My photos are loading especially slowly here on the forum today--not sure why. Hopefully tomorrow they'll be happier. See ya mañana!

To be continued......

 

Day #2: Quemado, New Mexico to Santa Fe, New Mexico (281 miles)

The weather was beautiful and a bit chilly when we woke up in Quemado the next morning. Today we would ride one of the favorite all-time routes for all three of us, taking beautiful New Mexican back roads through forests, across grasslands, among mesas, past centuries old little churches in tiny towns, and then winding our way onto the south slopes of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains into Santa Fe, the capitol of New Mexico.

Santa Fe is one of Steve's and my favorite cities and, as some of you may remember, we rode with several friends from Tucson to Santa Fe nine years ago to be married in the Loretto Chapel. So Santa Fe holds a very dear and special place in our hearts.


Here's our route for Day #2.



We always stop in on our way to Santa Fe at a little place in the town of Mountainaire called "Alpine Alley". A young couple purchased it from the previous owner just prior to Covid hitting. They managed to make it through that rough time mostly by doing take-out orders for people from the town and the surrounding rural areas.

We've gotten to know Faye a bit, the female side of the ownership team, and she's truly delightful. She used to do a lot of rodeo-related stuff. Now she's married and they have an 11-year old daughter. Here's a photo of her and, unfortunately, I only snapped one which does NOT capture her joyous and sweet spirit. But trust me. She's super cool. And the food is OUTSTANDING!!!



This metal sculpture out front is really cool and unique. Note our bikes in the background.



Faye



And my breakfast The first photo is of my New Jersey Crumb Cake. Faye introduced us to it last time we were there and it's delicious! I'd been dreaming about it much of the way from Quemado to here this morning.



Scrambled eggs with veggies including lots of New Mexico green chilis. They didn't have any fresh fruit because Faye said it's nearly impossible to any that's decent out where they live. But she was kind enough to warm up some frozen blueberries so I was able to get one of my fruit servings for the day. Gotta plan some healthy stuff on a road trip, right?! I don't remember what Russell's dish was called but he said it's the best breakfast he's ever had! And he NEVER says stuff like that.



We arrived at our hotel in fine fettle in the middle of the afternoon. The weather was wonderful for our whole ride and we checked in to find ourselves in one of the nicest hotel rooms we've stayed in. In fact, this was the first of three outstanding hotel rooms on this particular trip.

We stayed here last year, too, and loved it. As long as they have a room available, it's where we'll always stay when visiting Santa Fe.





This particular room even has a kitchenette! Not that we had any intention of cooking for ourselves. Part of the allure of Santa Fe for us is the amazing food and all the great restaurants!



Day #2 continued in my next post.

 

Day #2: Quemado to Santa Fe continued

And speaking of great restaurants, this evening we went to The Shed, one of several that we really enjoy. The Shed is an iconic restaurant in Santa Fe and the hacienda which is inhabits dates back to 1692. The place has been in business since the early '50's. The night after our wedding, our families and some friends who stuck around had a wonderful meal together...with lots and lots of top-shelf tequila! But I didn't drink so much that I don't remember the evening.



Steve had tried to get us dinner reservations ahead of time but the online info said they don't take reservations.
But when we arrived, all of the outdoor tables on the patio had "Reserved" signs on them! The hostess was very kind and apologized for the misunderstanding. She put us on the list and suggested we wait at the bar if we wanted to stay and eat here. We did so in we went...



It turns out that we could order and eat dinner at the bar so we opted for that. We'd already ordered drinks and were enjoying our view. That's my margarita in the bottom middle of the photo.



I nearly forgot to take a photo so my delicious meal is half-eaten in this one. I had a flat chicken enchilada on blue corn with green chili with a side of posole (hominy) and a side of beans. Yum! The ultimate comfort food.



We'd gone to dinner early enough that it was still quite light outside. The Shed is only half a block off the Plaza. The Plaza has been the heart of downtown Santa Fe for nearly 400 years and remains the central part of the city, hosting Indian and Spanish Markets and other annual events as well as community gatherings, concerts and more. On three sides of the center park area are shops and restaurants and on the remaining side is The Palace of the Governors. Much of the time there are numerous Native American artisans and jewelry-makers selling their good in the shade on the portales.



From Wikipedia:


We've seen this gentleman in this same spot on the Plaza a couple of times before. Last summer his pooch was a tiny puppy and now she's a (nearly) grown dog! But still with a puppy attitude. He and Steve "talked shop" about guitars for a bit while I petted the dog.



There's one area on the Plaza where bikers tend to park their bikes and congregate. It was very quiet this particular evening and this blinged out Harley-Davidson was all by his lonesome.



This Triumph was displayed indoors in one of the western wear stores!



This is a view of the Overland Sheepskin Store in Santa Fe. Steve, Russell, and I have become Overland junkies. They sell beautiful leather goods and lots of boots and jackets that are stunning. It started in Taos, New Mexico and there are now 18 stores, many of which are in ritzy-glitzy towns like Aspen, Colorado and Jackson Hole, Wyoming. The three of us mostly drool over their merchandise. But I did manage to find a nice small leather purse in their sale section for $100...half price. And, also important, easily packable on a motorcycle trip. We also knew that there's another Overland in Durango where we would be in a few days. I thought you all might enjoy what this place looks like. It was a beautiful building! And check out that antler chandelier...



Next up--Day #3. Continued tomorrow...

 

Hi, Armando. Thanks for your feedback. Glad you're enjoying my trip report. I haven't yet done today's which is a day trip from Santa Fe to Las Vegas (New Mexico!) and back. I'll do it a bit later this evening so I'm a running a bit behind with today's "episode". I spent the morning riding my bicycle and much of the (HOT!) afternoon riding my H-D Low Rider ST.

Regarding your question about my typing, I always do my big/long ride reports on my laptop. That's also why I always report after the trips are over. I have a MacBook Air that I love and use for both work and personal. I really can't stand typing on my phone, and voice - to - text leaves a lot to be desired. The nice thing is that I can go into the Photos program and drag the ones I want to post onto my desktop. Then when I start a post, my photos are already organized and I can type my "story" and add photos as I go. For me, I find this method works well and keeps a good flow. I rarely if ever post from my iPhone as I find it pretty cumbersome and frustrating. But that's probably just me. I'm getting so I don't even like to text anymore. Doesn't help that my fingers are becoming less cooperative the older I get.

 

Thanks, @Dawsy, both for the nice comment on my write-up but also for asking after my bicycle riding. I've ridden off and on (more off than on I'm afraid) over the past few years. But I really found myself rather unmotivated and always a wee bit tentative. Plus given a choice I'll always take riding a motorcycle. Anyway, my hubby and a couple of buddies have been riding pretty consistently on Mondays and Fridays so I started joining them on Fridays and have added in Monday. I'm starting to enjoy it again and am feeling like "Hey, I used to do this!" I guess 20 years of riding and racing has left at least a remnant of muscle (and brain) memory.

 

Day #3: A day ride from Santa Fe, NM to Las Vegas NM and back. Miles: 140

Staying overnight in Santa Fe two nights gave us today to do a day ride. Last year on our June trip, Russell found himself with a flat (6 pounds of air in the morning!) on the day we'd all planned to ride to Las Vegas, NM. So after squaring him away with a shop that was open and had a tire, he remained behind to deal with his bike and (it turns out) do some Santa Fe shopping.

So this year we agreed to do the ride again so that Russell could see Las Vegas. And Steve and I so enjoyed it last year that we were more than happy to do it again. Our total ride time was about two and a half hours, enough to feel like we got a ride in but short enough to have time to relax a bit stroll the Santa Fe Plaza again upon our return to our hotel.

The entire ride is on Interstate 25. I typically loathe interstate highways but this one is beautiful with very little traffic. If every interstate was like this, I'd happily ride interstates regularly!



Steve navigated right to the town square beautifully and we parked in front of The Plaza Hotel, a historic hotel that opened in 1882.

From Wikipedia:


Steve and I have become big fans of researching, locating, and staying at historic old hotels wherever we have the opportunity. Although we didn't stay here, we enjoyed showing it to Russell this time around. I don't know that we'd spend a night in Las Vegas, though, since we so enjoy being in Santa Fe down the road.



The hotel bar wasn't yet open for business but we were able to go in and look around. There was some cool art on one wall and it turns out that the bartender, who was prepping for business, was the artist! So we chatted with her a bit and she was kind enough to let me snap a photo of her with one of her paintings.



Numerous movies and TV shows have been filmed all or in part in and around Las Vegas. Why? Who knows! Here are two examples--the descriptions were hanging in The Plaza Hotel.






The Plaza has an especially wonderful selection of items in their gift shop, most of which are pieces from artists around the southwest. This was among my favorites, a Dia de los Muertos chopper! If they'd have had the capability to ship it to our house, I'd have bought it in a heartbeat. But it was all glass and none of us had enough room in our bags to pack it home.



The Plaza park looking back towards the hotel



There's an old pharmacy on the plaza / square in Las Vegas. We didn't go in last year but checked it out this year. Very cool place!





Day #3 continued in my next post

 

Day #3: Santa Fe to Las Vegas Day Trip continued

This was Russell's favorite store. The variety and amount of antiques was mind boggling! We probably could have spent another couple of hours here just prowling around.









This next picture was taken in the Navajo Rug Room. A Sock Monkey wall!! Every antique store needs one of those.



Next we went into a gallery that Steve and I saw last year. The primary artist whose work is displayed is Scott Vail, a photographer. He focuses on birds and his photos are stunning. This year when we went in, he and an associate were in the back working on how to mount one of his recent photos. He offered to bring it out to show us and I'm glad he did. It was one of the most amazing photos I've ever seen. I didn't take a photo of the photo because that seemed like it wouldn't be appropriate. But I did get a shot to indicate how long the photo is. It's of a herd of elk (he estimated over 200!) alongside a road he was on. He stopped his car. Then the herd stopped, bunched up, and looked at him. As he took some photos a flock of geese flew overhead, just to top it off!

Scott with his work



And Steve marveling over it!



All this wandering around had made us hungry so we wandered over to a local restaurant that Steve had always wanted to go to, El Encanto. We learned that the same family has owned this place for the past 28 years and the building in which it's housed was built sometime in the late 1800's.



El Encanto is own co-owned and managed by Andrea Loera and her daughter, Ester. Here's a photo of Andrea taken from El Encanto's Facebook page. She was there when we were, sitting nearby and close to the kitchen.



Steve ordered "a bowl of red" which means red chili in New Mexico lingo. The other option is "a bowl of green". Steve asked the young man who was our server (Andrea's grandson) which he would recommend and he said the red. You should have seen Steve's face light up like a red Christmas light when he took the first bite. In a hoarse whisper he asked for a bowl of sour cream and when it quickly arrived, he promptly dumped the whole thing in his bowl of red to cut the heat. We could see Andrea quietly smiling at this whole scene. That all said, Steve said it was the best bowl of chili he has ever eaten! With the sour cream addition, of course.

My breakfast was a little less spicy--thankfully. I ordered huevos rancheros with green. Delicious! And just the right amount of heat for me.



Day #3 continued in my next post--back to Santa Fe

 

Day #3 continued -- back in Santa Fe

As we geared up to ride back to Santa Fe, the three of us agreed to swing by Santa Fe's Harley-Davidson dealership which has been renamed "Wicked West Harley-Davidson" (from the more simple and easy to remember "Santa Fe Harley-Davidson" ). It was pretty much right on the way back to our hotel and worth the stop.



This display was near the front of the store. The bike is signed by all the cast members from Sons of Anarchy! One of my all time favorite TV series, of course.



Russell snapped this pic of Steve and me. I'm on a motorcycle parts throne and we're in front of the "Hall of the Wicked" with drawings of some wild west characters who rode through Santa Fe at one point or another.



When we arrived back at our hotel, I showered up and went to meet a girlfriend, Robyn, of mine from graduate school days while Steve and Russell walked to the Plaza to wander about. Robyn and I have kept in touch over the past 30 years and have remained close friends. Sadly, her wonderful husband, Mario, passed away from pancreatic cancer only several weeks prior. Robyn lives in Albuquerque and drove up so we could hug, talk, and cry together. I wasn't sure she'd want to get together but she said she just needed to get away from the house, do something "normal" (we shopped a bit),and hang out with a friend. The whole thing has been incredibly sad and tragic. Mario was a wonderful human being and only 68 years old. Robyn and I were both were very glad to be able to spend a couple of hours together… and that's about as much as she could muster.

After Robyn dropped me off at the hotel and headed back to Albuquerque, I checked in with the guys and met them on the plaza. They had had a successful shopping trip, with Russell dropping a bundle on a beautiful pair of Luchesse cowboy boots which the store agreed to ship back to Tucson for him. After doing a bit more strolling around, we headed to this evening's dinner spot, Cafe Pasqual's, another favorite. Steve and I have eaten there numerous times and love the place. Russell's first time here was last year and he was very happy to return this year! Cafe Pasqual's is an iconic Santa Fe restaurant and for good reason. Steve made dinner reservations for us weeks in advance of our trip to make sure we'd be able to get in.





I took lots of food pics but here's just one--Steve's steak dinner. All three of us were very pleased with our outstanding meal!




After dinner we sent across the street to Secreto Bar, the bar in the Hotel St. Francis. It's another Santa Fe icon and a favorite haunt for Steve and me. We went here with family and friends the evening after our wedding.





I'm becoming an aficionado of mezcal...this is the one our bartender recommended. I had a shot over a big fat ice cube. And I think he poured a bit heavy. Darn!



Here we are at Secreto Bar back in June of 2015 with my two brothers and sisters-in law and one of my girlfriends and her (then) boyfriend. This is after a "fair" amount of tequila as we'd started the evening at The Shed!



Next up--Day #4 Santa Fe, New Mexico to Pagosa Spring, Colorado

 

Glad you're enjoying the report, @Markus. Four more days to come!

Ahh, sock monkeys. I didn't really know the story behind them, either, so checked it out. They've just always been around since I was a little kid. Interestingly, my heritage is pretty much 100% Swedish and sock monkeys were started by a Swede. Coincidence? Hmmm... BTW, why that particular Las Vegas NM antique store had such a big collection of sock monkeys and chose to hang them on that wall is a mystery to me. If and when we go back there I'll be sure to ask!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sock_monkey

 

Day #4: Santa Fe, New Mexico to Pagosa Spring, Colorado Miles: 155

Well, today was a day we called "Plan B". And, spoiler alert, there turned out to also be a "Plan C". When we initially planned this trip we wanted to do some new roads in Colorado. So Steve suggested we ride over Wolf Creek Pass in Colorado to the little town of Creed and then continue on to the town of Gunnison and spend the night there. Then the next day we'd ride through the Black Canyon of the Gunnison then through Montrose and wind up in Durango. Here's where the Plan B came in. Steve just "happened" to look on the Colorado DOT (Department of Transportation) web site and, to our dismay, learned that a bridge on the main (um, only) road between Gunnison and Montrose had recently been closed "indefinitely" due to structural problems. Here's what our Day #4 route WOULD HAVE looked like. I'm starting to get a little better at this "adapting" stuff. Practice opportunities.



Ok, so here was our Plan B. Key word is WAS. We decided we'd leave Santa Fe and ride 150 miles to Pagosa Springs. From there we'd head north and ride over Wolf Creek Pass which is around 11,000 feet to the little town of Creed which Steve has always wanted to see. Then we'd finish off the day in Gunnison. Nope. More adapting. Our ride out of Santa Fe had nice if a bit windy weather. But by the time we arrived in Chama about 100 miles later, the weather was starting to turn. And not just turn, but turn bad. After we gassed up I donned my rain jacket. I had my chaps on so opted to not wrestle myself into my rain pants. Steve and Russell chose to blow off the rain gear. As we gassed up we could also see where our mountain pass destination lay was now completely obscured by storm clouds and the temperatures were dropping fast. So we made what turned out to be one of the wisest decisions of our trip. We agreed to just ride to Pagosa Springs and hope for better weather tomorrow. Plan C.

Within about 5 miles of leaving the gas station in Chama it started to sprinkle. Steve pulled over so the guys could put on their rain gear. I considered swapping chaps for rain pants but didn't want to plop down on the side of the road, take off my boots....you know the rest. That was one of my learnings from this trip. Don't be lazy. Go for the rain pants because chaps don't do shite when the rain really comes down. I'll blame Russell. He has told me over and over again that chaps are as good as or better than rain pants. I never thought this could be the case and now I can definitively say they are not even close.

After our roadside wardrobe change it starting pouring in earnest and did so for the remaining 140 miles to Pagosa Springs. Thankfully, we easily found our hotel and as we pulled in, the rain (of course) stopped. My other learning from this days' ride was to use the pinlock in my face shield! I'll use the "shite" term again, this time to describe what I couldn't see as we rode along in the rain. The pinlock is now in my face shield and my rain gear is in my righthand saddlebag, both ready for our next trip.

So here is the map of Plan C. This one was short and sweet. Well, not all of it was sweet.



We were SO glad to see our hotel! And the Riverwalk Inn staff were great, providing us with rags and buckets to get at least a bit of the muck off our bikes.



Pictures don't do justice to show the amount of mud, dirt, and grime on my bike. Snow on our last trip in May and rain and gunk on this one. Well, it is a touring bike and we do ride outdoors.




We've ridden through Pagosa Springs numerous times before on our way from Santa Fe to Durango. But this was the first time that we've stayed there.The silver lining of our Plan C was that we got to spend more time here and explore this little town which is truly delightful!







Showered up, dried off, and ready to head to Riff Raff Brewing Co. for lunch and a beer!





The San Juan River runs through Pagosa Springs, and our hotel and Riff Raff situated right on the river. Riff Raff was about 300 years from our hotel. How wonderfully convenient to have a brewery so close to one's hotel room. Because it had stopped raining, the hostess said we could sit out on the patio by the river rather than indoors. When you live in the desert, it's nice to be able to sit next to running water.



We had a lovely lunchtime view.



And my brisket quesadilla was delicious. I washed it down with a nice hoppy Riff Raff "Juice is Loose" IPA.



Day #4: Santa Fe to Pagosa Springs continued in my next post

 

Day #4 continued: Hanging out in Pagosa Springs, Colorado

Stomachs full, we meandered along the river walk into the little downtown area of Pagosa. The surrounding area has sprawled with development but we were near the best that Pagosa has to offer in terms of cool and quaint shops and sights.

These geese were happy to share the river path with us as long as we didn't get too close to the babies. Gooslings? Goslings? I'm not up on my bird baby terminology.



A few sights in downtown Pagosa Springs





We went into a fishing store because Steve loves to fish. This cool sight greeted us. These folks were learning how to and actually making their own custom bamboo fly fishing rods! Both Steve and Russell were completely enamored with the idea of doing that. But the cost dampened their enthusiasm a bit.





The overlook in the next photo provides viewing of Pagosa Springs' hot springs for which the town is named.

From Wikipedia:
The town is named for a system of sulfur springs, Pagosa hot springs, located there, which includes the world's deepest geothermal hot spring. 9 The "Mother" spring feeds primitive and developed hot springs located on the upper banks of the San Juan River, which flows through town. The primitive springs are freely accessible to the public, but are generally not for entering or interacting with because of the extreme water temperature. Developed springs feed soaking pools that are hosted by three
privately-owned soaking locations within town. 10] The water from the"Mother" spring is approximately 144 °F (62 °C).






We liked Riff Raff so much for lunch--and sitting by the San Juan River--that we decided to go back again for dinner. This time around the clouds had lifted, the sun was out, and the light was beautiful.



This photo of our hotel was on the wall near our hotel room. I snapped a photo of it so provide a perspective of the vastness of the land around us. The San Juan River is right behind the Riverwalk Inn and then open space expands to the majestic mountains off in the distance.



Next up, Day #5: Our "Plan B" ride over Wolf Creek Pass to Creed and back again, then on to Durango