Bridges? What bridges?
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BRIDGES WHAT BRIDGES WE DON’T NEED NO STINKIN BRIDGES
AND SO IT WENT FOR JOHN AND BEV, ROBERT AND DONNA AND BILL AND CHERYL ON OUR
ADVENTURE TO RUIDOSO NEW MEXICO.

We had the opportunity to visit three of our Land of Ahs locations, Florence, Montezuma and Moscow. Leaving Moscow we took a county road only to see a sign that said “Road closed ahead BRIDGE OUT.” Well this did not stop us BUT the bridge really WAS out sooooo we just drove down in the creek bed and up to the other side and away we went to Johnson City. Nice little town. They had a garage sale advertised with a box in the middle of main street. Veeery interesting. Somewhere in Colorado cruising down the highway Donna’s headlight decided to go flying.We thought we were seeing a UFO but it was only Donna’s headlight! A quick trip to the nearest motorcycle shop which happened to be a Harley Davidson store and there was the exact headlight she needed waiting on the counter. A visit down the street found Robert the right nuts and bolts he needed and some good customer service at a Honda shop. Now Donna had Harley-Honda bike. We rode a nice pass out of Trinidad Colorado called Cuchara Pass. Lots of curves. Making good time we approached Wolf Creek Pass and here was another sign “PAVEMENT ENDS” WELL that just about did it. Donna forged ahead and reported that yes the pavement really had ended. A few very bumpy miles and one lost bottle of water that jiggled out of the cup holder and we came into Pagosa Springs. Unbeknownst to us there was a hugh horse-training seminar in town and motel rooms were at a premium. After Robert gave the local Super 8 a lesson in “How to treat your customers 101” we ended up with a very nice and cheaper room at the First Inn down the street. A hilarious dinner followed and ended our day on a happy note. We enjoyed our dinner even if they didn’t have the beer on the menu or any baked potatoes, or vanilla ice cream or nuts for the sundae. A personable waitress made all the difference and we all had a great laugh.

Our next destination was the Four Corners Monument where we ran into Jim & Cindy, Ed & Eloise, and Dave Akins. Small world. Here we are out in the middle of nowhere and I mean nowhere and someone says “Hey that looks just like Jim Bohrs bike” IT WAS! We all did some quick shopping at the booths and off our group went headed for the Grand Canyon Natl Park. We encountered a nasty dust devil along the road, dodged some sheep along the way and arrived at the South rim of the Grand Canyon in record time. We were at the park for sunset and what an experience. We stayed in a small town called Valle just 26 miles from the park. We decided we would come back the next day and do more sightseeing so we headed to the motel. Our lesson 101 learned here was if you paid cash for your room you better have ID. We encountered this practice several times during our trip. By now Cheryl knew what everyone ate for breakfast and dinner. We all seemed to have the same taste.

The next morning we headed out to the Grand Canyon again and took pictures and yelled at Robert for getting to close to the edge. Cheryl got braver as time went on and we had a group picture taken with the BIG hole behind us. We really had a fun time there. Next stop Albuquerque New Mexico on Interstate 40. WOW THAT WAS A TRIP!. We made pretty good time, Donna called ahead and got us a great deal on rooms for the night. Again Robert had to give the clerk a lesson. This time it was “How to count change 101.”

Our next destination was Ruidoso but before we got there we had a side trip to the Natl Radio Astronomy Observatory to see the large ARRAYS. Out in the middle of nowhere but a very interesting place, if you saw the movie ”Contact” you saw the Arrays.

Heading for Ruidoso we arrived at the motel to find out that Robert has to give the clerk one of his famous lessons. Again the ID issue came out if you chose to pay cash.

The rally was really great. The weekend brought out more vendors and we all had a great time shopping. The hoedown meal was good and they fed a tremendous number of people very efficiently. A side trip to Roswell to the UFO museum made my day and I hope all who went with us enjoyed it also. For a while there we weren’t sure if we would ever see civilization again. All we saw was a road that went on forever. A quick lunch at Wendy’s was special for Cheryl. She had the surprise of the day in her fries. UGH!

We enjoyed our rally time and the good restaurants and sharing the time with everyone.

Several of us left Sat morning and fought heavy wind across Texas and Oklahoma. It was so nice to see trees and grass again upon entering Kansas. We got a couple more Land of Ahs shots before getting to the ice cream shoppe in Emporia. That’s important. We passed up a lot of Dairy Queens on this trip.

All in all we had a great time and have to thank Bill for planning a good route. Our timing was perfect and the companionship was fantastic. Can’t wait for next years trip.