Hypothermia or Bust! Texans on a DR650 and a KLR try to escape the HEAT!

[mathewsturtevant]

Austin, Texas to anywhere cooler. After months of triple digit heat, we gotta get out of this place. We bought a trailer off craigslist for $250 and made our escape from Austin to Ruidoso, N.M. to start our journey. I am sure there are several who would frown on the trailering out of Texas part, but ....107 degrees plus humidity..... be my guest. I have nothing to prove, leave that for some Harley forum.
Read and enjoy

[mathewsturtevant]

As I said, the furnace of Texas has been cooking me and for as long I can remember, this has been the weather report. I surrender. I make my retreat...

[mathewsturtevant]

so,.......

[mathewsturtevant]

yup..

[mathewsturtevant]

We loved lounging and catching up with my father in the cool stormy evening, then the next morning loaded up and went for a short test ride around my father's neighborhood. It is amazing... I haven't been riding 10 minutes on my trip yet and the riding is far superior to any riding I have done in the curviest parts ot the Texas hill Country. (yes including all the roads around Vanderpool/ Leakey. Hardly anyone lives in the subdivision, it was in the 70's and the roads are in absolutely perfect condition.... and curvy!!

[mathewsturtevant]

test ride. This is Richard, enjoying the cooler weather of Alto, NM.

[mathewsturtevant]

No super concrete plans other than heat avoidance. Even in the hot looking places, we're still at 6000 ft so it was in the 80s and we were cooking along. Fully loaded, but feeling good I got my bike up to 90mph and still had more left in the throttle. Wow, never done that before on the DR. but my bike was running perfect... new wheel bearings, new sprockets, new chain. Felt great.In Texas I am always afraid deer are gunna run in front of me, but here I could see eveything. We left Alto, then headed towards Carrizozo, Corona, then at Duran switched to a road named "3". Cruising along it looked a lot like the Texas Hill Country then BAM!! It loos like Mongolia or something............nothing for miles.......Awesome!!

[mathewsturtevant]

see

[mathewsturtevant]

I know I am beating a dead horse.. , but I found my self grinning ear to ear as we would pass by puddles on this pleasant, zero traffic road. I haven't seen puddles in many, many months... it was actual evidence that it rains here. I was starting to think rain didn't exist.
When I returned to Texas, my garden, lawn and some of my trees are yellow and dead. The grass is crunchy.
As we headed north I was eagerly looking forward to whatever the storm clouds wanted to bless us with. Then, the Worry Department(the most active, well used part of my brain) started thinking "Not a lot of Gas stations round here." Shut up Worry Department, I'm on vacation! We stopped at a very quite gas station,....hmmmm....closed. " Knock... Knock .. Worry Department here" I said shut up. So we go over to the digital gas pumps..which appear to be "on" . I swipe my card.........It says begin fueling so I try and ....nothing...
O.k. I have prepared for this scenario (see photo) with 30 oz spare fuel. AND if we really need to we can siphon from Richard's KLR tank which is like a camel. The good news about being a neurotic worry-wort is I have already thought of all worst-case scenarios and usually have a plan.
We cont'd north toward Vegas no problem, made it without even going to reserve even with 50 lbs of gear. Turns out I get better mlieage than I thought when it's ALL highway miles.

[mathewsturtevant]

A church I have visited a lot over the years. It was special to show up on my bike.

[mathewsturtevant]

vrmm

[mathewsturtevant]

Haven't camped by this old friend in quite a while. I've paddled a couple hundred miles of it over the years. Sometimes up here, sometimes in canyons in Texas. Always a pleasure. the Rio Grande

[mathewsturtevant]

yup

[mathewsturtevant]

Writing before I forget. We had a great first day riding, only 20 minutes of rain near Mora, Nm. Lots of cool air. Taos seemed to have lost some of it's funky vibe to tourists and real estate but I will always like it.

[mathewsturtevant]

I didn't know at the time, as I was scarfing down this breakfast burrito that I would be riding 360 miles this day..ending in some of the most challenging pavement in the U.S. The reason I didn't know was because I measured the map distances with the span of my fingers. Well, just like your intestines, curvy roads are a LOT longer than "as the crow flies". One of several lessons I learned this day.