Friday, October 14, 2022

Across New Mexico to Taos and Santa Fe

 








Dear Family and Friends,


This morning we left Tucamari, New Mexico.. What a sad little town. 

It is located off US 40 and on the old Route 66. Usually when the downtown gets by-passed it falls a part. Here all the newer hotels and restaurants just off the freeway are completely falling a part and they are not that old. Even the big chain motels like Motel 6 and Econolodge all need paint, repairs, parking lots repaired etc. And most of the restaurants are shabby or closed but ironically the old downtown that is located on the old Rt66 and was by-passed actually looks pretty good. Go figure...

So once we left town we headed up to Taos, New Mexico. The ride there was about 4 hours long. Great weather and amazing views. 


For the first couple of hours we went over vast prairies with hardly anyone there but cows. It was some of the most untouched land I have ever seen in the lower states.

All I could think of was motorcycle don’t let me down!!! There wasn’t even cell service, very little traffic and it would have cost a fortune to get it towed out of there.

From the valley we climbed into the mountains and reached 9000ft. The views were terrific and the roads made for a great ride! There were even still some snow capped peaks.

Check out this short video.

Panaramic Mountain Views.

We finally made it to Taos. I was originally there in the 1970s.  Then it was a very remote tiny town  made up of original Indian adobe buildings. There were Indian artists and craftsmen there making a living.

Today the town is miles long with modern buildings and shopping centers and tons of traffic! The old part of town is still there but it is a modern version of it and most of the shops and restaurants are very up scale.  The original town square is there but the building are more like copies of adobe. We found a small funky Mexican cafe left over from the old days and had a good lunch there. We did some shopping to get our better halves a present but nothing struck Bonnie’s fancy and everything was very expensive. ( When I shop for jewelry for Bonnie I send her photos for her approval. No point buying something she won’t like or wear). I will keep looking because she deserves something special for supporting all my wild adventures…. Or maybe she really enjoys it when I am gone???? 

I doubt I will ever go back to Taos, it has lost its charm to me.

In the late afternoon we left Toas and rode down the mountain to Santa Fe, New Mexico. A fairly big town with an old town section.

Tomorrow we head back up into the Rockies and plan to spend the night in Durango, Colorado. Should be fun.

Jason




Great views that are always changing.

The long straight morning ride..

Climbing up into the mountains.

This is about all you see of civilization and even this is much is 20-30 miles apart.

Brian thinking "Where the hell are we???"





Poising for pictures in front of a local ranch.





See the snow in the distance? In other places it was much closer.




Entering the town square of Taos. 
Nice but not as nice as it used to be.






A statue of Mr. Taos, the founder in the 1700s. ;)


A good place for authentic Mexican food and atmosphere.







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