all my loving

 We slept in yesterday (this is the best thing about not having a set route or timetable). I knew we were planning on staying two nights on Brett's couch because we wanted to spend some time with him. (Also I needed him to make sure Wellington's oil leak wasn't going to cripple our trip - he entered my life as my moto-mechanic at NPRDucati and became my friend). So Margie and I stayed up late catching up with Brett, even after traveling 800 miles :) I think we may try to qualify for Iron Butt on the way home.

 So we moved leisurely to his favorite shop Ace Moto. Where we washed the bikes, shared our story, and talked about The Wounded Warrior Project. Looks like Welly's oil leak is going to survive the trek back across the country (crosses fingers). And the guys from Ace took us to Tony's BBQ for lunch (Thank you Ace and Chop!) where I had this magical dish called a hash burrito. I don't know or care what kind of meat it is because it was effing delicious. A little burnt and crunchy. Yum! (Turns out it is the fat and trimmings from their delicious brisket chopped and cooked again... which explains why it was so amazing.)

 While we were at Ace's I met Keith,  a local El Pasian(?) who possesses a wealth of knowledge about fun riding in the area (mostly in the mountains to the north in NM).  We left Brett to help with some bikes at Ace's and set out to follow Keith around to a few of El Paso's motorcycle shops. It sucks that the US ships so many of our men and women out to that desert (I was told Fort Bliss was the largest training facility our country has). It was midafternoon, and Margie and I were following Keith down the interstate....along this stark, beautiful, desert mountain terrain. I kept looking at the mountains, thinking that there had to be a fun road to ride up there.... a dirt road or SOMETHING. Suddenly, Keith made a left turn and we were riding into the hills. From what I could tell, we rode the ONE curvy road in that desert to Santa Teresa Motorsports. It had long fast sweepers and lots of scenery to look at. I bet the view from up there is phenomenal at night... all the dancing lights of El Paso, Fort Bliss, and Juarez.

 I'm really looking forward to my next trip out west (yeah, I'm dreaming already.... :) because of all the awesome people I've met along the way. Like Diego at Santa Teresa Motorsports who seems like a riot. And Tiffany at Freeway Powersports- who gave me her personal cell number in case we ran into trouble as we crossed New Mexico and Arizona.

 Unfortunately,  El Paso doesn't seem like the greatest place to live. Brett told me about the hail and hellish dust storms. The lack of curvy roads made me ache for Georgia.  But the people who live there are really cool. And the food... they can effing cook. The three of us (Brett, Margie, and I) even found some decent jazz music at The Black Orchid (though we were slightly under dressed in our tshirts). It was fun hanging out with Brett's Army buddies and gave me a lot of food for thought heading into Memorial Day.

 Margie was able to convince Brett to miss Five Finger Death Punch and join us for the next leg of our trip. I don't know how she did it- the woman's got skills. Especially considering he spends a lot of time "camping" in the desert for the Army already. And we headed out for Truth or Consequences, NM. Yes, a town exists called Truth or Consequences. It's in New Mexico. We found a campground on the Rio Grande River and set up camp.

Brett's bad ass ride for the 
day- a Royal Enfield, you can find them 
in El Paso at Ace Moto

  Camping in the desert is not for sissies. But the rewards are more than enough to make up for the weather. The weather during the day was glorious.  The sunset lit up the mountains,  giving them a golden-red glow. It was picturesque. And I have seen more wildflowers in the desert than back home. Purples, oranges,  yellows... There's all sorts of cacti blooming too. At night, the wind picked up something fierce and it rained. It was cold, very cold. Very. I think I got probably three hours of sleep.

 Strangely, I woke refreshed. It might be the exhilarating adventure or something like it. But no matter how little I sleep I always have more than enough energy for the next leg... oh, and coffee, lots of black, delicious, coffee. If you find yourself in Truth or Consequences look up Happy Belly Deli for really good healthy food options. I hope you do find yourself there at least once :)

 In the morning we said goodbye to our Private First Class and hit Hwy 152 into Gila National Forest. Where we finally found some curves, they almost reminded me of the Tail Of the Dragon on the North Carolina/Tennessee border. I'm not an advanced rider by any means (I finally feel like a solid intermediate three years after I got my license and probably 15 to 20 thousand miles or so on two wheels.), and I'm still learning how to straighten out a curve and ride turns with a decreasing radius. I could've ridden those roads for days, but we have a mission to see the Pacific Coast and get home to our families, friends, pups, and beds.

Arizona. .. or New Mexico, I can't remember

If you must cross Arizona on a bike, I recommend making the leg at night. Yeah, we missed some awesome scenery, but the part we rode in the afternoon was miserably hot. It heat sedated me and made me groggy after my sleepless night on the ferocious Rio Grande. The terror of watching a dust storm, crossing the sand, gaining speed, heading for my line was exhausting (it never before occurred to me that I could run out of throttle when I needed it). At night the weather cooled a little, and lights danced on the horizon again, reminding me of the ride into El Paso.

Sunset just outside of Phoenix

 I'd planned to stop for the night in Yuma, AZ. But when we pulled in to fuel up around 10pm the gas station attendant told us that the temperature reached 107°F during the day and it was still 101°F. Our air cooled bikes don't work well at high temperatures,  so after a very short powwow (me:"fuck that" Margie:"lets ride") and a long break, we pushed off.

  Cleveland National Forest, the park, reservation, and mountainous area just east of San Diego has elevations that reach 4000+ feet. The constant blast of cold air was a bit of a shock after the heat of the desert.  It was probably close to three in the morning by that point, so the cold helped keep me awake. I suspect the park would've topped my list of favorite rides so far if I had chosen to stop and change into my warm clothes. But I'd gotten to a point where I just wanted to get to the coast. I'm more than a little stubborn, driven, ambitious,  headstrong, whatever.

 Oh, there was one eerie event in those mountains. So the leg through Cleveland was dangerous. There were high winds trying to blow us of the mountains, lots of risky turns and bridges. Luckily, the cold air kept us sharp. All of a sudden, I had a thought- Slow down a little and watch for animals that inhabit the wilderness. Not 60 seconds later, just out of the next curve, a creature lumbered across my line. If I hadn't slowed on the other side of the mountain, if would've been right in the middle of my road. I didn't get a good look at it in the darkness, but it was a dark gray/brown, I would guess between 35 to 50 pounds, and lumbered like a racoon as it ran. I felt like mother nature was really taking care of us, ensuring our safe arrival to the coast. I will return to that place, (maybe for a pack in camping trip?) it has a special magic.

 I was just ready to be here :) The sun was coming up when we parked the bikes, I'm going to sleep for a few hours and play in the Pacific Ocean "tomorrow."

~Amanda Terranova

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HERE

hells belles

 Margie and I rode about 800 miles yesterday. Through my favorite part of the new land so far  (well, new to me ;) . Mateo, our new friend in Victoria, highly recommended we stop in Goliad on our way out of town. Goliad was a fort back when the Texians were fighting the Mexicans for independence and the location of an old spanish mission, dating back to the 1700's. After the Alamo fell, the leader and about 300 troops retreated to Victoria.  However, surrendered to Mexican forces who had overtaken them in Goliad,  about 20 miles or so west of Victoria. It is believed that the terms of the negotiation included the men were to be treated of prisoners of war, however, on the 27th of March 1836, they were ordered executed. This is where the battle cry "Remember Goliad! Remember the Alamo!" came from. The mission is also very cool, and the staff was very friendly. I wonder if they have camping, might be a fun place to stop in the future.

The ride to San Antonio was cool and overcast. That part of the state, the land is mostly used fracking (from what I was told Victoria population is booming because of it) but it looks like farmland to me. Big trucks with cattle catchers driving around, hauling tractors and what not. It reminded me of Sidney, Iowa where I have family. Some hills, fun and easy to ride.

Oh a word about driving in Texas. People will PULL OFF THE ROAD to let you pass. Granted, the shoulder is wide enough that they don't have to go in the dirt, but still. I've even had semi's coming the opposite direction drive onto the shoulder to help me avoid the wind blast that attacks you when driving around a big semi truck. It is amazing. And the speed limit- the speed limit is somewhere about 65 to 80 in between towns. Margie and I made good time in Texas ;)

LEGO scientist at the fort in Goliad

 Now, Nick, (who works at Transportation Revolution,  the Ducati dealership in New Orleans) is my new favorite person. While I had my map spread out on the floor, he suggested that we ride through Alpine and Marfa on Hwy 90, and stop to look around. I am SOOOO glad he did, because we were planning on crossing West Texas on Interstate 10. From what I understand,  I 10 is a gas desert. Several people told me the ride through West Texas was awful. "Its was the armpit of the world" and "you don't know how far you've gone because the mile you're driving looks exactly like every mile for the last hundred. And every mile for the next hundred looks exactly the same."

 On this trip I've realized on this trip highways are a better ride because those roads were originally paved when people took drives for pleasure. Likewise, the interstates were paved for convenience and practicality.
   


 Back to the ride, Hwy 90 from San Antonio to Marfa has been my favorite stretch of road thus far. Admittedly, part of this has to be that the terrain is so completely different than Georgia. The desert scrub and wildlife give me so much to look at that I am usually surprised when it's time to stop for fuel ("What? Already?"). Honestly, I thought by this point I would have dug out my ear buds out of boredom,  but today is day 7 and I'm still rocking the earplugs. The roads are windy and lonely. They are cut through and careen around desert mountains. The colors are mostly reds and browns. The foliage is green but it's a different shade, it's more dull. The rocky desert terrain builds into mountains dispersed through flat scrub land. Just outside of Del Rio, we crested a hill coming around a curve to the most pristine lake I have ever seen.  Amistad Reservoir and Recreation Area out in the middle of the desert is turquoise. It was mostly deserted (ha:), I saw one lonely sailboat on the entire expanse of the lake. So many places to see.... and to return to one day :)

Tax dollars at work

 As the day wore on and the miles passed under our tires, the sun started setting on the horizon. We literally chased the glorious sunset through the desert. And pulled into a Alpine TX diner for dinner. We've been eating mostly protein bars during the day and stuffing down a huge meal at night at a mom and pop restaurant. This is usually an easy way to guarantee a good meal. This one, for example, had an amazing jalapeño burger.

Just as I was about to pack my dogs up and move to Alpine, on the road between Alpine and Marfa, I got a reminder that Texas isn't idealistic. It was just dark, there was a truck parked on the side of the road. And just before we blew past I watched a man in a green shirt yank a woman in a white tank around by her arm.  Her head jerked sideways and her hair flew. I wouldn't say it ruined Texas for me....  but it did challenge my brain and broke my heart a little.

We've been meeting a lot of really cool people
on the road :)

 Hwy 90 turned north and straightened out as we drew closer to El Paso. The memory of the couple fighting at the truck faded as I watched lights dance beyond the horizon. We'd been warned to keep an eye out for the deer, elk, and jackrabbits. But we didn't have any trouble with any crossing our path. The country is flat and very dark. It was so flat that I could see the glow from headlights of approaching cars over the curvature of the earth. It took me a while to figure this out because they looked , like a fog of light, and when they finally broke the horizon, they looked like a tiny little candle. Minutes passed and we were moving fast. After a while, the "flame" grew, and I started to wonder what the f*ck is that? More miles past (to give you an idea of the expanse of this sky), and the flame finally broke into a recognizable two lights.  The stars were out and to the north of us there was a breathtaking storm, the lightning blew up the clouds, making me think of Zeus riding a cloud and throwing the bolts around :)

  I really REALLY enjoyed riding through the desert at night. The city lights as we approached El Paso danced in the distance. Yes we decided to push through and ride to El Paso! As I said earlier, it was about 800 miles. And I could've kept going, but we were happy to see our friendly face in the city.

Talk to you soon!

Until tomorrow,
~Amanda Terranova

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