Your dad only turns 80 once...

[oz.fj]

 
Loven the ride 
All ready to cast off for the next leg Capn
                 

[Capn Ron]

Day 3:  Payson, AZ to Socorro, NM (300 miles)

After rebuilding the carburetors in the hotel room the night before, I was excited to get on the road!  I packed up my GIVI hard cases, strapped down my tent and fired up the FJ.  Ohhhh...I had fuel POURING out of one of the vent tubes!  Not to worry...I had spent most of the night on the forum boning up on the carbs and all the potential issues/solutions.  I quickly figured it might be a stuck float bowl since I just had these out and flipped over a few times during the re-install.  I got on it and rode the bike off a curb and presto!  The leak immediately stopped!  A wealth of knowledge this forum is!   

My day took me from Payson to Socorro, New Mexico...right around 300 miles:



Continuing on the 260 from the day before was about the same...brilliant!  Perfect wide sweepers through the forest one after the other for 30 miles without ever seeing a car!  The kind of road that made me want to turn around and ride it again!  My excitement was enhanced on that road because I was noticing something...The FJ was running better than it had even when I first left Los Angeles.  The carb cleaning and new filter had really sorted out the fuel delivery issues and I felt like I was on a brand new bike!

At about 150 miles, I stopped at this place in the desert for a fill up:



I did the math on that tank and I was now getting 50MPG!!  Sweet.    In the desert you don't find many gas stations, but when you do they are catch-all businesses like that one.  They are a gas station, auto repair shop, hotel around back, grocery store and chain saw dealer!  Everything a weary traveler might need!   

Pressing on towards Pie Town, NM (yes...there's a place called PIE TOWN!), I dropped some altitude and picked up a HUGE tailwind!  It felt like I was coasting for around 40 miles!  I then got to the reason I picked this route...

This is the "Very Large Array" or more commonly just called the VLA...The one you've seen in the movie "Contact" and all the individual dishes work together to act as one huge radio telescope.



You can see the radio dishes in the background of yet another gratuitous FJ picture!     They seem small from this distance, so I rode the three miles to go check them out:




After witnessing the VLA first hand, I have since renamed it the BFA! 

I got back on the road heading East pretty late in the day...Short on sleep from the night before, I stopped in Socorro, NM just down the road for the night.  Hotels in the Southwest are dirt cheap!  Almost cheaper than sleeping in the dirt in my tent, so I got motel room for $28, a GREAT night's sleep and a hot shower.  Life is good on the road!

Cap'n Ron. . .

[CanDman]

GREAT night's sleep and a hot shower.  Life is good on the road!

Cap'n Ron. . .

Max Webster - On The Road

Life is good on the road !!

[Capn Ron]

Day 4:  Socorro, NM to Aspermont, TX (430 miles)

After a great night's sleep, I was ready to pick a route and log some miles.  My morning route planning routine was becoming second nature.  I would open the navigation app on my iPhone and put in my parent's address and it would plot the most direct route.  I would then check the radar app to see if I would run into any weather and adjust as needed.  Then I would look for what appeared to be the most interesting roads and head off.  Interesting roads in order of importance to me were:

1. NOT an interstate!
2. Something that looked twisty
3. Had some sight that needed seeing
4. Took me through small towns

From where I was, most would have headed North East through Amarillo, TX, but there was some rain up there I would have ran directly into.  I looked due East and saw that Roswell, NM was on my way and decided to head there.  I heard I might run into some aliens.

This was my route for the day:



And this was my view for most of the morning:



Just wide open desert roads that disappear into the horizon.  There was a pull out next to some pretty interesting ancient lava flows.  I was taking a break there for probably ten minutes before I saw a single car.  They pulled over and I said hello.  They were a German couple touring the U.S. for three weeks. 

They didn't speak much English and my German is limited to what I learned on Hogan's Heroes.  I tried my best to be a polite ambassador...we exchanged some funny gestured conversation, some smiles and handshakes and I was on my way again after taking another gratuitous shot of the FJ (you can see some of the black lava in the background:



I then found myself in Capitan, NM...A VERY small town and the Captain was in Capitan!  I just had to take a shot of this cool little building:



Off for a quick stop in Roswell, New Mexico and I ran into this fellow...Yikes!:



We exchanged greetings and I got the hell out of Roswell!

I finally got to Texas!  I know it's going to be a long state...parts of three days of riding probably:



While riding through small Texas towns, stopping at a kid's lemonade stand, getting a wave and a nod from a guy on a riding lawnmower...I was starting to really like Texas.

Going along at about 60 in the middle of nowhere, something caught my eye just down a crossroad and I turned around to check it out:



It was a proper OLD jailhouse!!!  Complete with iron bar cells:



I spent about a half an hour exploring that place...very cool!  When I got out of jail, I noticed the shadows were getting long and I should probably get moving:



It was a great day of riding...saw some fun sights, met some wonderful people and for the first time since I left Los Angeles, this was starting to FEEL like an adventure.  No more worries about the months rebuilding the bike...not thinking about miles too much...not caring about where I ended up at the end of the day.  In a word, freedom.



Cap'n Ron. . .
 

[FJmonkey]

I am loving each chapter, keep it coming Ron.....

[markmartin]

Great report Capn Ron and I like the accompanying maps.  I'm takin' notes.  Kingman, AZ to Payson, AZ (250 miles)looks perfect to me! Carry on...

[movenon]

Great report Capn Ron and I like the accompanying maps.  I'm takin' notes.  Kingman, AZ to Payson, AZ (250 miles)looks perfect to me! Carry on...

If you ever make that leg. From Flagstaff drop into Oak Creek Canyon (Sedona). Then head on up to Jerome -Prescott up to Payson. Oak Creek is a must...

Keep the trip coming Ron...
George

[Capn Ron]

Great report Capn Ron and I like the accompanying maps.  I'm takin' notes.  Kingman, AZ to Payson, AZ (250 miles)looks perfect to me! Carry on...

If you ever make that leg. From Flagstaff drop into Oak Creek Canyon (Sedona). Then head on up to Jerome -Prescott up to Payson. Oak Creek is a must...

Keep the trip coming Ron...
George

Thanks for the tip George!  That area is close enough...and there's some good wine tasting to be done that I'll end up back in that area!  I'll also add that the 60 from Show Low to Globe is SPECTACULAR!  High cliffs, switchbacks and amazing scenery!

Cap'n Ron. .  .

[Capn Ron]

End of Day 4:  Aspermont, TX

I rode until the sun was going down and looked for a hotel in Aspermont, TX.  No real reason other than that's where I found myself when I was tired of riding.  Since there were only two in Aspermont, I picked this one:



It was called the "Budget Inn" and it certainly was at around $34 taxes in.  The hospitality was great...had a nice conversation with the girl at the reception desk about the town...She told me that oil was booming around there and because of the transient nature of oil work...and I presume the big paycheck drinking binges...they had made it a dry town.  Fortunately, I travel with wine so I was all set there.

At that late hour, most food options were closed for the night.  The room had a microwave, so I ended up at a gas station/food mart and put together a cheese, Vienna sausage and instant rice medley that would go well with a nice chardonnay back in the room!    I topped up the tank so I'd be ready to go in the morning and headed back to the hotel.

The room was nicer than you'd expect for thirty-four bucks.  It was clean, had WiFi, a fridge and microwave and quite a nice bed!  When I parked the bike in the dirt parking lot, it was dark out, but there was good lighting under the overhang of the motel.  Now...I don't know if it was because I was in Texas...or that my room was right behind the Coke machine, but there were ENORMOUS crawling bugs outside my door.  I know everything is bigger in Texas, but if the bike broke down, I'm certain I could have ridden one of these things to the nearest service station!

Normally this would have kept me up all night thinking about the critters...Then it occurred to me...On the downside, they're huge.  On the upside, they're so big there's no way they could fit under my hotel room door!!!  With that in mind, I closed the door and had a great night's sleep!

Cap'n Ron. . .

[movenon]

I don't know if you like desert wines but if you remind me the next time we might run into each other at a rally I will get you some "Ice Wine".  Made from the grapes after they freeze (they are extremely sweet). I swear you can pour that stuff onto vanilla ice cream....

http://www.finewineandgoodspirits.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?&level0=null&level1=FbF_Dessert&level2=&level3=&level4=&catalogId=258552&storeId=10051&productId=1268012&langId=-1&prodlistCatId=Wines%20by%20Variety&parent_category_rn=Wines%20by%20Variety

George

[Capn Ron]

I don't know if you like desert wines but if you remind me the next time we might run into each other at a rally I will get you some "Ice Wine".  Made from the grapes after they freeze (they are extremely sweet). I swear you can pour that stuff onto vanilla ice cream....

George

I like mostly big dry reds (Pinot, Zin, Shirah, cabs)...or oakey, buttery chardonnays.  That's not to say that I don't enjoy a dessert wine now and again.  A late harvest Zinfandel or Port.  I did a fair amount of tasting on this trip (spoiler alert) and spent a good amount of time in the Niagara region.  Ice wines are king there!

I am familiar with a couple of reds from Ste Chapelle Winery.  Friends of mine smuggle it into Utah whenever they get out your way! 

I figured out a pretty good system for carrying wine on the bike that I might delve into in one of the trip reports.

Cheers!

Cap'n Ron. . .

[movenon]

Ste Chapelle is only 24 miles down the road.   
George

[Capn Ron]

Day 5:  Aspermont, TX to Paris, TX (305 Miles)

Los Angeles is just a speck in my rear view mirrors by now and I'm getting into a nice routine...I've repacked and re-organized the Givi cases a few times and I can get the bike road ready in about 15 minutes. 

I left the Budget Inn in Aspermont and was greeted with another beautiful sunny day!

My route today looks like this:



These are more single lane roads through tiny towns in Texas.  Who knows where today will take me?  Who will I meet?  What will I learn from them?  What great things will I see?  Almost as soon as I processed these thoughts, there it was:



A twenty-foot high iron sculpture on the side of the road with it's head seemingly gesturing me to keep going East.  I figured...he wouldn't steer me wrong...and I continued on my way.  (see what I did there?) 

I passed through a town that probably had a population of 50...At one of the houses, two kids were tossing a ball back and forth in the front yard and they stopped to wave to me as I rode by.  I tooted the horn and waved.  Seemed like a nice simple life to me.  That thought made me smile and got me through another fifty miles to Graham, Texas.

I had been thinking since the day before that I should start looking for a place to change my oil.  This was a completely fresh engine...at this point, I had only rebuilt it 1400 miles ago and the "break-in oil" was due for a change!  As I rolled through town, I spotted an Auto Zone store and pulled in to try my luck.  "Ummm...yeah...if I buy all the stuff to change my oil, can I do it out behind your store?"  I cringed waiting for the reply.  In Los Angeles, they would have thrown me out of there...  He says, "Sure thing mister...need some shop rags?"  Wow...more Texas hospitality!  I proceeded to fiddle with the oil change out back and poured the used oil back into the quart containers and handed them into the store.  Job done!

While I was in there, I found some tar and bug remover in a spray bottle and a pack of six microfibre rags.  This was Texas after all and my bike was covered in bugs!  I really didn't need all six rags, so I separated three from the pack and went up to a car in the parking lot...husband, wife...kids in the back seat..."Hey I don't need these...could you use them?"  He says, "Sure!!" and his wife starts pulling out some money!  "No...just take them...I don't want any money for them..."  "Are you sure??"  I was stunned...It seemed they felt they HAD to give me something for them.  I thought for a second and said, "Okay...Here's what you can do for me...I need you to give me a suggestion for a good barbeque place to get some lunch!"  They both enthusiastically said, "CLAYTON'S!!!!!"  I thanked them, they wished me safe travels and off I went to this place:



Looked like a hole in the wall, but they had a stack of hickory wood out back and the smell was OH so inviting!  I had some BBQ pork...it had that "smoke bark" that the pitmasters always talk about but I had never experienced...a side of cole slaw and the best corn bread salad I have ever had...



Wow, was that ever good!  With a full belly, I got back on the road and knocked out another 100 or so miles and saw a winery.  Okay...wine in Texas???  I'm adventurous...  I went in and tasted just a few of their wines and bought a bottle for later on.



We got to talking and he was confused about my route from Los Angeles to New York and why I was all the way down in his part of Texas.  He said, "You're really going out of your way...this isn't the preferred route."  I said, "It's not the *shortest* route...but it is definitely the preferred route!"

He offered to have me set up my tent in the vinyard for the night...his wife would make me dinner, we'd watch the sunset with some glasses of wine and we'd all have breakfast in the morning.  I turned him down as I thought getting in another 100 miles that day was more important.  It wasn't.

I did make it to Paris, TX later that day...On the way, I saw this old plane just sitting in a field.  It must have plenty of stories to tell...



My hotel in Paris was uninspiring...I should have been sleeping next to the grape vines.  I promised myself to say "yes" more often.

Cap'n Ron. . .

[fintip]

Great trip, wish you'd said yes!

[Capn Ron]

Great trip, wish you'd said yes!

Thanks for coming along for the ride! 

There are a lot of things you learn about yourself when you're alone in your helmet for 500 miles...for many days!  Things that you just never had time to think through get dealt with, problems get solved or if they don't, you just accept them as unsolvable and you're okay with them.  I find myself reflecting back on conversations I've had or decisions I've made and wonder if I could have done something better now that I've had time to think it through. 

Not camping out in a vineyard was definitely something I should have done differently! 

Cap'n Ron. . .