I decided to stick around in Taos another day and go riding with some of my friends. We decided to do a figure 8 loop that included the Rio Grande river and the Taos Ski Valley Resort. Just outside Taos is a steep gorge carved by the Rio Grande with an impressive bridge.

Here you see the canyon looking North, straight down, and South. Very impressive.

We decided to ride and find breakfast on the way. As we went through a small town we noticed all the locals appeared to be eating at the Cowboy Kitchen. The food was good, but not spectacular like some of the places in Taos. Blue Corn Huevos Rancheros and eggs with  chile sauce and cheese enchilada were quite good.

The Taos Ski Valley Resort was a pleasant stop. The slopes looked very steep.

Someone had recommended Tim's Stray Dog Cantina to us for lunch. We sat on the deck and enjoyed the rushing noise from the creek and enjoyed some very yummy food with excellent chile's. The cook came out at one point and gave us a quick lesson on where to get the best chile peppers and how to roast them to perfection. If you are looking for a business opportunity it's for sale.

We finished the top loop of the figure 8 after lunch and returned to Taos. We had dinner at the Apple Tree which was just a short walk from the hotel. The chicken and mango enchiladas were very good. The ambience was nice as well. A central courtyard was full of comfortable tables with booths around the edges. A tip for the service staff; if you have a table that includes men and women and you decide to card one of the men you must also card the women. You should say something like: "He was a little borderline, but you young lady, I really must check your id."

Bikes, Bikes and more bikes. Today is the last day of the event and I wandered around checking out all the bikes looking for cool farkles (an upgrade or customization - for all my non motorcycle friends). I hear we had 208 people and 162 motorcycles. A very good showing. Many folks were cleaning and polishing for the traditional show and shine. One ST was disassembled for some kind of maintenance/upgrade.

In the category of information overload I found a few setups that make the space shuttle look easy to pilot.

Of course not every upgrade has to involve microchips and auxiliary antennas. This simple horn modification was a sight to behold. You never know when you might need to sound like a bicycle.

I also like the hide away highway pegs. As they say on Sesame Street - Open....Closed.

These auxiliary tip over bars were interesting. I might need some of those if/when I get an ST1300. On the other hand my track record has been pretty good. my ST1100 had 58K miles on it before it ever hit the pavement - and I had to have a car bash into me to make that happen.

This is a very international event and as you can see we had a number of proud Canadians who were happy to show their patriotism with these flag stickers and a their unique sense of style with this back woods fur seat cover. I think Sesame Street should do more to enhance international relations, perhaps a new character: Bruce the Barbarian.

For my friends in Europe who know the ST as the Pan European (Honda marketing could compete with HP - Want some cold dead fish?) you should be reassured that several of the ST's had been rebadged to align with Honda Europe. Here is a fine red example.

The black ST here is a perfect example of unanticipated utility of the motorcycle. This pilot shall be known henceforth as "Sir Green Slayer" for his exemplary job of insect control using the non toxic and environmentally friendly technique of smashing as many insects as possible with his ST.

And as a final runner up in the fitment for violence category I saw this strange ring mount around the gas cap on this silver ST. I assume that this is for mounting some kind of heavy weapon. Perhaps an anti-car missile system for heavy traffic or a flamethrower/bbq option that uses the gasoline in the tank as a fuel source for dealing with venison close encounters. I must have missed that accessory in the Honda catalog - perhaps it is only in the police/military versions.

In the ouch that hurts category I found this blue ST1300 that had experienced some kind of impact trauma. The damage from the front was quite slight, but from the pilot's viewpoint the fractures were certainly more in evidence. Again borrowing from Sesame Street - Front....Back.

Proper hydration - especially in this hot weather - is very important for rider safety and comfort. These supertanker sized ultra slim cup holder options. Once more from Sesame Street - Empty....Full.

I don't know either. I am afraid to ask.

And finally a few pictures for my friends. John O. is off pursuing his passion for the outdoors and small boats and couldn't make it this year. John this ST is for you:

For my buddy Bill S. who I hope is having as much fun on his vacation as I am:

Yummy, yummy, yummy. I had breakfast with the Kelley's at Doc Martin's. Blue Corn pancakes with blueberries. They were fantastic. Highly recommended.

Favorite quote today "So you are telling me your bike doesn't run because of the orange juice in the pistons?" Linda Lambert was trying to explain why she couldn't check a particular e-mail account. Steve and I were both confused by her reasoning as it didn't make any sense. The orange juice was my analogy for you aren't making sense. I helped her with the Comcast account management interface and soon she was able to check her e-mail and the orange juice was no longer in the pistons.

Quiet day, cruised down to Albuquerque just to look around. Hot at 95 degrees. Got back around 6:30 pm and had a nice visit with friends over wine and cheese. I didn't get to Angel Fire for dinner. No pictures either.

It was a day for Rain and Road Work. This is the rainy season and today I got hailed on pretty hard as I approached New Mexico. Even through the 'stitch it felt like getting hit with marbles - or maybe paint balls as the hail stones were slushy after they hit. The hail cleaned the bugs off the windshield though!

I had a run in with an ignorant flagger at some road work in Colorado. In my experience it is customary for motorcycles to go to the head of the line when traffic is stopped for construction. The rationale is about safety. The opportunity to have a clear field of vision, set the pace and not have to worry about vehicles in front of you throwing up road debris are all important safety factors. It is not about getting ahead in traffic - motorcycles generally have no trouble doing that in general.

So as I approached a stop with two pickups towing large camp trailers already in line I swung out to pass. The flagger shouted at me (unintelligible through the helmet, earplugs and over the music playing in my helmet) and waved at me. I thought he wanted me to go to the inside to get to the head of the line. Since this was a downhill grade it would have been impossible to back up if I hadn't been on the Wing. I used the reverse feature to backup and then went to the front on the inside of the lane. Going down the inside is a bit tricky as the guardrail and pavement edge can be a safety issue as well. I should have just kept on my original course.

When I reached the head of the line the flagger came over to admonish me for my behavior. I killed the music and got the gist of what he was saying - essentially who did I think I was cutting to the front and why didn't I listen to him when he told me to get back in line. I calmly explained the safety issue and he told me I was lying since he had been doing this for three whole days and no other motorcycles had done this. I bit my tongue and let him run down. No point in telling him that just because he was ignorant and no other motorcycles cared for the safety aspects of navigating the construction zone didn't mean I was a liar. He wandered off after a bit and I waited for the construction vehicles to clear so we go proceed.

Other than the brief hail storm I didn't get rained on. There were lots of rain showers around but each time it appeared that I was headed right for the heart of the storm my path took a turn and I skirted around the storm.

Everyone always assumes the south west is intolerably hot this time of year. Most of it is, but southern Colorado and New Mexico can be quite nice in spots. Taos was a very pleasant 72 degrees yesterday. Here is a shot of my friend Steve Kelley is giving us part of the rider orientation.

WeSTOC was held here in 1998 as well. The hotel is the Best Western Kuchina Lodge. The service in the restaurant left much to be desired then and things have not improved. At dinner it took everyone quite a long time to get served. This is a shot of the apple pie my friend Bill Pratt ordered. We all cracked up it was so pathetic. Bill wandered over to tell Adam Koczarski (one of the chief  disorganizer for WeSTOC XII in Redmond, WA) and company that they should think twice about ordering dessert as the apple pie was "Huge" and might contain a whole slice of apple.

Tonight I think we will head out to Angel Fire. There is a spot there called the Roasted Clove that has a wild boar chile relleno on the menu.

The open road is calling to me. It is Monday and it feels odd not to be at work. I am purposefully spilling precious drops of time into idleness. It feels good to spend some time for myself. The sky is open and inviting. I am thinking of Desert Solitaire by Edward Abbey. I read it in college and the author's passion for this beautiful land is renewed in me as I watch the landscape roll by.

Price Canyon on the way from Utah to Colorado finally shows some green and cools down a bit.

Southern Utah offers some incredible road side scenery.

Safe and sound in Grand Junction, CO. Approximately 1100 miles in two days. Another three state day (ID, UT, CO). Tomorrow off to Taos, NM and the WeSTOC XIII rally. It will be good to see old friends.

It was a cool 55 degrees crossing Snoqualimie pass as I headed East from Seattle. I knew it wouldn't last and the day would get much hotter as I headed to Boise, ID for the first stop. I took the canyon road to Yakima from Ellensburg. Lots of folks on the water. I stopped and took some pictures of the farmland I had just crossed as I headed down to Oregon.

The Columbia was blue and beautiful. The source of life for all those apple, cherry and wheat fields. Not to mention all the vineyards.

It is hot an dry until you get near Pendleton. Then the land starts to ripple and you see trees and green grass.

A brief bit of high plains, then more mountains to climb. The Wing is running great and pulls up those steep grades like the cars and trucks are standing still.

As I head in to Idaho the plain gets hot and dry again.

Three states in one day. Tomorrow off to Grand Junction, CO.

Yesterday was Day -1 and focused on getting the bike ready for the trip. I have spent most of the first part of this year in Europe and so I took care of some chores that needed attention. One of them was preparing the bike for the trip.

I ran up to see Mark Reis to get some PIAA 910 driving lights mounted on the Gold Wing. Even though I am headed to an ST event (WeSTOC XIII) I have decided to take the Wing. It has had more attention in the last few years and is just better setup for long touring than my ST right now. It may be time to turn in my 1996 ST1100ALT for a new ST1300 now that they are available in red as well.

Here are some photos from my Nokia E51 of the PIAA work. Mark is an artisan and I know his work will serve me well. Plus he is a good friend and it is always nice to catch up.

With a 1 mile range these lights really help out with riding in low light or darkness. The first year I had these on my ST was actually the same year as WeSTOC III which was also in Taos, NM. I was riding through Wyoming with my buddy Bill Pratt. It was dusk and the road stretched out clear and straight ahead. We chatted on our FRS radios and decided to ride side by side and see if we could tell the difference between his white and my yellow PIAA 910 lights. We lit up the road and to our surprise we found that we were in the middle of a herd of antelope on both sides of the road. They had been completely invisible to us until we illuminated them with those amazing lights.

As the southwest is currently broiling I may find myself doing some night riding to avoid the heat. The safety factor with the PIAA's makes this a more comfortable proposition.

I also took some time to install a nifty little license plate/document holder I got from the Aerostich folks.

Today I will finish packing and do some route planning. I called Bill Pratt yesterday and he was already on the road so I guess I will see him in Taos.