Austin to Durango and Back Part 1

[user500r]

My long time friend Matt mentioned that we was going to take a month or so to travel the southwest and visit some friends and family on the way.

We started June 19th and I got back to Austin on June 27th covering 2776.1 miles

Austin to Durango

The first day we went from Austin to Roswell through the West Texas blowtorch. With highs expected be at 106 I was not looking forward to the this at all. Between Big Spring and Brownfield the intake temperature at 70+ mph was reading 114. Luckily, on advice from @Madhatter I purchased a cooling vest a few days before the trip. This made those temperatures tolerable. After a lot of heat and a lot of breaks we made it to Roswell for the night



The next day we got a fairly late start after recovering from the 510 or so miles to Roswell. The first part of the day we were fighting a 35 mph with gusts to I don't know what for the first part of the day. I was leaning a good 15 degrees to stay on the rode. Once we go past Clines Corner things mellowed out a lot and then the final leg of the day, Chama to Durango, we finally hit some pleasant riding.

Durango

We met up with a friend that lives in Durango and had a place to stay for a couple nights. The first day of riding we took it pretty easy and took a route that my friend takes that took us by the Vallecito and Lemon Reservoirs. I braved a swim in the chilly Lemon Reservoir. I was happy for relatively easy day with temperature in the low to mid 80s after covering more than 900 miles the previous two days.






The following day we did the million dollar highway loop which was gorgeous and not nearly as scary as I imagined it would be.

 

[user500r]

Part 2

To Cloudcroft

Friday it was time to part ways. My friend in Colorado had some family obligations and Matt was going to continue west while I headed back into New Mexico. My plan was to ride the Sandia Crest Byway on my way to the camp in the Cibola National Forest outside of Magalania. On my way there was an accident that shutdown highway 550 for an hour or between Cuba and Albuquerque. Temperature was in the upper 90s and movement was sporadic so I ended up just shutting the bike off and walking it the short distances we would move. Lucky for me there was a semi next to me for a good portion of the shutdown and I could catch some shade.




After making through the shutdown I got over to the Sandia Crest in the late afternoon to ride to the top and back down. The Sandia Crest Byway was a fun stretch and it was nice to cool off again in the altitude.





I found along the way that the campsites were closed in the National Forest so I found myself a cheap hotel in Socorro. The next morning I made my way to Cloudcroft for some a night of camping a to setup for the ARRL ham radio field day. The ham radio portion of things proved be a bit tough but the weather was great since I was at altitude again and there is some great riding through the Sacremento District of the Lincoln National Forest. There are some fun twisty roads and plenty of off pavement riding. I did a little off pavement but since I do not have a lot experience with that and I was alone I did not risk it that much.





Visiting Friends and Heading Home

After riding around Lincoln National Forest I made my way down to Alamogordo and took Highway 70 through the White Sands Missile Range to visit and stay with some friends in Las Cruces. It was getting warm but I made the mistake of not setting up my cooling vest in Alamogordo. I figured I could stop somewhere and douse the vest in water on the way. I figured wrong. There isnt even a piece of shade to be had much less any structure with water on that 70 mile stretch and with temperatures reach 106 I was feeling the heat.



After visiting friends in Las Cruces it was another 245 miles to visit a friend in Ft Davis, TX and another step closer to home.



On Mondays in Ft Davis the restaurants are closed so we had dinner in Marfa and the next morning I started the 420 miles back to Austin. It was warm but I made it home by 5:30pm with three stops to rest and cool down.

This was my first trip on a motorcycle and was a lot of fun. I covered 2776 miles in 9 days. I have never that much riding in such a short period. I am looking forward to doing it again although maybe in the late fall or early spring.

 

[robp]

Nice pictures and writeup. I've been on a few of those roads, both on 2 and 4 wheels.

 

[Cycledude]

Nice write up ! Great pictures !
Apparently you weren’t carrying drinking water ? You really should be carrying water with you when riding in those kind of conditions, you could have used that on your cooling vest.

 

[user500r]

Apparently you weren’t carrying drinking water ? You really should be carrying water with you when riding in those kind of conditions, you could have used that on your cooling vest.

I definitely had drinking water. I was carrying 3 liters in a hydration bladder and another liter in a container. I knew the stretch between Alamogordo and Las Cruces was less than 60 miles and did not feel like I was in any real trouble. It made me appreciate that the vest really did a good job of making the heat bearable.

 

[Sierra1]

No Marfa lights?

 

[Madhatter]

User500r, no longer a newbie ... a really great trip report ...

 

[TenereGUY]

Welcome to the world of motorcycle touring. Sometimes when I am just going from point A to B and the country around isn't important I will get up early and go or wait until the sun goes down. Cooling vests are terrific. LDCOMFORT.COM undergarments make a huge difference too. Cooling sleeves and solid textile gear with the vest and you can go all day along with your hydration bladder.
Good write up.