Peaks & Canyons

On the way up to Albuquerque I stopped in at Fort Sumner to pay my respects to one William H Bonney, AKA Billy the Kid, who was killed there in the summer of 1881. His headstone has been stolen three times so now the whole grave is covered in a steel cage.


The Story for the headstone


Safe behind bars

The second stop of the day was at the Route 66 motor museum at Santa Rosa to quickly have a look at some of the fine cars and memorabilia they have there. It was a windy ride all the way from Clovis to Albuquerque, with the Wombat being blown onto the hard shoulder a couple of times!


Some serious route 66 metal


Love the woodwork


Those flames are so 70's

I had already put the address of the BMW dealership into the GPS and so when I got into town it took me straight there. I arranged for the service and a new front tyre and as I was asking if there was a cheap motel nearby a voice piped up and said you can stay with me if you like. So for the next four days I stayed with John Dawkins and his family in the hills just outside Albuquerque. Saturday it was snowing! So instead of going for a ride we went to the local gun fair, then in the afternoon collected the Wombat. That was when I got the first shock. The $1300 bill!! I had expected it to be fairly expensive but not this high. What really hurt was they hadn’t got a replacement bolt for the main stand in stock so they kindly took one of a bike in the showroom. They then charged me labour to remove the bolt, fit it to my bike, then for the labour to put the bolt back on the original bike when it arrived!! Thanks fellas. Later I found that they had routed the wiring for the GPS all inside the tank so I couldn’t remove it. A bolt loose on the hand guard, and then the Power Brakes stopped working!! (they are working again now) Not impressed all in all. I've decided from now on I will be doing the servicing myself.


John Dawkins Place


The view from the house

We also took a drive up to Santa Fe on Sunday. A very nice place but extremely expensive.


Santa Fe art gallery with John's car parked in front (no joke)


Very expensive shops

John decided that he would take a couple of days and ride north with me. So on Tuesday 3rd we set off and headed for the Mesa Verde National Park just across the State border into Colorado. We took the long road round through the Jicarilla Apache Indian reservation and Durango (the real one this time) until we stayed the night in the Lodge inside the national park. The next morning we visited the site where the Indians lived in the caves in the rock face of the canyon, very impressive.


The Indian caves in Mesa Verde


Getting ready on a cold spring morning


The view from the Lodge cabins

Then we went up to Four Corners where New Mexico, Colorado, Utah and Arizona all meet


Four Corners

Then finally something I have been waiting many years to do, a ride up through Monument Valley. I wasn't disappointed.


Coming into Monument Valley




These mesa's are unbelievable


Mexican Hat

The next day John headed back for home and I took a short ride up to the Canyonlands National Park and then didn’t get much further staying in Moab overnight. It seemed like the whole of Utah also had the same idea, with a lot of “off roaders” in town for a weekend of fun.


Canyonlands





The next morning I visited the Arches National Park and at that point decided to avoid the heavy storm and flash flooding in Northern Utah that was forecast on the TV for the weekend and headed SW towards another two National Parks, Bryce and Zion.


Arches National Park











Then into Bryce National Park

Finally that day into Zion National Park





By this time the plan had been altered sufficiently that a visit to Salt Lake City was also in doubt. I was only 200km from Las Vegas and after a quick check on the internet for hotels, I booked a Days Inn motel just one block off the strip for three nights for $28 a night, and headed for Vegas!