Overdue Ride Report - Taos, NM - 4th Wedding Anniversary trip - Part 1

For the 2nd year in a row, hubby and I have made a motorcycling anniversary road trip for our wedding anniversary. We'd planned a much different trip initially but then my GS started having issues. We weren't sure we'd get to go anywhere at all for a while. Fortunately, I got my bike back the day before we decided to leave. Or rather, once we got the bike back, we decided to do a different trip. It turned out to still have issues but we didn't really know that at the time. (Cutting to the chase, don't take your moto to Foothills BMW in Lakewood, CO. They suck.)

Our rule has been to go somewhere neither of us have been before. And on the motos, of course. :-)

Original Plans
Hubby had heard from a buddy of his who recently bought an RV about this place in Nebraska called Pioneer Village. "Nebraska?", I thought. Ok! It fit the rule and was within the 600-800 mile radius that is our one week moto trip limit. Once he convinced me it was a good idea, I set to planning. There is a town in Kansas called Nicodemus, that is a national historic site that I've always wanted to visit. It would fit as well. And there were lots of other interesting places we could stop to visit - a few parks, wildlife areas, historic towns, etc. I did really worry about the heat and all the saddle time but we'd survived Wyoming in the summer pretty well. But then, the bike started having stalling issues. I won't bore you with the mind numbing and infuriating details but I took the bike to the closest shop, they kept it for a full week, found nothing wrong with it and gave it back to me. They said I should just ride it and if it stalled again, bring it back. That week of not knowing however, made us change our plans. We didn't have enough time to really make the route we'd planned, we were unsure of the problem with the GS, and I wasn't sure we should go anywhere.

New Plans & the Trip
Hubby then suggested Taos, NM. Hmmm. That seemed like a great option. We could ride there and stay in town and just relax. We could ride around the area if we wanted, or just wander through town. Taos is also very close to his parents, who I love and wish we could visit with more often. Taos sounded like the perfect back up last minute plan! We picked up the bike on Saturday evening (grrrrrr!), spent Sunday & Monday packing and making last minute arrangements, and hit the road on Tuesday. 15,822 miles were on my odometer as we set out from Starbucks.

The skies were threatening so we made a pit stop in Jefferson, CO to put on some rain gear.  And I bought a South Park sticker for the side case. :-)

We had lunch in Salida, CO. I am quite fond of the greasy spoon breakfasts.

I can't remember exactly where in Colorado this stop was. We did get gas there. It's probably in my notes somewhere. The wet seat wasn't worrying me too much since I had my rain pants. But, it was sopping wet!

Ahhh...the land of enchantment!

We didn't stop much after this, not for photo ops anyway. After about 334 miles, we made it to our casita - Taos Lodging! Woot! These were very nice lodgings. The woman who ran the place was very helpful. She gave us good recommendations for dinner and also for a nice anniversary meal. I wouldn't mind staying at this place in the future. We stayed in a one bedroom, one bath, with a full kitchen and laundry. There was also a pull out sofa bed, which came in handy when my father-in-law rode up to meet us. And we were just a few blocks from the square where there was food and beer and shopping. :-)

That gravel parking lot was a little scary. I can't believe neither of us dropped our bikes! Hubby had to help me as I backed into the spot when our neighbors car was parked in the spot next to ours. When it wasn't there, we could both pull our bikes in pretty easily.

Tuesday evening we had a tasty dinner at Eske's Brew Pub. Hubby had the green chili beer. :-)

Wednesday was our anniversary! On that day we decided to do a little riding around. We wanted to visit the Earthships. (We considered staying there but decided being able to walk into town was a better plan.) There are self guided tours through the property. When you arrive at the visitor's center, you sign in and get a badge. From there, you are free to wander through the center to view the displays, watch videos about the that building and other projects, examine the indoor gardens, and also wander a bit around some of the buildings that are under construction. It was pretty cool. I think we both enjoyed being at our own pace for this one. It was a fairly hot day so we could check out outdoor features and then return inside for some water and the cooler temps. There weren't very many other folks besides us who were visiting. Definitely check out their web site for more info about the place!

Unbelievable blue skies! This is the visitors center.

 Bottles, cans and tires used as filler in the wall.

 Me and my love!

This is a wind turbine that was being installed when we arrived.

This was a new building. Those round shiny things are cans.

 This is the old visitors center, I think.

The motosmotos parked in front of our own earthship. :-)

The sun room and garden.

Mushroom logs. :-)

Bottle detail in the wall. :-)

I really liked this decorative feature. :-)