Guest Laundry ~ Rio Grande, New Mexico

Sitting in the guest laundry area on the first Sunday night of August of the Best Western Rio Grande Inn in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Time to do the laundry again, again.

It seems as if on this trip, this has become my task. Jim at times will help to carry the clothes to the area and put them in the washing machine, but I usually complete the job. Now, he does fold his and I do mine, but again, that is after I return the clothes to the room. This may require a few trips because everything does not dry at the same time.

They get rolled up like jelly rolls with rubber bands just like we started on 7/5/15 and placed in the saddle bags. This is a pair of pants, two shirts, two sets of underwear and two pairs of socks.

                                      

This guest laundry room is very nice, clean and large. There is a knotty pine table and two chairs. There are two washers, side by side and two dryers on top of each other. I also see a machine where you can buy detergent and fabric sheets. We still have our own supplies and quarters left.

There are also three pictures on the wall. One is two women, one old and one young doing pottery. One is of  the Fanciscean Hotel in Albuquerque in 1925 and the third one is the Alvardado Hotel Fred Harvey Indian Room 1930 - Walkway and Indian Venders.

This was a much pleasurable and productive laundry time.

Under the Rainbow

We were doing well with trying to get 300 miles in today when heaven decided to open its doors with rain and lightning, and boy did it pour. We were about 40 miles from Albuquerque, New Mexico. We were trying to get about 100 miles East from there.

Jim said, "When people ask what do we do when it rains? We hide under a bridge and take pictures of rainbows. Rainbows are one of my favorite things and I did not think that I would see one on this trip. We stayed under the bridge for about 45 minutes. We saw a double one. The one on the bottom, or the first one had brilliant colors, I could see the purple, and the end of the rainbow was on the road and it appeared as if cars were riding through it.

Once the rains left and we could see light ahead, we started to ride again. The rainbow was still ahead of us for miles and then it seem like we were right under it. We were riding under the rainbow. A little farther down, we watched a train ride besides us for a while and then under us as we crossed a bridge. We drove over a train and under a rainbow within a short period of time.

New Mexico ~ Land of Enchantment

"Land of Enchantment" ~ that was what I notice when we saw the New Mexico sign. This is the state's official nickname. 

In 1941, this was placed on their license plates. In 2008,the United Stated bicentennial commemorative quarter for the state also features the nick name. This name describes it's scenic beauty and rich history as noted by online sources.

New Mexico became the 47th state in the USA in 1912. "It was given it's name in 1563, and again in 1581 by Spanish explorers who believe the area contained wealthy Indian cultures similar to those of the Mexican (Aztec) Empire." (this is from online wikipedia.org)

Other nicknames include:

The Cactus State

The Spanish State

The Land of Sunshine

The Land of the Heart's Desire

and a few more but as stated before, THE LAND OF ENCHANTMENT is the official one.

A Very Late Check-in

Jim saw lots of lights, he thought that maybe there was a Best Western Hotel there, It was a STATE PRISON. No! We did not get a room. I guest you can tell it is getting late, actually getting dark if we see lights.

We continued on route 87 North to Winslow, AZ going to hit route 40 East to Albuquerque, New Mexico. We got off of 87 and went into a liquor store parking lot. This was a liquor store and not the cute Wine & Spirit Shops that we are used to.

Jim and I have a code word. WITH  - We In The Hood. That is exactly where we were. We quickly used the GPS to locate and we called about 4 hotels. There were no beds. One hotel suggested that we go to exit 253 off of interstate 40. We got on 40 and the exit numbers got larger starting with exit 257. After about 15 miles and not seeing anything but lighting, we turned around.

We saw a Best Western Hotel sign for exit 250 and got off only to find that there were no beds. At first the lady at the desk said she could not make calls but told us to go to exit 253. I told her we called a few and can she call. She did. She called around the Winslow area to about 4 other hotels and they were all booked. I asked if there were any other hotels and she said, "You wouldn't want to stay there." I asked no additional questions about them. She then asked if we were going to Flagstaff. I told her  were going towards Albuquerque. She found us the Lexington Inn 30 miles away, now going East again. We just came from that direction.

While riding, Jim said, "We need to stop lying to people." "About What" was my reply. "NOT RIDING AT NIGHT"  I said, "OH, this is the 4th time we were driving in the dark." Jim laughed

Family Break - Chandler, AZ

Run for the Border - San Ysidro, California

San Francisco ~ Golden Gate Bridge

The first time that we saw and rode across the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, California was on our 2010, “One Heck of a Ride.” It was Monday, July 26.  Naturally, while in San Francisco, prior to the bridge, the first thing we did was to visit a Harley Davidson Shop. We brought our long sleeve shirts and also some patches and pins,  all with the store logo on them. Outside of the store, we took pictures of the steep incline of the streets and other nearby landmarks. We stayed in San Francisco in 2010 much longer than we did this year, 2015.

While at the Harley Shop, in 2010,  we met a couple who was also going to the Golden Gate Bridge so we rode together. The closer we got to the bridge, the colder it became. It was July but it was getting cold. in spike of the weather, crossing the bridge was wonderful, amazing and beautiful.  While riding across the bridge, I steadied my hand as much as possible to take the video.  Once we got to the other side, we took several still pictures with the bridge behind us, just the bridge and also with the other couple.

As soon as we took the pictures, I put on my full finger gloves and my long sleeve thermos turtle neck shirt. Again, it was July, can you imagine? It was extremely cold.

The year, 2015, we again rode across the Golden Gate Bridge, this time coming from the North. I, again, videotaped the ride but this time, we did not stop for anything.  Again, the ride was amazing.

We rode through parts of San Francisco on the way to Pacific Coast Highway. We videotaped some of the steep streets. Can you believe that some of the streets may be as steep as 42%? Think about a 45% angle.