We rode up from Santa Fe thru Espanola May 26 along HW 84. There was construction going on, the traffic was heavy and we kept our helmets on. There were bikers everywhere, all friendly and waving and many were 2up. Terri was in the habit of putting on and taking off her jacket while we were moving. I had told her the wind at 75mph could pull her off if the jacket got caught but she never listens to me anyway. The ride got much better after we passed Espanola and turned onto HW 68 which took us into Taos. The Rio Grand was on our left all the way, was mostly white water rapids and canoe'rs everywhere with busses unloading them.

   On our right was some of the thickest and strongest wire fencing I have ever seen. Periodically you could see where a boulder had punched its way thru the fence and all long the route there was warnings for falling rocks. We took pictures of parts of the fence on the way back and you can see some here. We came around one bend and did see some dirt kicked up so we knew that some of the smaller rocks can make it thru or bounce over. Terri immediately started looking for Indians throwing rocks down at us but you cant tell the Indians from those tall cactus at the height above the rocks they would have to be at. It was dark when we got into Taos and we stopped at the first motel we saw, super 8 and $45 a night.

   We found the next morning that the closer we got to town the cheaper the rate was and the better the breakfast, so don't stop at the first motel you see. The next morning I filled up ($2.50 or more for premium) I think the gas bill came to over $15 as I was almost out of gas. That was the highest bill for my R1100RT I had ever paid. Terri started looking thru all the thrifts shops as she had been told that the Indians use those like pawn shops and that is the best place to get a deal on Indian rugs and turquoise jewelry. About this time I noticed my pack back was hanging lower on the back of the bike then it was the day before so I tightened up on the straps to raise it. I didn't think of looking in the backpack to see what she had been putting in it but that is another story later. We rode thru Taos, turned left onto HW 64 and headed to the Rio Grand gorge.

   Here are pictures of the gorge. That bridge is only about 100 feet or so long, but the drop is over 800. Supposedly the second deepest bridge on account of how far down the river cut its way below the ground. While there, we met a Texas biker from Houston who told us to be sure and take the enchanted circle ride. He told us to be sure and stop at the Vietnam Veterans monument and he had met two other Texas bikers there the day before. While looking at his bike (HD) I noticed he had the same type of delta shaped quick disconnect fasteners but his had 3 combo wheels built in and he could lock his. That was nice because he could throw his helmet, backpack, other items under his net and they were safe because the fastener could not be opened. He told me he got it at Wal Mart. He looked at the GPS system on my BMW and said something to the effect that getting lost on a motorcycle is part of the bikers experience. I knew my Garmin 2610 cost less than his Venson leathers but I didn't want to hassle him. Nor did I want to mention that my wife could recall every wrong turn I ever did in the last 31 years and was willing to remind me about how she had told me I was going the wrong way. He was not 2up so he didn't have to listen to a back seat driver. However, he had so much stuff under his net that he might as well have been 2up.

  We rode back to HW 64 then turned east onto 522 for the enchanted circle ride. Somewhere around Arroyo Hondo the jackets went back on as we were climbing in altitude and could easily spot snow in the peaks above us. I stopped to take a picture where the altitude was 9820 feet, but there were higher places we went thru. At Questa we turned onto HW 38 and stopped in Red River at Shotgun Willies biker hangout. I say "biker hangout" as just above every place in that town was designed for bikers. There were so may "bikers welcome" signs that I wondered if they charged extra for bikers or gave a discount to cagers. Since memorial day was coming up, there was a bunch of activities planned and there were trailers everywhere, people unloading custom Harleys & choppers in the middle of the road. Looked like every trailer had at least 2 bikes (all HD it seemed) and there must have been some type of show planned as these were customs with obviously expensive paint jobs. I wished we could have stayed for the weekend, but we had other plans.

   All along this enchanted circle the roads had all the little turns and steep climbs and drops thru pine trees and little streams that make biking a sport. There was one spot before Red River where about 1/2 a mountain was torn up and slag dumped on account of mining, otherwise it was pristine. Somewhere after we left Red River we had to pull over and put on earplugs as the cross winds had really picked up and even with full helmets the noise was too much. By the time we got to the Viet Vet monument, we had gone thru some of the worst crosswinds I had ever experienced.

  We pulled into the Viet vet monument and sure enough we met two Texas bikers from Llano. They had been there the day before, met that Houston biker and had come back a second time. Both had HD's. I told them about the waltz-across-texas rally that had me go thru Llano and stop at Coopers BBQ. One of them owned a Mexican restaurant in Llano and recommended it but I failed to write the name down. Terri and I took pictures and you should be able to read some of the stories that are on that Viet Vet monument as they show up in photos we took. That monument was about near Eagle Nest and we rode back into Taos afterwards. We both got nauseated and before getting back to Taos and had to remove the ear plugs. For some reason, doing all the twisties with ear plugs quickly got us both sick. There was no wind thru the little mountain passages and twisties so we didn't need the earplugs anyways.

   We stopped at the Wal Mart in Taos but I could not find that combo locking quick release bracket the Houston biker had. We picked up an empty box and packed up as much stuff like blankets, turquoise jewelry and other curios as we had and mailed them back home. I noticed that the backpack was hanging lower on the bike so I adjusted the straps and assumed that Terri had put in some water bottles. We decided to ride back and estimated Jemez Springs by nightfall would be a good place to stop. Just after leaving Taos we took a few pictures of that fence as we failed to take them on the way up. From this point on, Terri held the camera and took picture from the back while I was driving.