Start 7:30 AM -
Stop 6:15 PM
Distance - 451 miles
Arising on our day of departure Carole and I decided not to wait around for the Wingding closing ceremony. Ever since I was a child I had wanted to see Carlsbad Caverns and saw the return trip as the closest I would ever come. We decided that this would be our one "stop and smell the roses" indulgence opportunity since we were pretty much going to ride fast through nothing but the southwest deserts. I plugged in the route down US 180 in our GPS and we got an early morning departure.
The ride down 180 wasn't remarkable, but it was totally void of traffic. We saw lots of small little towns along the way. We stopped for lunch at a rather non-descript hole-in-the-wall cafe somewhere in the center of Texas and enjoyed a couple of grill cheese sandwiches and iced tea. The other folks in the place were obvious locals (who else would stop at an off the path place like this?) and looked at us in our mesh gear as if we were aliens from another planet. We paid our $7.00 for the lunch for two and headed back out on the road.
The weather was hot the entire way into Carlsbad, NM. The scenery was constant sage brush with an occasional oil derrick along the way. It may sound boring but actually this type of ride is as relaxing as it gets. But its the type of ride I only feel comfortable doing on a Honda. There were long, long stretches where no other humans were in sight and not the kind of area you want to be in with a bike that has any reliability issues. A couple of the small towns we stopped in for water or fuel were the kinds of towns I only see in movies. Every town had its local pickup truck Romeo hanging out by the slushy machine inside the gas station market. We got friendly nods but I could tell the people weren't all that comfortable with these "foreigners" riding that crazy looking motorcycle with all that stuff on it.
We stopped briefly for a pizza dinner in Hobbs, NM and then continued on into Carlsbad. We arrived in the town of Carlsbad around 6 PM and checked into the Continental Inn on the edge of town. We then walked a couple of buildings over to have a cocktail to mellow us out for a good night's sleep. When we returned there was a silver GL1800 parked next to us. The owner eventually came outside and we chatted about our rides. He was an Arizona resident that was touring the southwest deserts with his wife. I enjoyed talking with him and have been in touch with him several times since via the
RIdersRally.com and
GL1800riders.com forums (he goes by the nickname OldGuy). That's at least half the fun of owning a Goldwing, you meet some very cool people that share your passion for riding.
We hit the sack eager to hit the caverns in the morning. Even though we had only traveled 450 miles that day it seemed much longer since it was pretty much straight road all the way with just a few towns and construction stops along the way. But we had stuck to the speed limit having heard enough legends about speed traps in these areas. After having ridden through that area, I believe the legend is just myth. We hadn't seen a policeman all day.
As barren as the desert landscape seemed it really was beautiful. And any ride on a Goldwing instead of a car is a treat!
I feel bad that we didn't take the time to take pictures riding through that area. In spite of my tone on this page, it really was a very scenic and pleasant ride.