New Mexico Trip Part II

12SEP10 Departure day starts early, as usual. With my earplugs and exercise yesterday the early, early riders do not disturb me, and it isn't until about 0730 that I actually could be called 'awake'. It's fun and fascinating to see everyone pack up. So many types of tents, so many styles of saddle bags, so many methods of packing. Somehow it all fits - and what doesn't gets bungee'd on somewhere. It isn't unusual with the great vendor deals available to see extra helmets, boots, bags or whatnot attached to bikes heading as far away as, well, Minnesota! My own routine is pretty set, and I get it all put away about the same time as Dave. He was heading down to Albuquerque to visit a friend, and then up to Durango CO to visit his late wife's ashes. You may think that would be a lonely thing to do on a motorcycle, but I believe he made enough friends over the weekend to ease it up a bit. And besides, a little alone time is a good thing.

For me the day will be to head to Las Vegas NM for breakfast at the Hillcrest Restaurant, then down to Tucumcari for gas and to pick up I-40E THROUGH Amarillo (what IS that SMELL??) and on to Hinton OK to camp at Red Rock Canyon SP. Why not home, you ask? Well, my youngest daughter Emily is now a freshman at Oklahoma City University, and has Monday afternoons free. My wife had the opportunity to help Emily set up camp in the dorm and to visit while I tended our other daughter still at home, Robin, but I haven't yet seen the campus on the other end of my paycheck. On Monday I hope to share lunch and be impressed. The ride is the ride, and while the trip out of the mountains is depressing, the ride through the prairie and down to Tucumcari buoys my spirits. Then I get on I-40E and simply put my head down. Until Hinton. There I get off the interstate and pass thru town for the SP, first stopping at THE grocery for food. Again the selection of meat is labeled by day and use. Todays cut for grilling, Yesterdays cut for stew, and beyond that - dogfood. If you didn't like your dog. Times are hard, and don't you forget it. There was a young couple with 3 bags of groceries at the check out looking as intent as if they were buying a car together. When their check wouldn't clear the computer I thought they were going to weep. Finally a supervisor came and manually over-rode the machine (there's a Ray Bradbury story there, I'm sure of it) so they could get on with their lives.

At the State Park I puttered back to my usual spot, and as, ah, usual, there was a story in the next campsite. Guy and Gal. Coulda Shoulda been a romantic evening, but I could hear him bait her with politically charged statements and then set off on a speech. Not once, but several times.

I was beginning to wonder if a move was in order, then things got quiet.
Great!
Then things got noisy. In a way that would have made even a hotel room inadequate.
Hubboy.

Earplugs are the greatest invention of the modern world - allowing anyone to sleep anywhere.
If they can keep their imagination in check.