Day 7 - New Mexico
I am in a dusty town called Gallup in the west of New
Mexico camping in a KOA. This is only the second
night of the entire trip that we've paid for camping.
And yes, it's only the second shower we've had since
leaving Canada. After 728 km in the saddle today, the
hot water sure was a luxury.
We've been staying mostly in public parks. We stayed
in a park along lakeshore drive in Chicago. Despite
the drug deals going on in a nearby parking lot, it
was a great location with a fantastic view of the
Chrysler building and the Sears tower. The next night
we stayed in a public park in St. Louis.
Last night we pitched our tents in a public park in
Amarillo, Texas. The night before that we camped in a
playground on the side of the road in Davenport
Oklahoma, literally within a stone's through of route
66. There's story behind how we ended up camping in a
playground.
Our first attempt at free camping that night was
thwarted. We had spent most of the day on rough
gravel roads in the middle of nowhere in Kansas
because we had drifted too far north of route 66
(which can be hard to find). We were all exhausted
from our efforts of keeping rubber side down on the
loose rocks and deep ruts.
Some of us were more successful at this than others.
I went wide on a sharp corner and lost traction. The
bike went over and ended up facing backwards in the
ditch. Luckily I was going slow and was not hurt.
Rosa was not so lucky. She suffered some damage to
the rear rack (which was bent upward), the pannier
rack was benton the left side, and the left turn
signal was bent downwards. Most of the this we fixed
ont he side of the road, but there are still signs of
damage.
Anyway, When we finally reached Oklahoma, we were all
exhausted. However, we couldn't stop and camp because
we were in the middle of a large Indian reservation
and did not want trespass on first nation territory.
By the time we were found our way off the reserve, it
was getting late and we were running out of daylight.
We left the highway, driving on a narrow gravel road
through the woods in search of a suitable camping
spot.
We passed by some questionable characters sitting on
living room furniture strewn outside on the grass.
They were staring blankly at us as we rode by. Who
sits on living room furniture outside? I guess if you
don't have a TV, you might wait on your lawn all day
hoping somebody will drive down the dirt road in front
of your place.
I pulled up beside Ted and told him I wanted to turn
around because the "yokels" were "giving me the
creeps" (my exact words). We were in the middle of
nowhere. No one would ever find us if we were to go
missing somewhere in rural Oklahoma. Ted kind of
grinned, surely thinking I was being paranoid.
That is until a couple of the yokels jumped into a
jeep and chased us down. Ted pulled his bike over to
talk to the them. Meanwhile Tom and I rode quickly
ahead looking for a decent place to turn the bikes
around. It turned out the jeep was driven by a
stone-faced woman (who didn't say a word). The guy in
the passenger seat was wielding a riffle. His right
hand was bandaged. It may have been a good thing that
his trigger finger was wrapped up.
Apparently the guy knew some folks who knew some folks
who owned the land we were on. It soon became clear
that we were not welcome because these other squatters
had found the place first. We were only to happy to
leave that enclave in our dust. By the time we found
our way back to the Mother Road (route 66), it was
pitch black. Setting up camp in a random playground
seemed a much better idea than plunging blindly down
some unmarked back road again.
Mexico camping in a KOA. This is only the second
night of the entire trip that we've paid for camping.
And yes, it's only the second shower we've had since
leaving Canada. After 728 km in the saddle today, the
hot water sure was a luxury.
We've been staying mostly in public parks. We stayed
in a park along lakeshore drive in Chicago. Despite
the drug deals going on in a nearby parking lot, it
was a great location with a fantastic view of the
Chrysler building and the Sears tower. The next night
we stayed in a public park in St. Louis.
Last night we pitched our tents in a public park in
Amarillo, Texas. The night before that we camped in a
playground on the side of the road in Davenport
Oklahoma, literally within a stone's through of route
66. There's story behind how we ended up camping in a
playground.
Our first attempt at free camping that night was
thwarted. We had spent most of the day on rough
gravel roads in the middle of nowhere in Kansas
because we had drifted too far north of route 66
(which can be hard to find). We were all exhausted
from our efforts of keeping rubber side down on the
loose rocks and deep ruts.
Some of us were more successful at this than others.
I went wide on a sharp corner and lost traction. The
bike went over and ended up facing backwards in the
ditch. Luckily I was going slow and was not hurt.
Rosa was not so lucky. She suffered some damage to
the rear rack (which was bent upward), the pannier
rack was benton the left side, and the left turn
signal was bent downwards. Most of the this we fixed
ont he side of the road, but there are still signs of
damage.
Anyway, When we finally reached Oklahoma, we were all
exhausted. However, we couldn't stop and camp because
we were in the middle of a large Indian reservation
and did not want trespass on first nation territory.
By the time we were found our way off the reserve, it
was getting late and we were running out of daylight.
We left the highway, driving on a narrow gravel road
through the woods in search of a suitable camping
spot.
We passed by some questionable characters sitting on
living room furniture strewn outside on the grass.
They were staring blankly at us as we rode by. Who
sits on living room furniture outside? I guess if you
don't have a TV, you might wait on your lawn all day
hoping somebody will drive down the dirt road in front
of your place.
I pulled up beside Ted and told him I wanted to turn
around because the "yokels" were "giving me the
creeps" (my exact words). We were in the middle of
nowhere. No one would ever find us if we were to go
missing somewhere in rural Oklahoma. Ted kind of
grinned, surely thinking I was being paranoid.
That is until a couple of the yokels jumped into a
jeep and chased us down. Ted pulled his bike over to
talk to the them. Meanwhile Tom and I rode quickly
ahead looking for a decent place to turn the bikes
around. It turned out the jeep was driven by a
stone-faced woman (who didn't say a word). The guy in
the passenger seat was wielding a riffle. His right
hand was bandaged. It may have been a good thing that
his trigger finger was wrapped up.
Apparently the guy knew some folks who knew some folks
who owned the land we were on. It soon became clear
that we were not welcome because these other squatters
had found the place first. We were only to happy to
leave that enclave in our dust. By the time we found
our way back to the Mother Road (route 66), it was
pitch black. Setting up camp in a random playground
seemed a much better idea than plunging blindly down
some unmarked back road again.
Sounds like you are having a great time out there manno. Keep posting and stay safe.
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