A week in New Mexico — Phoenix to Albuquerque
Every year (well, for the last four years), the Arizona Pride Riders, a LGBT motorcycle group that I co-organize, hosts an annual ride on the Devil's Highway in Arizona. So far it's been hosted each year on Memorial Day weekend. We usually head to New Mexico on Friday morning, and head back to Phoenix on Monday morning. However, I wanted to take a little longer of a trip, so I decided to spend some time in Albuquerque from Monday through Friday. I've been wanting to check out some of the filming locations from Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, which was all filmed in ABQ. On top of that, I've had some internet friends that live there that I've wanted to meet up with in person, so I decided to spend the start of the week in ABQ and meet up with the rest of the group in Glenwood on Friday afternoon.
Day One - Phoenix to Albuquerque
On Monday morning, my alarm was set for 5am. I got up, finishing packing the essentials, and started loading up the bike. This was going to be the maiden voyage for my KIP Moto SherpaX trailer (you can read more about that here) which I was excited, yet slightly nervous, about taking with me on this ~1,300 mile trip. I had already connected the trailer the night before, so the only thing I had to do was finish loading up the panniers, put them on the big, and go. My boyfriend leaves around 5:30am for work, and I figured I'd be on the road at 6. Once everything was packed and connected, I did a final safety check before rolling out.
I stopped at a gas station in town to fill up the bike and the RotopaX. It's a 1.75 gallon container, so this would give me a third of a tank if I needed it. I wanted to make sure that I had some extra gas in case I couldn't find a gas station in time between fill-ups. I was mostly worried about the ride between Springerville, AZ and where I would hop onto the 40 near Grants, NM. This was my first time using the RotopaX and the process of filling up took forever: no matter how slow I would pump gas, it would cause the pump to cut off. It was a long process of click-pump-click-pump-click-pump. Maybe I just need to learn how to do it properly next time, but it was a major pain in the ass.
I popped into the gas station to grab a quick coffee (iced, of course) and a quick snack, since this was going to be my breakfast. I planned to do "brunch" about half way, which was just after Show Low, AZ. I didn't have a place in mind, but figured I'd just find a place when I got there. After downing most of my coffee and a snack, I embarked on my first segment: getting out of the Phoenix metro area. This would put me in Gold Canyon.
The ride from home to Gold Canyon is 100% freeway, so there's nothing to really see. However, I very quickly realized that I forgot to put in my ear plugs. My Arai XD-4 isn't the quietest helmet, and the drone of the wind on the freeway is quite deafening. So I made a quick stop at the first gas station in Gold Canyon to put them in and drink the rest of my coffee. I also did a quick trailer check to make sure all of the lights were working, tire pressure was still good, connection to the bike was still solid, etc. Trailer was perfect.
Now that I made it to Gold Canyon, I was officially out of the Phoenix area, and this was the start of the scenic part of the trip. This is a route I have done many times before, but it's still a nice ride. I rode through Superior, Top-Of-The-World, and Miami, before making a quick stop in Globe to fuel up before continuing on to Show Low. However, I made a discovery on this stop: I couldn't get my damn ear plugs out of my ears. 😳 Yes, my new ear plugs were completely stuck in my ears. I tried for at least 10 minutes to get them out, but all I ended up doing was scratching the shit out of my inner ear trying to grab them.
These new ear plugs worked super great, made the wind noise very quiet, and still allowed me to hear my music just fine. However, they go pretty deep in your ear, and they only have the tiniest little nubbin to grab onto to pull them out.
I ended up having to grab my multi-tool from my trailer to use the needle-nose pliers to pull them out. Yes, pliers. That became the only way I could pull them out over the entire course of my trip, because if I pushed them in only far enough to where I could easily grab them, it wasn't providing a sufficient seal. I'm sure people who saw me digging out my ear drums with needle-nose pliers thought I looked like some sort of lunatic.
After gassing up and digging in my ears for 15 minutes, I was headed to my next stop: Show Low. This stretch was 90 miles and would pass through the Salt River Canyon / Apache Falls, which is an absolute blast on a motorcycle with all of the twists and curves as you quickly descend 1,400 feet and re-ascend. I was curious how the bike would handle all of these curves with the trailer attached, but it handled it phenomenally. I hardly knew it was back there, except for at one point where I leaned maybe a little too far and the trailer caused the bike to want to straighten back up a little. There was hardly any traffic on the road at all, so I was carving the canyon pretty quickly with quite the smile on my face.
After passing through the canyon, I continued to increase in elevation. As you get closer to Show Low, the landscape slowly starts changing to big, beautiful pine trees and a lot more green, a welcome change from the Phoenix landscape I'm used to. The temperature also started to drop a little, and my stomach was now firmly telling me that I needed something to eat, so I figured this would be my brunch stop, as expected. I arrived in Show Low at 10:30am and felt I was making good time. I've passed through Show Low a few times before and thought it was a cute little place, but as a I passed by "The Trumped Store", I was quickly reminded that this is rural Arizona.
As my stomach reminded me what my goal was, I saw a sign for "Bertie's Cafe", which looked like a cute little place to stop for food. I also saw the word "donuts" and knew it was meant to be. I parked the bike and was immediately stopped by a UPS driver who had never seen a trailer like that and asked me about it. He just thought it was the coolest thing, and he wished me a safe trip.
As I went inside, I was once again reminded where I was, as one of the employees wore their big ol' VETERANS FOR TRUMP hat and was talking to a customer saying, “If you don’t have Jesus, you don’t have anything.” Oh boy...
My waitress was super nice. She could obviously tell I was on a motorcycle based on my gear, and asked where I was headed. She gave me a few tips based on my route, and also told me to be careful about the wind as it was really picking up. I told her I didn't really experience anything on my way here, so I was pretty skeptical about that. We chatted for a bit about New Mexico and what I was going there for, and just had a nice chat with her in general. I ordered some "Country Style" Eggs Benedict, and finished up with a blueberry fritter which was absolutely massive. It was okay though, as I wasn't planning to have dinner for another 6-7 hours, so I figured it was okay to be very full.
After I ate, I headed back to the bike to start my next trek to the Arizona / New Mexico state line. I got out to the bike and was once again stopped by a guy who had to know more about the trailer. After I told him and I started gearing up, some folks who were inside the cafe while I was in there also came out, saw the trailer, and had to ask about it. I figured at this point this was just going to be a trend throughout the whole trip. (It was.) After I wrapped up with them, I finally got my gear on and rolled out.
As soon as I pulled onto the main road, that wind my waitress had warned me about hit me. It was crazy, because I didn't feel any of this on my way into town! As I headed east on US 60, the wind was blowing hard, and I really had to counter-lean to keep it from blowing me over. Luckily there was next to no cars on the road, so it was just me and the wide-open road. 14 miles before the state border, I stopped in Springerville to gas up and just send an update text. After I filled up, I did some calculating, and I was getting an average of 43 mpg even while towing the trailer behind me. I was impressed.
On my way to the state line, I came across two bikes parked on the shoulder of the road in the middle of nowhere. As I passed by, I didn't see anyone. I stopped and turned around to go check and see if I could find the owners. As I looped back around, I could see the two guys down the side of the road, now walking towards me. I had my helmet on and my ear plugs that I can't pull out of my ears without having to use pliers, so I could barely hear them. However, it was clear that they were not in need of help, and I could make out that they were just taking a quick break. Sweet. I wished them a safe trip and kept on moving.
6 hours into the trip and 250 miles later, I finally made it to New Mexico.
After I took my obligatory photo at the New Mexico sign, one thing became very clear: the roads were absolute 💩. Potholes and cracks littered the road. The pavement was patchy and changed from grey to pink to grey. Some areas had some repairs done, but there were giant holes all over the place. I'm pretty sure you would think I was a drunk driver if you saw me riding from a distance. Now, these roads were nowhere near as bad as Michigan roads, but it certainly made me appreciate how well the roads in Arizona are maintained. The ride between Springerville, AZ and Quemado, NM was 50 miles of absolutely nothing. I mean, it was a nice ride, but there was honestly nothing to look at and just felt like it would never end.
Once I finally made it to Quemado, I stopped at the first (and probably only) gas station in town. This was a true small town, with Wikipedia reporting a whopping population of 163 from the 2020 Census. I stopped for a quick snack and drink before my last leg before arriving in Albuquerque. There were a few people there, and there was a guy playing the guitar with his dog sitting right outside the store. I honestly wasn't sure if they would even accept a credit card here.
Once I grabbed my quick snack, I came out and a couple on a pair of bikes had just pulled up. The woman came up to me and commented on my trailer and asked where I was heading. I gave the spiel, and asked where they were headed. Turns out they're from Minnesota and just came back from Mexico. Based on what they explained to me at the time, I believe they just completed the "El Camino del Diablo". They were headed to Albuquerque to spend some time with some people they knew on their way back to Minnesota. As we chatted, two familiar bikes pulled up: it was the two guys I saw stopped in Arizona. And of-fucking-course I just put my ear plugs back in. 🙄
They pretty quickly realized I was the one who stopped to check on them, and they thanked me. Of course, like everyone else, they asked about the trailer, so I gave the spiel yet again. (I mean I was loving how many people were interested in it, but at this point I was spending half of my trip explaining it to folks! 😅) They told me they were just taking a quick break there. Turns out they attended some sort of bike event in Payson, AZ and were on their way back to Albuquerque. So all five of us were all headed to the same place, and all via the same route. I was starting to get antsy, so I finished gearing up, said goodbye, and headed out. This was going to be the last leg before I arrived at my hotel. I had 150 miles left, and another two and a half hours of ride time.
This last segment would take me though the El Malpais National Conservation Area and right past the La Ventana Natural Arch, so I planned to take q quick stop there for a photo. The ride through El Malpais was gorgeous, and a great final scenic view before I made it to the freeway.
After I made it through and arrived at the freeway, I stopped and emptied my RotopaX into the tank, as I didn't want to store a full fuel tank inside my hotel room, since I was going to disconnect the trailer and store it in my room once I arrived. After filling, it left me with a half a tank, which was just enough to get me to my hotel.
The freeway was pretty uneventful, and not much to look at. I made the mistake of taking my ear plugs out on my fuel stop and not putting them back in. The freeway speed limit in New Mexico is 75mph, which mixed with the windy weather, meant the wind noise in my helmet was pretty deafening. However, at this point I have been on the road for 9 hours and I was just ready to relax, so I suffered and kept on. One hour later, I finally made it.
I stayed at Hotel Zazz, which caught my eye when I did some searching. For one, it's woman owned! Second, just look at how charming it is! I wish I got more pictures, but it was so well done. They took an old motel and really made it a chic place. It was right on Central Ave, so it was close to a lot of stuff, and was actually located in the "gayborhood" 🏳️🌈 with the couple gay bars just down the road, walking distance from my room. There was also a brunch place right across the street that I planned to grab food from in the morning.
Of course the first thing I did when I got into my room was crank the A/C down as low as it would go. I had to unload the bike, disconnect the trailer, and roll it into my room, which only took a few minutes. After that, I flopped onto that bed and just relaxed. Later that night I met up with an internet friend to get dinner, and then returned to my room where I got a good nights sleep in preparation for the next day. At the end of the day, I rode 450 miles in the span of 10 hours from home to my hotel.
That's it for now! While I originally intended to share everything about the trip in this one single post, this would be wayyyyy too long, and I want to be able to share more detail about each day. So instead, I'm going to make this a series of posts. The next one will cover all of the things I did and saw in Albuquerque.
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