Part 8 of 9
Thursday Oct 25, I was looking forward to heading back South on the Million Dollar Highway. But boy was it COLD that morning! 20 Degrees! There was lots of ice and snow on the side of the highway. It was too cold to stop and take pictures, and I was afraid of ice cause I saw some wet patches on the road. But I pressed on and really enjoyed the ride, tho I was glad the road conditions weren't a problem. There was an hour delay tho at one point due to road repairs.. but still it was a great day. I love those mountains!
Back in Durango I headed East for awhile to Pagosa Springs, then South back to Albuquerque, taking a more scenic route. Back in New Mexico, I suddenly saw
Echo Amphitheater. When I was a kid my family stopped there for lunch one time while on a road trip. I hadn't been back since, like 35 years ago. But I instantly recognized it, the memories flooded back. I stopped to visit, and took a much needed nap. It was a nice unexpected surprise.
That night I returned to my uncle/aunt's house. They too enjoyed hearing about all my travels. So much had happened since the clutch cable was repaired. It was all good. What an adventure! The next morning I'd begin the final leg of my journey.. with a few more parks to visit along the way.
Friday October 26.. I left my uncle/aunt's house early that morning, and decided to head down to the Roswell NM area. I didn't see any aliens, other than all the stuff in tourist shops I drove by.. only stopped for gas. Afterwards I decided to visit
Carlsbad Caverns National Park (#12 on this epic journey). I had visited this park earlier on road trip #1, but since I was in the area this time too, why not visit again. Its always great to see this amazing cave. My cave pics suck but we try...
These are alot better. Seriously, try to visit this park if you can, you'll be truly inspired by how incredible this cave is.
After that it was time to re-enter my beloved Texas, I had been gone for 4 weeks.
I then made my way to
Guadalupe Mountain National park (#13). I've been to Big Bend like 30 times, and Guadalupe is only another 3-4 hours past it.. but in all my travels I had never been to this park. It was great to finally visit it. I now know what I've been missing, and I really want to return again soon for more hiking and camping. I managed to get one of the last campsites in the park when I arrived at sunset. It was a wonderful night, camping in Texas again. I was getting close to home.
Saturday morning I packed up and made my way towards Big Bend, the final park on my journey, a triumphant return to an area I love so much.. This would be the first time to ride there on a motorcycle tho. Taking scenic back roads just north of Alpine TX, I suddenly saw
Mitre Peak. That brought back a ton of memories.
Back in my college days, my friends would love to make a road trip to "Mount Chi-Chi" as we called it (a reference to a part of a woman's body the peak looks like). I have a friend back then who had gotten his pilot license, and he flew 4 of us out to Alpine where we hitchhiked out to the mountain, climbed it, spent the night on top, then hiked back down the next day and hitchhiked back to town before flying home.. That was a fun weekend! I hadn't seen the mountain since, in like 23 years. And there it was! What a pleasant surprise..
to be continued....