Austin TX to Salt Lake City UT via NM and CO

[holokitten]

I did a 3200 mile round trip tour of TX, NM, CO and UT on my FZ-07.  I bought my FZ in August of 2014 and it was my first motorcycle, making this my first long distance multi-day trip (and my first ride report).  I learned a bunch about how much riding I can tolerate in a day, that Google Maps lies about travel time and that spontaneous decision making can lead to some of the best experiences.  Ultimately I also learned that I absolutely love my FZ-07, even on long distance rides.
 
I've made some edits to clarify the writing of some sections since I first posted it, and hopefully cleaned up any formatting errors.  Since this is such a long post I didn't dive into crazy amounts of detail.  If there is any part of the trip you want to know more about let me know and I'll try to answer.  I also linked the pictures off of my facebook account, which may not be publicly viewable.  If there are problems I'll move the images over to another hosting provider.

 
Austin to Abilene State Park - Friday Night
This was a fairly average stretch of road with not much in the way of scenery, but it was still great just being on the bike.  Half of this leg was in the dark so I didn't get a good feel for the landscape (but being central/west Texas I doubt I missed anything life changing).  In the dark I missed the first turn off to the park so GPS helpfully routed me through god knows where.  I suspect they must have been county roads connecting the locals, but since I couldn't see anything but what my high beam illuminated I didn't have a difficult time imagining I was in Texas Chainsaw Massacre territory.  Abilene State park was nice, but small and riddled with the hugest god damn spiders I have ever seen.
 
 
Abilene State Park to Sweetwater - Saturday Morning
An interesting set of county roads (as interesting as county roads in the middle of nowhere can be).  Not many sweepers, but long stretches of straights with no officers in sight.  No gas stations out this way and very little traffic.  A fair amount of trees lining the road helped disguise the fact there is nothing around for miles.  I wouldn't recommend seeking this route out, but I've ridden far worse roads.
 
[div style=text-align:center][/div][div style=text-align:center]Brownfield TX[/div][div style=text-align:center]
[/div]Sweetwater to Roswell NM - Saturday Afternoon
'If there is a bright side to the galaxy you're on the planet furthest from'.  Easily the worst part of my trip.  Probably didn't help that I did this stretch in the mid afternoon (I think I hit Roswell about 3 pm)  All of the Texas portion sucked incredibly due to lack of scenery and spinemelting heat.  
 
Took a wrong turn in Brownfield and ended up in the part of town that travellers never see but I got to see this massive grain silo.  In person it was almost intimidating with its size and a little bit creepy as it resembled something of a concrete industrial church with flying buttresses. 
 
Just after entering NM some of that New Mexico enchantment that I'd heard about started creeping into the color palate. With some gorgeous greens and blues.  The road quality also was noticibly better after crossing into NM.  My guess is that with Texas being so huge and there being so many criscrossing state and county roads there just isn't enough money (or work crews) to maintain them at the highest level.
 
Entering Roswell on the 380 from the East there are some really cool orchards.  I also passed an old abandoned facility that looked like it was former military.  I wish I would have stopped to take some pictures as it had a rusted out Fallout 3 vibe.  The plan was to check out some of the touristy Area 51 things then be on my way, but due to my poor hydration level, and the fact that I was developing a severe case of swamp nuts I just wanted to be done with Roswell as fast as possible.  Don't be like me kids, get to where you're going with plenty of energy still left to enjoy the destination!
 
 
Roswell to Santa Fe - Saturday late afternoon/evening
I was so miserable by this point that I don't really remember the stretch of road between Roswell and Santa Fe, only that the outskirts of Santa Fe are gorgeous.  The GPS must have read my mind, and it routed me to the exit for the Old Pecos Trail.  I'm extremely glad it did.  It was a nice, 30 mph or so road that goes through a neat residential part of town, and exits into the downtown area which has a really great architectural style.  Unfortunately for me it was rush hour in the tourist district and traffic was a MESS.  Tons of people on motorcycles though.  I did a quick figure 8 around a couple of the main city blocks then headed out into less crowded parts of town to get a hotel.  The original plan was to camp, but I was so beat that I didn't want to drive up into the canyons looking for a site without any guarantee that I would find one.
 
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[/div][div style=text-align:center]Santa Fe sunset from my hotel[/div][div style=text-align:center]
[/div]Santa Fe to Taos and the Enchanted Circle - Sunday Morning
I woke up the next morning fully refreshed (its amazing what a meal and a hot shower followed immediately by sleep will do for the spirits) and decided to ride up to Taos and do the Enchanted Circle, delaying my scheduled arrival in SLC by a day.  This turned out to be one of the best decisions I made on the trip.  The weather was fantastic and the scenery gorgeous.  There was a street festival going on in Taos.  AWESOME!  but wait, they closed off the only two intersections that connect one side of town to the other!  BOGUS!  I think I got the walking tour of Taos from the back of a motorcycle doing 5 mph through every street in town looking for an alternate route around the festival.  Really cool place that reminded me of a Park City Utah before Park City got all... moneyed.  Ate at a great diner here called... drumroll... Taos Diner.  Highly recommend it if you stop through.  The staff was super friendly and the food delicious.
 
The rest of the Enchanted Circle  was just a joy to ride.  Fantastic scenery, low traffic, good temperatures.  I HIGHLY recommend taking the time to ride it if the opportunity presents itself.  It was so enjoyable that I'm hoping I can ride it again some day.
 
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Vietnam Memorial on the Enchanted Circle loop
 
 
 
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Taos to Chama - Sunday late afternoon
From Taos I headed to Chama NM to a camping spot I found at the last minute from a gas station in Taos.  GPS sent me on my way and I exited on Route 64 toward the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge.  Wow.  
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[/div]There are parking lots on either end of the bridge and sidewalks with little  observation decks where you can appreciate just how far the drop is.  On the west side of the gorge is where all the Earthships are.  I had totally forgotten about them, but they were really cool to see in passing.  Unbeknownst to me GPS sent me north up toward Colorado (phone was in bag, so I was relying on turn by turn in my helmet via bluetoot).  First stop there was in Antonito for some gas.  As it turns out, Antonito is one end of the Cumbres and Toltec senic railway, and I got to see the steam locomotives in the yard.  The route from Antonito to Chama is through a canyon which was mind blowingly gorgeous, with huge trees and lots of green.  I was here right before sunset and as I crested a hill this spectacular scene came into view:
 
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[div style=text-align:center][/div][div style=text-align:center]Rio Chama RV Park (super friendly staff and great place to retire for the evening!)[/div]Chama to Moab - Monday morning to late afternoon
Chama is the other end of the Cumbres and Toltec and I got a nice wakeup call from the steam locomotive blowing its whistle as it passed by the campground.  The route north from Chama went into Colorado, through Pagosa Springs and Durango.  This part of the trip was also pretty great, with good scenery  and frequent opportunities for fuel or just getting of the keister.  There was some construction on the route here that caused some 'shut off the bike and have a snack' type delays, but overall a really great area to ride.  One drawback was that there were so many people on motorcycles I got tired of waving all the time.  And you could almost tell everyone else was sick of it too.
 
Shortly after Durango GPS sent me down State Road 184, through Dolores and bypassing Cortez completely.  While the scenery on this route wasn't anything spectacular the roads were an amazing series of long sweeping turns that were a blast to ride on.  This was probably the first time on the FZ that I had a chance to really lean it over at speed.  This is my first motorcycle and this bit of road was a great place to get my confidence up for this kind of riding.
 
Approaching Utah there is a tall hill at the end of a long straightaway.  On the right is the big 'Welcome to Utah' sign.  On the left was a pickup parked on the side of the road.  As I passed the truck it turned its cop lights on but just sat there and never pulled into the road.  Probably just a bored cop since I wasn't speeding.  But it was clearly a devious trap.  Anyone speeding along the straight would be distracted by the big fancy sign and then the Utah Highway Patrol would give them a nice official welcome.  So if you come this way keep your speed in check at the state line.
 
Moab to Salt Lake City - Monday late afternoon to evening
The Moab area is absolutely gorgeous but at this point a storm was rolling in and I had forgotten what a zoo Moab is in the summer.  The original plan was to camp in the area but when I got to town I realized that finding an empty site that didn't require a more capable off-road vehicle would be impossible.  With Salt Lake only 3 more hours away I decided just to push on, stopping in Arches first to see the sights.  I made it as far as Delicate Arch before the storm got the better of my spirits.  It didn't help that I had left my sunglasses under the windscreen and drove off, dropping them somewhere along the way.  Bummer dude.  You can do a fair amount of the park from the motorcycle as most of the attractions are right along the park road so if you're in Moab, do Arches, totally worth the 8 bucks it costs to get in.  
 
The road out of Moab can be boring, but the cliff formations near Green River on the way to Price are a real treat.  Its awe inspiring just how huge they are, and they seem to go on forever.  But as luck would have it I got there during a storm there were some really strong crosswinds from Moab to Price.  Luckily it didn't rain much but getting pushed around by the wind wasn't particularly awesome.
 
The canyon from Price to Provo is also fairly nice to ride on, but there can be a fair amount of traffic.  This is where I felt like I was re-entering civilization.  The scenery is good with a railway that parallels the road for a good distance.  Overall I'd say the stretch between Provo and Moab is a nice ride (when the weather cooperates).