Albuquerque ..the last days

Tomorrow .... back to Guatemala and reality...

I have spent the last days with Fernando and Melinda, who have gone out of their way to make me feel at home here in Albuquerque.
And they have succeeded!
Fernando is going to take care of my motorcycle and find a buyer. We had it cleaned and it looks so good that I almost changed my decision.
Yesterday and today we did some wonderful rides together. We rode to the top of the Sandia Mountains which made a new record for my trip, because we reached 10,678 ft, or 700 ft higher than the Tioga pass.








The view from there is grandiose, we could see another mountain range, 75 miles to the west in the clear pure air of New Mexico.
Hummingbirds were feeding on nectar and the green mountain contrasted vividly with the desert landscape below.

After a visit to the Indy car museum of the Unser family we repaired to a local sports bar for the game.

On the picture, Fernando is watching the World Cup game between Germany and Uruguay.







Our plan for today was to ride to Pojoaque and watch the final game of the World Cup, Spain against Holland. I donned an orange shirt for the occasion, while Melinda and Fernando showed the Spanish colors.



We rode to Santa Fe via Bandelier National Forest, an impressive canyon landscape with volcanic calderas and extensive forests of Ponderosa pine.
After breakfast in a small pueblo, Jemez Springs, we passed Los Alamos, the complex were Robert Oppenheimer produced the atomic bombs that ended the war in the Pacific.

At 5:29:45 am MWT on July 16, 1945, the world's first atomic bomb exploded 100 feet over a portion of the southern New Mexico desert known as the Jornada del Muerto - the Journey of the Dead Man. As he witnessed the nuclear explosion, the man most responsible for the bomb, J. Robert Oppenheimer, thought of a passage from the Bagavaad Gita: "I am become Death, the Destroyer of Worlds." The creation of the atomic bomb made Oppenheimer one of the most recognized and controversial figures in American history

In just twenty-eight months, Los Alamos produced two atomic bombs of very different designs. Their combat use against Japan did not win the war, but they did contribute significantly to ending it.

The Pojoaque sports bar is part of a casino but few patrons left the gambling to watch the game.
It was a tense affair and the outcome is known to you all. I wonder if I will live long enough to see my country win the cup!!

When we left the bar, I found a Harley parked next to my bike, that was identified as belonging to a Bandido member.

The Bandidos Motorcycle Club, also known as the Bandido Nation, is a "one-percenter" motorcycle gang and organized crime syndicate with a worldwide membership.

Its slogan is: We are the people our parents warned us about. It is estimated to have 2,400 members in 210 chapters, located in 16 countries

The Federal Bureau of Investigation as well as the Criminal Intelligence Service Canada have named the Bandidos an Outlaw Motorcycle Gang.

Here are my friends next to that motorcycle, but I don't think they would qualify for membership!

At home , I packed my bags after discarding all excess baggage and I am ready to go.

I still received a cheque and a promise from friends to contribute to the ride and will contact the Guatemala Tomorrow Fund to learn the final amount collected.

I will keep this blog going for some time with additional impressions and information of the ride.
I hope you will continue to read and enjoy it.

Jean, the Riding Dutchman

Wednesday, July 8 ALBUQUERQUE

ALBUQUERQUE, THE END OF THE RIDE....

Flagstaff is a nice looking place, nestled between pine forests with lots of golf courses and mountain architecture. Definitely a place to spend a summer playing golf or tennis, biking and exploring Arizona. It is 40 miles North of Sedona, another well known retirement community.

I got back on to the I-40 east and rode towards New Mexico. This freeway is one of the busiest in the nation , and the speed limit is 75 mph which is strictly enforced by highway patrols.

Driving here needs concentration.

Just before reaching the state line, I visited the last national park of the trip: Painted Desert and the Petrified Forest.

PETRIFIED FOREST

The Petrified Forest National Park is located in Arizona in the USA. Long ago the region was covered by a dense forest and mighty rivers cut across the terrain. Water caused by heavy flooding forced dead trees to float to a low lying swampland. In the deep quagmire of the swamp and having, in effect, been hermetically sealed, the trees were subsequently covered by layers of sediment.

Mud, sand and volcanic ash settled above the trees that gradually absorbed minerals from the surrounding moisture. Thus, hundreds of fossilized trunks developed that today are scattered across the prairie.

The landscape looks very much like the badlands in South Dakota with gorgeous bluish colors. and everywhere there are the remnants of petrifies logs that were concentrated here many millions of years ago.
Sadly, a ranger told me that the site has been and is being looted by the tourists, they lose 12 tons of rock PER MONTH!!

I spent some hours in the park, because the actual site of the petrified logs is 2 miles south of the freeway. It was a good way to come to grips with the end of the ride.

Coming into New Mexico, I stopped at the El Rancho hotel, whose owner Armand I had met on the road and where we visited a year ago with Carolina, Fernando and Melinda before starting my ride around America.

The, at 5 pm I came over a hilltop and saw the first sight of Albuquerque, 25 miles away.

Soon I was riding into town, towards Fernando's house.

I stopped at their gate and took the last pictures of the ride:

My tachometer stood at 22,134 miles. I had ridden 7,000 miles or 11,300 kilometers for Ak Tenamit, approximately the same distance as riding from Albuquerque to the tip of South America.

When I bought the bike last year and started my ride around the United States via Florida and the East Coast, the tachometer showed 9,500 miles, so my ride has taken a total of 12,634 miles or 20,332 kilomters.

According to Google maps, this distance is just over half of the circumference of the earth. It equals the distance from Albuquerque to Germany, on to Moscow, then Bejing, on to Tokyo, and then to the volcano Agrihan in the Mariana Islands.

I could not have imagined this distance before the ride.

I had ridden in temperatures that ranged from 110 F (43 Celsius) to 38 F (3 Celsius).

I had traversed snow covered mountain passes at 10,000 feet (3,000 metres), the bottom of Death Valley at 191 feet (58) metres) below sea level. I had been drenched by rain and blasted by 60 mph (96 km per hour) winds.

I had ridden between 300 and 500 miles (800 km) per day, starting at 7 or 8 am and sometimes earlier and finishing usually at 5 or 6 pm, but sometimes riding into the night.

Only once I was in danger of going down, on a patch of gravel in Idaho. Apart from that, I have only encountered good roads and disciplined traffic.

I had met many good and helpful people on the road. There was never a problem finding a hotel room or a home where I was welcome.

And above all, I have seen the the vastness and beauty of a great country, the United States of America.

Melinda had a room ready and I unpacked for the last time, getting all my stuff out of the bike.

It had served me well since I bought it here in Albuquerque a year ago to start riding around the United States.

After having settled in we drove downtown Albuquerque (in Fernando's car!!) to the same micro brewery as last year and met Lorenzo and friends. The welcome was heart warming! There was much to tell and ask.

And the beer was great! I has a Marble Red , an IPA and , since I did not need to ride anymore, I topped off with Double White Ale.

It had been a great end of my ride!

Thank you all who have supported the ride, who have taken me into their homes and company, everyone I have met on the road and who have contributed to the experience. I am left with wonderful memories and new friends.

I will not forget you!

Jean, the Riding Dutchman

Tuesday, July 7 the Grand Canyon

I got up before dawn to pack and get underway before the rush hour of Las Vegas and the heat would start. My first destination would be Lake Mead and the Hoover Dam and from there to Kingman, Arizona.

Attracting more than a million visitors a year, Hoover Dam is located in Black Canyon, just minutes outside of Las Vegas.

In 1930, construction began on the Hoover Dam, the largest of its kind at the time. Despite the remote location and harsh working conditions, it was completed in less than five years -- two years ahead of schedule -- and well under budget.

The dam is named after America's 31st president, Herbert Hoover, who played a large role in bringing the nearby states into agreement about water allocations, settling a 25-year controversy. The dam has been called Boulder Canyon Dam as well as Boulder Dam.

At present a large bridge is being constructed to divert the road above the dam. the road now still leads over the dam, from which one can take pictures but cannot really see the dam in its entirety.

From there I reached Kingman, where I entered the historic Route 66.

U.S. Route 66 (also known as the Will Rogers Highway after the humorist, and colloquially known as the "Main Street of America" or the "Mother Road") was a highway in the U.S. Highway System. One of the original U.S. highways, Route 66 was established on November 11, 1926. The famous highway originally ran from Chicago, Illinois, through Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California, before ending at Los Angeles, encompassing a total of 2,448 miles (3,940 km).

It was recognized in popular culture by both a hit song (written by Bobby Troup and performed by Depeche Mode, the Nat King Cole Trio and The Rolling Stones, among others) and the Route 66 television show in the 1960s.

One of the famous photo ops is at the general Store in Hackberry. A 1952 Corvette is sitting outside the store.

A nearby restaurant serves local food as clearly evidenced by its name!! Bon appetit!

At Williams I turned North to reach the Grand Canyon. My lunch consisted of a Greek salad, a turkey sandwich and a Steel Reserve High Gravity beer at the local airport of the Canyon Airlines.

At the visitor center of the Grand Canyon I watched an Imax movie about the canyon. This is recommendable because it shows views of the inside of the canyon and the river which are barely visible from the rim.

A group of female riders from Norway were going down route 66 and we took pictures to send by email.

Ride safely, Anna and friends!

And then I was back at the canyon, the first time after decades. It is majestic, enormous and beautiful. Pictures cannot do it justice.

I stayed all afternoon and rode to Flagstaff in the evening. The total trip for the day was 475 miles so I decided I had deserved a glass of local amber beer of the Flagstaff Brewing Company.

I was a little sad because tomorrow would be the last day of my ride.

But all good things must come to an end.

Sunday 5 and Monday 6 July Las Vegas

LAS VEGAS.....

Business had not been so good on the July 4 weekend, it was only expected to bring $128 million !!

Maybe the Topless vampires went on strike or the "little people" (quote from the BP chairman) ran out of money..

Or maybe the Sin City brewery ran out of beer..

I was lucky because I had a Sin City Amber and a Hefe Weizen at the Mandalay Bay bar.

The new Hotel Casinos are quite impressive. I walked through the Encore Wynn Hotel and stood amazed at the luxury, thousands of metres of precious rugs inlaid into marble floors, exquisite furniture and art, a very tasteful decoration and many cozy corners to sit and poner your losses in the casino.

Treasure Island offers a street performance in which two life size pirate ships do battle over the heads of the spectators, complete with gunfire and a music performance. The Fashion shopping mall next door is home to the best designer stores and restaurants.

At the Sahara and other casinos, roller coasters run right through the building. The shows are booked solid, no way to get tickets for the Cirque Du Soleil, David Copperfield is still there and other shows cater to nostalgia like the Rat Pack.

And Elvis lives.....!

Temperatures were around 110 F at noon and several sidewalks are sprayed with cold mist to cool the strollers. Nobody has ever heard about an energy crisis, nor global warming, nor water shortage...the show must go on.

If you would like to see Paris or Venice..., come to Vegas. Here you can get closer to the Eiffel Tower and you don't need to learn French!

I was surprised to see so many college age customers and so many middle aged women gamblers.

At night Vegas remains lighted up like a christmas tree and you can walk from your room to gamble a little at any hour of the night and find plenty of company.

The fireworks on July 4 were impressive, as expected.

It was fun to be there a few days but I look forward to leave Sin City in the morning. Despite so many people it is difficult to talk to someone. Everybody is too busy living his own personal phantasy to bother about others. The only communication is with the gambling machines.

Maybe Vegas is a window into our future???

Thursday, Juli 1 to Monterey

IF YOU GO...TO SAN FRANCISCO.....

After another ride through the wine country of the Sonoma valley, I was nearing San Francisco. There had been no chance to visit wineries because they open only at 11 am, and I was riding fast to pass SF and go South to Monterey before I would hit afternoon the rush hour of this big city.

I stopped for a moment at Sausalito, which offers the first view of the city across the bay and where my wife and I visited on out honeymoon.

I could not stop on the North side of the bridge to take pictures so I took one riding across.

On the other side, there is Golden Gate Park, not easy to find and I got a photo of the bridge.

Some Chinese youngsters from Hong Kong wanted me on their picture (it reminded me of Japan, where we were always photographed by Japanese tourist coming to Toko from their villages.)

After lunch o Fisherman's Wharf I braved the city traffic. The GPS led me across the Oakland Bay Bridge which is enormously large and puts you on the highway South to San Jose.

I cannot describe the traffic. Of course, the rush hour started much earlier than I thought.

It was 100 miles of 4 lane traffic going one way and another 4 lanes going up, equally congested. And the pace was fast and aggresive.

I cannot imagine people having to do this every day to go to work, amazing!

But I liked the helmet this girl biker was wearing!

After 2 hours I got out of the traffic on to the 12 towards Monterey and Carmel.

Here traffic was much lighter and the temperature dropped again into the low 60s. I was riding in shirtsleeves but what the heck, it was only 50 miles more.

Finally I reached Monterey, found a very good Best Western and had a beer on the local dock and a nice dinner at the Sardine Factory.

Monterey is well organized. Police are very active and pull suspected drunk or speeding drivers off the road immediately. Maybe it is the influence of Clint Eastwood, who is the mayor of Carmel, just South of there.

Saturday, July 3 to Las Vegas

So I had decided to cross Yosemite to the East and ride to Death Valley and Las Vegas.

The way into and out of Yosemite leads through spectacular canyons with views of the rivers and snow covered mounains.

The park is very popular , especially on the weekend of Fourth of July, so I left early and got through without a problem.

I enjoyed a hike on the mountains covered in snow and the brisk, cold mountain air.

Nothing is healthier than that.

Not just a great Valley...

but a shrine to human foresight, strength of granite, power of glaciers, the persistence of life, and the tranquility of the High Sierra.

Yosemite National Park, one of the first wilderness parks in the United States, is best known for its waterfalls, but within its nearly 1,200 square miles, you can find deep valleys, grand meadows, ancient giant sequoias, a vast wilderness area, and much more.

I rode out by way of the Tioga Pass at an elevation of 9 ,900 feet or twice as high as Guatemala City.

From there it was all the way down to Death Valley, the lowest point of which lies beneath sea level.

I had been warned not to go through Death Valley in summer, but it is no problem.

I checked my bike, let off some air from the tires and bought a gallon of water to drink.

The heat is intense, it is like riding hrough a furnace, the hot air blasting at one from all sides. On a motorcycle one dehydrates quickly, so I put on a long sleeve shirt, double pants and that kept the heat reasonably tolerable.

To keep te engine from overheating, I kept the speed up to 50 mph, below that the heat became too much.

The landscape is amazing, nothing can live there, except specialized small animals. The bottom of the valley resembles hell, it gets to over 120 F at noon. I had reached it at 6 pm and still the heat was 110 F.

The hottest air temperature ever recorded in Death Valley (Furnace Creek) was 134 °F (57 °C) on July 10, 1913, at Furnace Creek.

During the heat wave that peaked with that record, five consecutive days reached 129 °F (54 °C) or above. The greatest number of consecutive days with a maximum temperature of 100 °F (38 °C)°F or above was 154 days in the summer of 2001. The summer of 1996 had 40 days over 120 °F (49 °C), and 105 days over 110 °F (43 °C).

The name Death Valley was given by the prospectors in the Calfornia Gold Rush.

It is obvious that without adequate preparation one could not survive here for very long.

It was an interesting experience to have crossed this tremendous desert and at 9.30 pm I was nearing Las Vegas, a sea of light on the distant horizon.

Tired after a ride of 500 miles and having crossed two parks, I checked into the Sahara Hotel and Casino, and had a Bass Ale.

NO BEER EVER TASTED SO GOOD!!

Friday, July 2 to Mariposa and Yosemite

In the morning, it was much warmer than last night, but still it is very cool.
I heard from a local man that this is because the hot, dry interor of California sucks away the air from the coast which is then replaced by cool ocean air.
Because of this, the coast is always cool and often foggy.
This phenomenon is somewhat similar to the weather in Lima, Peru, which is cooled by the Humboldt stream.
I visited Cannery Row, made famous by the novel of John Steinbeck, of the same name.

Cannery Row is an English language novel by American author John Steinbeck. It was published in 1945.
Cannery Row takes place on a small fictional street lined with sardine fisheries in Monterey known as Cannery Row (Ocean View Avenue in Monterey, the thinly disguised location, was later re-named "Cannery Row" in honor of the book).

It revolves around the people living there during the Great Depression: Lee Chong, the local grocer; Doc, a marine biologist based on Steinbeck's friend Ed Ricketts; and Mack, the leader of a group of bums. The gritty novel is by turns comical, sad and nostalgic.

And then I rode away rom the coast into the wide open spaces of California. I was happy, because I had not enjoyed the bustle of traffic of the previous day.

In fact, I decided to stay in the National Parks somewhat longer instead of going to Los Angeles immediately.

area.

I had lunch on the shore of the San Luis basin, a great reservoir that provides water to the area.

The road was good, the weather fine and we ticked the miles off. In the afternoon I reached Merced, a small town on the road to Yosemite Park. I tried to find a computer store, but was advised that the next opportunity to find a computer would be Las Vegas, Nevada.

So I thought, why not go there and on the way, see Death Valley.

I reached Mariposa, 50 miles from the park and decided to go and have a beer in Yosemite. Only, the ride took 3 hours, there and back, but I got my beer, a Mammoth Double Nut Brown. This was the fist time I rode 120 mles, just for a beer.

I returned in the dark, riding fast but with an eye out for deer which appear at dusk.

I saw one standing by the road in the shadow and I knew it was going to jump...It did..but fortunately away from the road.

Several people had told me the enormous damage a collision with a deer can cause to a car. And on a motorcycle it means a stay in the hospital.

I returned to Mariosa safely and got a good night's sleep.