Destination Taos

A deserted diner somewhere on the great plains.

Rusty graveyard in Oklahoma.

Outside Amarillo route 66 begins to reveal her most romantic ruins.

Gas stations becomes few and far between in the Texas panhandle.

The farm was long gone but the wind driven water pump was still there and running, I wonder how many rotations it has made since it was set into the wind decades ago.

"TEXA TE"

Looking for Billy the Kid's (real) grave...

...found it. In (almost) the absolute middle of nowhere.

Closing in on my target...

...the best place to find a warm bed and a cold beer all under one roof.

The Rio Grand gorge bridge. The only bridge that has killed more people (or rather the bridge that more people have jumped off of) is the Brooklyn bridge.

You can't really capture it but that bridge is freaky high and it sways and buckles as semi's cross it making you lunge for guardrail.

This was a surprise as well...

This was not the mid-east - this was Colorado and it was about 75 degrees.

A few hours later I was freezing my boots off at the top of Rockey Mountain National Park. I had an uncontrollable urge to throw a snowball at someone but I was alone so I just sulked.

Critters up there too.

As the weather stations began to predict snow by the end of the week all I could do was begin missing the riding season. It made me think back (begin memory sequence) to trip I once took... Yea, why I remember it like it was only yesterday...

A while back during my mandatory July 4th vacation I pointed the road queen West towards Taos New Mexico, one of my favorite places on earth. Pushed through Ohio along the Maumee until I found Route 66 (in Illinois). Than followed it all the way to Tucumcari where I turned north and found my home for a couple nights at the Taos Inn (stay above the bar in the cheap rooms!). When my time off dwindled to only a few remaining days I decided to head home via Colorado and a bevy of state parks and breath taking scenery. The odo read 3955 back in my driveway and I was beat but looking back at these images I remember that it was all worth it