Wide Open Spaces

Last night was very interesting. Apparently a few tornadoes touched down about 10 miles north of Elk City last night. I watched the sky some and saw some really dark clouds to the north (where the real storm was). Watched the clouds build and swirl. There was a very eerie wind noise outside my room. It was very unsettling. The towns of Cheyenne and Hammon were the towns that were hit last night. Here's hoping no one got hurt and no serious damage was done.

The terrain was changing dramatically throughout the day. From prairie to sage brush fields BACK to prairie to sage brush to desert to old volcanoes.




It was pretty darn desolate. There were wind warnings everywhere I was traveling. That's alright, I've gotten fairly used to riding in it now. Much to my surprise there was hardly any wind......that would change.

Crossed over the New Mexico border and changed over to Mountain Time and stopped for lunch. After lunch, I pulled into the gas station right next door and as I was stopping, a friendly site. Another orange Tiger riding with a Gold Wing. It was a wonderful site indeed!

Turns out our other Tiger rider is Brian Hopkins from rideok.com. You know Brian, if you stop by here and read this, I've been to your site before. I remember the tale of your 2000 Tiger in Moab. That was such a great read man! I remember reading that and biting my nails.

After a farewell and an exchange of information with the other riders, I got back on the road. Those guys gave me a heads up about the weather ahead...apparently the wind warnings were now up to 60 mph gusts.


Note the increase in clouds.


Also note the solid cloud off on the horizon. There be rain in them thar clouds.

Punched on ahead and eventually the sun disappeared and you could see the rain falling all around in the distance. I pulled over in very high winds now and tried to position the bike facing into the wind. Unfortunately, the kick stand folded underneath. Good thing there are engine guards on it. Flagged a guy down and we righted the bike back up. I couldn't lift it myself because it just kept sliding..very frustrating.

Quick damage check; nothing. Just a few scrapes on the black plastic on the left saddle bag. Oh well, now it has character.

I should've filmed myself putting on the rain gear in 30 mph winds. I was like a dog chasing my tail trying to get my rain jacket on. Even I had to laugh at myself because I'm sure I looked pretty ridiculous standing on the side of the road trying to get a jacket on in the wind.

The rest of the ride into Raton, New Mexico was a thrill ride. Fighting wind and rain, I pretty much rode the last 40 or so miles into town at a permanent 10 to 15 degree lean to the left. I was laughing the whole time, despite the fact it was incredibly windy, I was having a blast with it. Oh yeah, forgot to mention the temperature dropped about 30 degrees (from the 80s to the 50s).


Hopefully tomorrow's weather is somewhat decent. Should be in the mountains of Colorado tomorrow!

Today's Pics Pretty sparse I know

Today also marks the start of the 2nd week of riding. Here's a tally so far: