55th Class Reunion on a Two-Wheeled SUV

Dick Fredericksen's Website 55th Class Reunion on a Two-Wheeled SUV

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55th Class Reunion on a Two-Wheeled SUV:

A Two-Wheeled What?

Laying On the Utility

Thinking Small for a Big Trip

Day 1: Tucson to Las Cruces

Day 2: The Road to Santa Rosa

Day 3: Kittycorner to Kansas

Days 4 and 5: Wet Wichita, Sunny St. Joseph

Day 6: This Way to Humboldt

Enjoying Humboldt (Iowa)

Gas Tank Blackjack

The Real Kansas in Technicolor

A Liberal Dose of Memories

Holbrook? How Did We Wind Up In Holbrook?

Painted, Petrified, and Perfect

The Home Home Stretch

Holbrook? How Did We Wind Up In Holbrook?.

Day 5 of return, destination Tucumcari, New Mexico. It's payback time: I get rain today for the first 50 miles, to make up for the gentle treatment of the preceding days. It's all right, though: not a downpour, just a moderate, steady rain. The rainsuit and rain boots get their first prolonged test, and pass with flying colors. The only inconvenience is the bit about constantly wiping the face plate with my hand. On this two-lane highway, I don't have trucks constantly passing me and splattering the view with mud. Rather, I build up a tail of impatient drivers raging to go faster, and once in a while there's an opening for them all to pass at once. There are few places to pull aside and help them get it out of their system.

So it's back across two panhandles, that of Oklahoma and that of Texas. Nothing new to report concerning either, except that I find out how to pronounce "Guymon", the main city through which the route passes in Oklahoma. It's "Guy" as in "good guy", not "gee" as in "guillotine".

Tucumcari (pronounced "Two Come Carry") is about 50 miles short of Santa Rosa (where I overnighted on the outbound journey). I'm taking it easy today with a short ride, because tomorrow I only have to reach Alamogordo. That'll be my base for a day or two of exploraing White Sands National Monument.

Day 6 of return. Help! It seems I've lost the mandate of Heaven, or whatever. It's raining fairly hard, and the weather forecast shows it doing so all the way to Alamogordo and beyond. What's more, no end is in sight. It'll be raining still tomorrow, and the day after that. Bye, bye, White Sands plan! What use are scenic roads and hiking trails in a drizzle?

The weather report does show clear skies west of Santa Rosa, and all the way into Arizona. I decide to head for Albuquerque, and then to Holbrook, Arizona. I can take a good look at the Petrified Forest National Park in place of White Sands. Not the worst of substitutes, by any means.

The ride to Santa Rosa is cold, wet, and tense. I'm on an Interstate now, so whatever overtakes me can pass immediately. The eighteen-wheelers come in packs, and I can't even clear the mud from my face plate before the next one is beside me. The water reflects or doesn't reflect from the road in various shades of black and glistening white. One of the black patches, when it's too near to be dodged, turns out to be a chunk of shredded truck tire. I ride over it. No problem (this time).

West of Santa Rosa the weather does clear up, and I'm grateful that I made the right decision.

Day 7 of return: Albuquerque to Holbrook. Oh, bliss! Back in Arizona! It's a good deal cooler in northern Arizona than in the south, almost another state. But it's a dry cool. And did I mention I like desert scenery?

As in New Mexico, the tourist traps along I-40 all want to sell rattlesnake teeth and suchlike, which I could live without. If they keep this up, natural selection is going to evolve toothless rattlesnakes. I think they're cuter with teeth.