Chaco Canyon in New Mexico is considered to be most probably the spiritual or religious center of a distributed "nation" of native peoples including Chacoans, the Anastasi and others. The Chacoan efforts in astronomy and their adherence toprecise mapping of their buildings to lie on strict north south and east weat lines even when obscured by buttes and other geographic obstacles, as well as their "sudden" appearance and disappearance about between 850 and 1150 AD. made them an attraction that I couldn't miss. I have long been a fan of the mathematics of complexity and interested in the Santa Fe Institute where its study is a prime focus. So when I got in sight of what I believed to be Fajada Butte where the Chaco Indians carved the solar and lunar cycles, I pulled the bike over and snapped a photo.
I also pulled the bike over because the road suddenly turned from macadam to what they call in south Texas, calichi (sp) or simply hard packed wash boarded mud and gravel.
The top photo is six miles from the main road from Santa Fe to Farmington NM and the dirt road that lay in front is sixteen miles long with large washes. But the reward is an archaeological trove including some petroglyphs.
In one of the petroglyphs above you can see documentation of the carving of the spiral pattern mapped out by the sunrise.
I left about five days earlier from CT and made my first stop at the Trans Am Cycle Shop in Lititz, PA for some top notch service. Their mechanic David Hartz spent 5 hours pouring over the R because my local shop had said they balanced the throttle bodies but it was still idling rough and surging.
Sure enough David found the throttle bodies way out of balance, found that the main plugs were not to spec, and while I thought it idled and ran well after that, he was relentless trying to hunt down a subtle arhythmic sound. In the process he checked the spark, compression, and spray patterns of the injectors. Finally with the replacement of an intake manifold to stop a vacuum leak and a consultation on the rear tire, I was on my way.
I spent that night about 500 miles down the road in Ohio.
The next day I met a stalwart of the board and had a free lunch. Mike was a gracious and patience host as I got lost trying to find Bryants.
I left the slabs shortly after this photo was taken and headed for Dodge only to leave the following morning for Santa Fe. It was crossing the narrow panhandle of Oklahoma that I got my first monsoon driven squall. I had just hit an irrigation coupling in the road and pulled over to clear it from someone else's path and to inspect my bike. The squalls were local with temperature drops of 10-15 degrees and wind gusts that were more significant than normal.
I would weave in and out of these squalls for the next three days until I got to vegas.
After leaving Chaco, I overnighted in Cortez, Co and met a couple on an RT100 1985 vintage. I couldn't verify the passenger's claim that they had put 429,000 miles on it in 23 years but the two of them looked the part and some stories are better left unchallenged.
The next day I headed to the Grand Canyon and intended to stop at 4 corners but unfortunately, it is not well marked and I missed it, too bad for the Navajo run the memorial and could use the entry fee.
Since I left Kansas, the road had the feel of rough gravel and asphalt, so much so that I thought about tire wear and periodically checked the rear tire for the front tire was reasonably new.
Coming into the Grand Canyon from the East I climbed a short mountain, but high enough to harbor a thunder storm, another squall. However, as I neared the top and the gate to the park, the rain got hard, physically, and I looked at the gas tank and 1/4 inch hail was bouncing off!!
I romped through the park feeling my oaks speeding and twisting as best I can darting into overlooks to snap pictures.
It was in one of these when one of the many Beemer riders I met stopped me cuz he say a white stripe on my rear tire !
So my flirtation with the Grand Canyon was short since I had to go settle into the hotel and find a tire. I found one, 80 miles away in Flagstaff. The next morning I rose at 4 AM and took the back road to Flagstaff over the 8000 ft meadows. I had only one car pass me, I rode 40 mph and of course endured one more rain storm.
All in all a fine morning when I pulled into Northland Motorsports and Tharren who rides a 1200 GS changed my tire!! A bit of adventure.
The tire change made me 4 hours late to meet my wife in Vegas. It was a marvelous trip over Hoover dam and all. We enjoyed Cirque de Solaise LOVE which was fantastic and on Sat. morning eight of us boarded our limo to the LA Coliseum to watch OSU Buckeyes get thoroughly embarrassed by a FAR superior USC team, but the ride was fun!
The return trip took just over three days, which makes it four I guess, 600, 960, 800, and 365 miles.
Ride Safe and watch the rough pavement.
David
