#Cloudcroft and Alamogordo trip

[zivfox]

South West USA Motorcycle Trip #3

Leaving Dog Canyon Campground I road to Cloudcroft New Mexico where I saw snow for the first time that trip, I stopped to see the Mexican Canyon Railroad Trestle. I planed on camping in the mountains up there but it was going to be in the low 20s over night so I continued on. I stopped at the Alameda Park Zoo in Alamogordo. it's a lovely little zoo and the oldest in the southwest, founded in 1898. that night I camped on the shore of Holloman lake.

[two-wheeled-therapy]

So many things happened on this Thursday that it may very well go down as the Most Memorable Day of the trip. We started out in Roswell, NM and decided to try out the Cowboy Cafe. In one word - AMAZING! The locals say that it is next to impossible to get in without a long wait on weekends, and I can see why. The food will easily go down as Best Food of Trip, our waitress, Marquise, was very friendly and of course Timmy took a liking to her. And their bathroom, has to be the most interesting restaurant bathroom I have ever been in. All this and we've only ridden about 5 miles! After breakfast, we played tourist and visited the Roswell UFO museum before getting back down to the business of riding.

Being the crazy fools we are we headed south to Artesia where the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center is. Of all the centers there are, this is the one that most people don't want to go to, because it is smack dab in the middle of no where, so of course we needed to stop and take a picture of our bikes in front of the place. From there, I had two places that I had been wanting to ride in for a long time, Cloudcroft and Riodoso.

Way back in 1992, when I was on Active Duty, we delivered a shelter system to Holloman Air Force Base in Alamogordo, NM. The delivery, set up, testing and training of the 22 shelter system took a couple of weeks and over the week ends, I visited those towns in the rental car. The seed was planted way back then when I owned Uncle Garry's old 1979 Suzuki GS-850GL, one day I would ride out here.

It took 29 years, but I finally checked it off my motorcycle bucket list! We started out heading up into Cloudcroft. Bob and I had looked at the maps and routed a nice route through the mountains. The Prize of the ride was New Mexico 130 heading south out of the small town. At first it looked like a great road with a slow moving mini van leading us down the road, but the mini van turned off near the top and we were free. Bob was in the lead on his 2021 Road Glide Ultra followed by Bob on his 2015 Voyager and me on my 2011 Voyager. Both Bob and John had just bought their their bikes in the past two months, but watching them dance and chase one another down the mountain, you'd think they both had been riding them for years. Even with some of the dirt runoff from the earlier rains, it was an amazing road. In fact, I would have to put this as my #2 favorite road I have ridden, only behind Lolo Pass which was similar to NM 130, but much longer and it's twists and turns were along a river.

So far on this day, we have what will likely go down as the Best Food of Trip, Most Interesting Restaurant Bathroom ever, and a new #2 as the best motorcycle road ever. Isn't that enough memories for one day, can you really pack any more memorable moments into a day of riding?

PREPARE TO DIVE!

After riding though the amazing mountains, and checking two things off my motorcycle bucket list (I was disappointed with Riodoso, it grew way too much in the past 29 years and was nothing like the small village I remembered, a nice touristy town, but not what I remembered), we headed on to make more progress towards our destination. As we were heading in towards Socorro, NM, John was leading the way down a back road that had some nice little sweepers, and turns and rolling hills. Speaking of sweepers, the road could use one because the rains had caused a lot of washout of dirt and debris across several sections of the road. But from their appearances, the rain waters had subsided much earlier and the sun had baked what was mud into dirt and dust . . . Until we rounded that one corner . . .

When I first saw the shimmer on the road surface, I thought it was the shimmer you see often on the roads in the hot sun, you know where the road kind of disappears and rolls out of the shimmer as you roll forward . . . This one wasn't rolling. Johns brake lights came on and as I applied my rear brake and grabbed a handful of front brake, we both were braking hard. I followed John as he made his way to the center of the road to make his river crossing, thinking that is where I would have gone if I were in the lead, I tucked in behind him. Praying we both had made the right decision, I watched John hit the water, and released my brakes just as I hit it in his wake. Water and mud went everywhere. The water came up to our floor boards. In my rear camera video (to be posted soon) you can see the wakes of the tires and the two out board wakes.

Needless to say, we made it across OK. The water stunk. Anyone who has ever road dirt bikes or ATVs through muddy terrain will know that smell . . . Fortunately we found a car wash and a hotel in Socorro. By the time we went to bed, all evidence of the Voyager U-Boats was gone. But the memories will last forever! The memories and the miles are racking up, and I am now 868 miles from the magical 100,000 miles on my bike.

RIDE ON!

[melmac78]

I’ll have to do 3 parts - Here is Part one.

Part two of the tour is below:

The entrance photo with the Hall of Fame sign is where HAM is buried. There are folks that put flowers on his grave, which was nice. (You can see the marker in the bottom right corner.)

Here are some of the vehicles in the John. P. Stapp Air and Space Park.

Little Joe is the third photo down. It is the most famous of the rockets and is used in their logos.

IGOR, the observatory, was used to check flight trajectories and rockets from testing areas.

The sled track near the bottom was used to test G-Force as well as seatbelts in its day. (They went in great detail about G-LOC and done of the odd results from these tests. I think one was how a car seat flew off the track… no one in it though).

The Mercury test capsule - last two photos, I thought best.

Not only did it have facsimiles of the Mercury 7 signatures and flights they flew (Deke Slayton eventually flew in the Apollo-Soyuz project), but it was one you could go inside.

You can see a bit of my jeans and tennis shoes in the mock-up.

To put in perspective how tight this is: I’m 5’8” and my back is firmly against the back wall.

•••••

Next time a couple of more photos, their souvenir shirts and a few other memories not pictured, such as childhood memory spots.

Hope you enjoyed part 2.

[melmac78]

First in a series of photos from Cloudcroft, New Mexico.

Lincoln National Forest - which Cloudcroft is home to.

When I went up I knew they had some snow, but I was surprised how much stayed on the ground even at 40*F (which where I live you won’t see snow - but Cloudcroft is about 4,000+ feet above sea level).

The pines smell wonderful, and I took several of these photos on my walk near the cabin.

I included the trestle for the long defunct Cloudcroft railroad. There are folks who put padlocks on the overlook… not sure why, but they’re there.

A bit of White Sands National Park is visible in one photo, but it’s another post for detail (as is why I put the full name here).

Also, that will be my second part - mostly because Alamogordo has a LOT of history to write here.

Hope you enjoy.

[melmac78]

Today, I’m showing a bit of White Sands National Park and Alamogordo.

White Sands is neat place to visit, but due to costs ($25 a car, regardless occupancy) and going by myself (meaning a few safety concerns), I elected to not go into the entire park. There are online photos of the dunes. (Note: I wish I got a lifetime membership when mom got hers, though mine would’ve been higher. It’d paid itself off going to White Sands - before the fees soared.)

I knew we could see some dunes toward the front, hence the hill photo of the native grasses and yucca holding one (of sorts).

The visitor center was open, but there’s not tons to actually photograph or show except some panels and the diorama.

The adobe building is quite comfortable inside any time of year (I’ve come to Alamogordo in the summer too.)

There’s also a photo I took from the Space Museum of White Sands, which is the 7th photo down. You can also see it from the Cloudcroft Tressel, but both days I was at that location there was a slight fog.

The mountain shot is where Cloudcroft is. About 25 miles and 2,000 feet… temperature went from 45 to 80*F. Forgot this when I visited Alamogordo the day before (I wanted to explore and shop), and wore long pants. Very hot, but helps I live in west Texas so I managed.

••••••

Now why I use the full name mostly:

There’s also a base there with the same name.

It may not be familiar to many… but, this was also the place where the Trinity Project was tested. (Or, where the first nuke was tested).

Mind you it is MUCH further away than where I was visiting, but the city does get lots of tourism for the project.

I was there a week before the time of year they open the site to the public, but I wouldn’t have done it a. Due to costs, and b. family in service, plus I had a somewhat distant relative who was part of the Bikini Atoll test and didn’t want to be asked questions.

••••••

The tokens and pin I got from the park’s gift shop. This is the only place I know that has two (national and for profit) and honestly, I preferred the national park’s shop as the money literally helps the park. (I got a mug and challenge coin too, but they’re redundant designs to what’s shown).

The tokens include a Buffalo one about the National Parks and the Trinity project. The pin is the patch they used for those on the project. It was intentionally designed this way for security at the time.

No clue what the tokens are for… unless at $1 it’s a way where even kids can get a souvenir with spare change.

••••••

So ends day 2 of my travel stories.

I still have the Space Museum, Pistachio Land, Cloudcroft and its museum. I can talk about apple cider, but it’s a little bit of a combined post too with dining.

So… what would you like me to write on next?

[melmac78]

Final part of the New Mexico Museum of Space History. Part 2 here.

Just a few odds and ends from the museum, including some items from the track and capsules. I promise there’s more there than I’ve posted.

The obelisk contains the names of those who died in the Apollo I test, Challenger and Columbia.

Columbia hits a bit close - fact: I lived in Stephenville still when Columbia broke up. I was at the time in Andrews preparing to shift jobs, so I didn’t see the break up or find debris. I was there when one shuttle flew over. Shook windows.

Also, the Rick Husband Memorial Airport in Amarillo was one of the back ups for the Shuttle. I have flown out from it, but before the tragedy. Only one shuttle landed there - the one that is now in California when they ended the program).

I loved the rocket trashcan and billboard and the suit I could see Scott or John Tracy in. The other side of the Mercury mock up is shown, as is Apollo.

I wanted to show two shirts: I bought the grey one but liked the design of the Little Joe one. The only disappointment was the gift shop as they had way too many NASA shirts. This is one of my favorite shirts I’ve bought from a place - I like the ‘50s feel. (John shirt I think)

••••••

Overall I enjoyed the Alamogordo trip. Went there two days, though the first was more Pistachioland and shopping due to me wanting to figure out the road (West Texas has few mountains obviously), but second day was more fun.

Alamogordo has some reasonably priced places to tour. The mall is pretty much nothing but if you need to cool down it’s a decent spot.

One of the funniest moments for me was finding where Hobo Joe’s restaurant was. The business has long been closed - it was kind of like a Denny’s - but the building is still there.

The place I did eat at thought it was funny I still found it… especially as it had been 25-30 years since I’ve been to New Mexico.

I also liked how they’ve since built a road that has you go around Alamogordo to go to White Sands.

The intersection at the bottom of the drive from Cloudcroft will take you to both Pistachioland stores (more in a future post), and if I were just going to the museum, I could take a back road.

Oh and the Space Museum is a “you cannot miss it” view: it’s in the mountains above all the city.

So this concludes the Space Museum portion. Hope you’ve enjoyed it.

[melmac78]

Due to personal reasons - fed up with life in general being Lemaire and Fischler rolled into one - I’m skipping today’s “Cloudcroft and Alamogordo trip” posting.

Please note I’m perfectly fine and so is Ash: health and job wise.

It’s just my mood has such a huge thundercloud over it I’m afraid it’s become a hoodoo (storm surge) and I’d spout out too much ranting.

I currently plan on a foodie type post as the Old Red Barn, Pistachioland and the place I ate at day one all just got together for tomorrow and then Cloudcroft and museum to wrap it all up the next.

This post will be erased when I post up the new edition.

Thank you for understanding.

[melmac78]

With all the stuff going on the past couple of months… understandable with my cat losses and blessings, and graduation heck:

I realized I never shared pics of my trip in March to Cloudcroft and Alamogordo N.M.

Do y’all still want to see them?

If so, LET ME KNOW with the following:

A. Cloudcroft - as in city.

B. Cloudcroft Museum

C. Pistachio Land

D. White Sands National Park (will be combined with Alamogordo in general)

E. New Mexico Museum of Space History

F. Lincoln National Forest.

G. New Mexico general observations.

H. Apple cider/farms.

••••••

I’ll write order received, one post a day with photos.

••••••

Also, Ash doing great, and understanding limits.

I can tell not fond of a silver belly (they have a tincture they use to protect the site that is that color) but prefers it over cone if she if tried to mess with stitches.

••••••

Thank you for your help, and I hope you enjoy the stories. Still remember all of them from trip - even if life threw a curveball on me.

[melmac78]

Well to put how big Texas is in perspective… and I’m using miles here:

It is closer for me to go to Cloudcroft, New Mexico on a vacation than Dallas, Texas.

About 50 miles…. And that still is longer than to the other place I’d visit in New Mexico.

Also looking to be cheaper as one place I want to go - the New Mexico Museum of Space History in Alamogordo… is $8 bucks just museum, $11 if I wanted to go to planetarium too.

For comparison - the tour of the USS Lexington - which I love doing and will do again in a heartbeat: $17.

White Sands itself is a bit too high, but I can go there up to its gift shop. Plus… I’d rather not go there by myself as it’s essentially a desert.

But yeah… that’s my next trip, coming soon and masks won’t be too bad of still in play (currently indoors unless eating/drinking, but lifting by March 4)