June 18, 2011
Last day of cool breezes, goodbye Colorado and NM ..Hello HOT Texas!

This was a sad morning. Our trip was on it’s last legs and today we would end the day with projected temps near triple digits. This to go along with our final destination of Amarillo. We were going to miss NM and Colorado.

We ate breakfast at the hotel with all of the gang. We tagged along with the gang as we headed out. Our first stop would be Chama NM. We knew it was going to be warm this afternoon, so last night Jamie made sure our cool vests were loaded up and ready to go. They really do work.

This is Jamie and I ready to roll. Thanks for the picture Mark.

Jamie and I broke off from the gang and stopped for a quick break in Chama. We were also going to do the longer loop into Red River NM later into the trip. The rest of the group was heading to Taos to eat an early lunch. Jamie was a trooper the entire trip. i love my riding partner. She is cute to boot.. I am a lucky man.

We enjoyed the ride over the Rio Grande gorge, up the hill to Red River and through Cimarron National forest. We caught up with Mark and Randy a couple of times during the day. It is fun seeing some friends on the road from time to time.

I love this part of New Mexico. It reminds me of riding with my father and enjoying these great roads on weekends after I first got out of the military back in the 80’s. He got sick a few years later, then passed, but I sure enjoyed riding with him. I am glad his passion for riding was passed down to me and my brother. We miss you dad!

Jamie and I go to Red River each year for her family’s reunion and it has a special place in our hearts. We enjoyed a breakfast burrito and chatted about how nice it will be to return in July for the reunion. It is a blast up there and a nice way to get out of the brutal summer heat in Texas.

This was a long day of riding. The closer we got to Texas the hotter it got! We rolled into Amarillo and the bank temp was a nice 103… YIKES :sun: We took a long shower and walked over to a wing stop for a quick dinner. It was awful hot. We would be home tomorrow. We were planning on leaving early to beat the heat. Our daughter was playing in a softball tournament that day as well so we wanted to get back to see her team play.

We saw this car and trailer at the hotel. i thought it was pretty cool.