RUN FOR THE WALL Jean and Larry: May 8, 2024

May 8, 2024 - Day 4 to Ontario

YEAH!!!!!! Radio/Sena now working. Larry and Ron worked last night on the configuration. BUT it did not start that way. Not sure I mentioned we have a FreeWire. This allows us to use Sena without reconfiguring the bike. Well..... that got disconnected/turned off...something. As soon as that was started, everything started working.

Now, we need to add GMRS. And that works.... Yeah.

Are you keeping track? Because I am losing track. Let's list them

For pictures, I have a phone and camera,
Sena for music and intercom
CB that is on the bike for talking with Ron
GMRS that will be used on the Run for relaying messages as the pack moves
Wire for a heated jacket

Now I have to figure out what has to be turned on first or things will not work.... can I have a score card please?

On with the day. Again, a beautiful sunny day. A bit chilly but I will take this over rain and snow any day. It may be a bit long, but I hope you enjoy the pics. They do not even begin to show the beauty of this great country.

We are not too far down the road and see a Pronghorn.

Fun Fact: this pic from internet

The Pronghorn is the fastest land mammal of North America and the Western Hemisphere. Though not a true antelope, this ungulate is colloquially called in different names like prong buck, pronghorn antelope, cabri (in Native American language), or just antelope. This is because it has some strange resemblance to the old world antelopes. This very common species of artiodactyl mammal evolved alongside the already-extinct North American cheetah and is spread all across America. But this herbivore is the only surviving member of the family Antilocapridae.

Then 1/2 a mile further, we thought 2 were going to cross the road in front of Ron. They are really fast and cut toward the fence. Thank goodness.

This started out to be a great day for seeing animal. This buffalo was just standing there, by itself. I thought it was a statue at first.

One of the things I noticed was the fence. Most are made of metal poles or posts. This one looks like just tree branches. Whatever work!!

We head to Eagle Nest. This is part of the route on the Run. Kind of neat for the guys as they get to really look around. On the Run, you have to stay focused.

In 2022, the Run was not allowed to go to Eagle Nest due to fires. Here are a few of the trees and how they have come back. We were all amazed at how nature comes back.

Here you can see the green in the middle of the pic. Most of the mountain was black 2 years ago.

I have tons of pics for the ride up the mountain. Gorgeous.

As we reach near the top, we see the Eagle Nest Lake. We are close to the town.

If you look hard at the lake, you can see the white caps. Guess what? We did not lose the wind today.

We head down thru town and stop for some hot chocolate.

Yes, this is the whole town. No traffic light. Next week you will see it lined with the bikes.

Love this. It was in the store.

Bear + Deer = Beer

Makes sense to me.

Head out of town and down the mountain. Elevation in Eagle Nest is about 8600 feet.

We actually go up to 9100 feet before we headed down. Last year, they had been working on this road when the Run came thru. They have had a lot of mud slides. Looks like this should work.

It was interesting that these trees with the white trunks (I think aspen) are just starting to bud.

But when you go down 1000 feet they are already turning green.

Ever think about what they do about fire trucks, well.... this building had Fire Truck on the side. The roads on the mountain are windy and houses are far apart. Larry said he saw one several miles back, with 2 garage doors. Now who man's them and how fast can they get to the fire.

Love the colors.

Down at the bottom of the mountain, the terrain changes.

We rode over the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge. This was a big crevasse out of nowhere. Pretty amazing.

This road never ends. Pretty wild. The amount of untouched land you see is amazing in this country.

Can you guess what this is? I had no idea. It is actually a cell tower. They have added branches to it, so it does not stick out. Interesting concept but a little strange looking.

Since we have been heading to Durango for our stay tonight, we all loved the idea of no highway. Ron has done a great job making this happen. Carson National Forest was beautiful and a bit cold. You will see why in a few pics.

YIKES!!! Snow. Good thing I had on heating gear, I cranked it up a bit. Totally worth it. Beautiful (if you like snow pictures).

We were up over 10,500 feet and about 30 degrees. Brrrrrrr.

At the bottom we are all pretty chilled and lunch was in order.

Fina's Diner in Chama, NM

This is a mom and son restaurant. Great atmosphere!!! and they had hot chocolate and hot tea.

Lots of pictures on the walls. Here is an article "Pearl Harbor Veteran finds home in Chama."

Love this. It should be in every home.

This is a pic of Al Unser. We were told he frequented Fina's.

While we were at lunch, Ron told me a few of Run riders that were traveling from Kentucky. They decided to go a more northern route to see a friend on the way to Ontario. They were heading in the direction of Denver (remember I said earlier we avoided Denver because of the snow?) and got caught in a "white out". I cannot even imagine this on a bike. Later a friend called and said that I-70 was closed due to snow. So they decided on Plan B, go to I-80 which is further north. 20 degrees colder and 50-60 MPH winds. I know they got stuck somewhere. I guess we will hear the rest of the story later.

Way to go Ron and Larry!!!! Good call on going south.

Back on the road. We have a little under 2 hours to our final destination.