Well let's see...Your tire was cut less than two minutes from my house. You passed Under which was an easy exit, and ended up 7 minutes from my house...Where there are tools, a garage and a rear tire, that would have gotten you home, sitting in a box.
Next time you plan this, download the FJR Assistance list, and post something up. If you would have called, we could have had you going.
As far as those black things, they are some type of grasshopper but not sure what. Those Mormon things look about right. They showed up after our record August & September rains.
Glad you got home safe, and sorry you had issues. Hopefully next time is smoother.
I knew I saw something on here from a person that lives in ABQ, but couldn't remember who. I will definitely get the Assistance List for this next time. I'm planning on going again on the same route on Friday of next week 10/18/2013. Here's the Google map of my route
https://goo.gl/maps/DRAr6 with my
planned stops, leaving Phoenix at 3:00am heading south towards Tucson. Last time, I did make a few extra stops to pee, and just rest a bit after fighting some winds.
My original estimate of around 19 hours was pretty close, if not for the flat. I was at about 12 hours when the road teeth bit my tire, then another 7.5 hours the next day to get home.
Funny you mention sending them a Christmas card. Theresa (angel) texted me the other day and asked if they could use the account of my story that I posted here as an entry on their Facebook page. I said sure. I'm hoping to be able to make a bit of time to stop by and say hello to the Southwest Cycles folks when I breeze through next week.
This time, send a PM...I'll send you my number in case you run into anything...
Also, if you leave your house on time, it will keep you out of Albuquerque rush hour traffic. Really, it's not that bad, but people here drive like crap, and LOVE to crash during the busiest times of the day, which can stop traffic forever. On Fridays, it starts a little early around 3:15 and continues until around 6...
Depending on how close you have cut your mileage, and if you are going to go by Southwest Cycles, you may want to short cut your route there. There are two ways to do that.
The most direct route from the south is to exit I25 just north of Los Lunas onto highway 317. That will take you .5 miles east and then you would turn north onto Hwy 45, which is South Coors Rd. You would follow that north past Blake, where you will run right into SWC on your left.
A little longer, but still shorter than taking Coors south from I40 would be to exit I25 at Rio Bravo. You would drive approx. 2-3 miles west on Rio Bravo until you hit Coors and then turn right, again going north. You would again pass Blake Rd. and find SWC on your left.
There is gas just north of SWC at Coors/Arenal, or you could hit I40 and stop at any of the truck stops or casino.
Those routes won't cost you more than a few miles, less than 10, but will save you a huge amount of time from backtracking and dealing with traffic lights.
FWIW, I took an old Kawasaki Vulcan 750 to them years ago. It had been salvaged and the fuel line was rotting. The rubber pieces were getting into the carb and blocking the needles, so the bowl was backing up, filling with fuel, and flooding the bike. Like you, I found them on a fluke, but for about $100, the mechanic fixed the problem, which never happened again. This was 1996, so I don't even know if it was the same people, but I appreciated that guy as he was nearly $100 cheaper than everyone else I called.
Every time I hit the road and travel, I always come into contact with a lot of good folks. They're out there. Just tough to see them and bump into them from a chair.
