Ah yes, and the crosswinds. I forgot about those. On our way back from NM, the winds in West Texas not only almost blew me over, but they also killed my gas mileage, which was to be expected. Yet another reason for a bigger bike that can handle that sort of beating a little better.
As far as the trip, we started in Dallas, TX last Thursday, took 180 all the way to Hobbs, NM, then continued on through Carlsbad and stayed in White's City that night. The next day we rode up to the caverns, spend a few hours walking around there, then rode to Cloudcroft, NM to drop our stuff off at the cabin we rented. I can't remember everywhere we went the rest of the day, but we mostly did some local riding around Cloudcroft.
Then Saturday we rode ALL over New Mexico. Ironically, there was a rally going on in Roswell that we hadn't known about, so all the tourist towns were filled with bikes and empty of beer.
I do remember eating at some hamburger joined that advertised "Ho-Made" Chili, which got a chuckle or two out of me, but I can't recall where it was.
Sunday we spent 12 hours riding back to Dallas from Cloudcroft. I realize 12 hours is a bit much, but we left early so we could take our time, and take our time we did.
The trip was great, and I would definitely love to make it again some time, but I try to never go to the same place in one year, so it'll have to wait till next summer.
Next trip planned is probably to Colorado, within the next couple of months, before the snow obviously.