It�s turned into a beautiful day, and at Apache Creek I�ve taken my long sleeve Henley, leaving just my jacket and silk long-john top. Naturally, headed north it starts to cloud up and cool off. I bear with it while I stop and note the Qumado High School Mascot (Eagles), worth 97 points. By Omega, I�m getting cold, so I pull over and put the shirt back on, and eat a Rice Krispy treat. If you can�t eat right�, um eat as you always do, I guess. At Pie Town, I take a picture of the Pie-O-Near store for the 92 point bonus. There is a boy of perhaps 8 riding his bicycle around and checking out my motorcycle, so I tell him to get in the picture. He does, and I ask his name. �Steven� he answers, and I note it on my bonus picture, thank him and zoom off. Hopefully, I made his day.
I can�t remember if Datil is a Trail town or not (turns out it�s not) and the bonus sheets are still buried in my tank bag. I can stop again and check, but it seems like I�m stopping too much. I finally decide to just get gas in Datil. If it is a Trail stop, I�ve got it covered, and even if it�s not, it will give me enough gas to get back to Albuquerque so I won�t have to stop again. There was a bonus in Datil Wells, which I completely missed. Guess I should have checked those sheets! Just out side of Datil, I stop and get the VLA bonus (99 points), and then zip towards I-25 for the run back north. I tell myself if I get to the Los Lunas exit before 6:30, I�ll go grab the bonus there, other wise I�ll try to get it in the morning. I get to the exit a few minutes after 6, so I go get a picture of the Lunas Mansion, good for a whopping 59 points, then head back to the rally hotel, arriving officially at 6:50 PM. As he logs me in, Ira makes the comment that I�m maybe not so Hopeless after all. I�m very happy with my first half run, but don�t want to jinx myself, so don�t say anything!
I park right next to Janene�s bike, so rather than disturbing her, I head over to JB�s for a quick meal. The waitress comes with a menu, and I tell her I want a short stack, glass of milk and glass of water, and I�m in a hurry. I sit down, and take out my contacts, and put on my glasses, giving my eyes a break. Less than 10 minutes later the food is on my table. In the mean time, I�m rearranging my tank bag for the second half, deciding what I can leave behind, and what I want to grab from the hotel room. I scarf two of the 4 pancakes, drink the milk and most of the water, pay my tab and am in the hotel room by 7:20. I quickly undress, brush my teeth, and wash my face, pits and uhhhm, other sweaty areas. On go clean boxer-briefs and fresh socks and I already feel better. I grab another photocopy of my New Mexico map and transfer my evening route to it, so I wont get confused at 3:30 in the morning. I almost messed up here, as I missed highlighting the one bonus spot I�d planned on getting. I took the receipts and photos from the first leg out of my rally wallet, and left them in the room, nice and safe. 7:40 the Meanie goes off as I�m headed back to my bike, and by the time I�ve changed my shield and grabbed my paperwork, it�s 7:50 and I get Ira to sign me back out.
Did I mention that it was warm in Albuquerque at this time? I was sweating from running around, so when I first started heading east on I-40 it felt good. Within 10 minutes I�m freezing, as the road climbs immediately, and less than 20 miles away, I�m pulling off, adding Widder vest and jacket liner. Other than Roswell, the whole second half was cold, colder, or coldest! Where I pulled off the freeway, there was a gentleman on a BMW, working on adding a rope �throttle lock�. We got to talking a little, and it turns out he is from Quebec and is friends with Peter Hoogeveen. It was an article of Peter�s in Cycle Canada that got me interested in LD riding in the first place. Small world? He and I tagged together to Clines Corners, where I turned off towards Vaughn, the first Trail stop. Janene was getting gas at Clines Corners and saw me go by, but I didn�t see her.
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