After leaving VLA, I continued due East towards Socorro, New Mexico. I arrived in town with blood boiling, my polar bear skin melting. I had a bad feeling again I'd better book a hotel and rest for the rest of the day.
Then, the little voice in my head said, just cool off with something cold to drink and make it to Albuquerque before calling it a day. I listened to the voice. Damn, I wish I wouldn't of.
I continued on, straight north towards Albuquerque when I began seeing a dark sky in front of me. I'd read of how intense thunderstorms are in the western United States, but I guess until you've experienced one, one doesn't really understand.Â
I learned the hard way. NEVER in my life have I experienced a thunderstorm like I did that day. The sky was exploding, the lightning bolts so bright and intense, I could feel the change in temperature as they were exploding all around me. I exited the highway, parked my bike at an old service station that was open, the type of service station you see in the movies out west in the middle of nowhere, parts, tires, and junk cars all over the place, the floor hadn't been swept in decades.
I ran inside to find what looked like a 400 pound man with a beard that looked as if he hadn't bathed or showered in months. Another much younger man was working on a car, I hate to say this, but he looked inbred. I said hello, the fat ******* didn't say a word, he looked at me like who the **** do you think you are getting out of the hellish thunderstorm in my shop, he began giving me ****. The son told him to stop being an *******. I had a weird feeling, like these two had dead bodies buried all around this place.
I waited until the lightning quit and moved on, it was still raining buckets. I'd seen on my geepus that there was a town a few miles north. That's when I experienced my first flash flood of my life. Water everywhere, I was now riding through 18-30 inches of water. I made it to the town, pulled into a McDonald's, which was on high ground, and just sat there on my bike watching the deluge moving down the road.
After the rain stopped, I left, I had to ride through at least 2 feet of water to enter the roadway which was now not flooded, just the sides of the road. People were honking at me and pointing, I didn't know what the hell for. I just went about my business. I got to the main road and headed towards Albuquerque. That's when I felt behind my back for my KTM water reservoir/backpack ($120) that had my Sony action camera ($400), my chargers, and spare batteries ($200), my Sony RX100V ($1,200) along with some other essentials. I'd had them secured by a nylon elastic spider harness with hooks on the end.
My bag was not there. I turned around, rode at high velocity back to the McDonald's where the cars had been honking and pointing at me. I saw one sandal ($120 pair) that was underneath the net in the opposing lane on my way back to McDonalds. Couldn't find it my bag anywhere. I dismounted, and walked through the deep water at the edge of the roadway, no luck finding the bag.Â
Upon walking back to my bike, there was the backpack and spider harness behind my tire :imaposer: One hook, of the six, was still hooked to my bike frame. I had been dragging it for miles by just one hook. I'm probably lucky it didn't get locked in the tire upon my return to McDonald's because I was riding at a high rate of speed.
So, after securing the bag back to the bike, I removed the expensive items and placed them in my tank bag, I continued North. I stopped at the one sandal I'd seen and tried to locate the other with no luck. By the time I arrived in Albuquerque, I was mentally spent from all the stress of the thunderstorm and thinking I'd lost nearly 2 grand in goods.Â
I have the worst luck losing things on my adventures. By this point, I'd lost kneepads I'd purchased in Texas and now the sandals. :xxbah: Oh well, what can one do, the show must go on.
I booked a hotel for a few days, decided I'd regroup, go to the Apple Store the next day and replace a broken charger, buy some new sandals, and wait a few days for the Sandia recreation area to open up as it was closed down due to fire hazard. I was told it would reopen in 2-3 days, and it was one of thee areas I'd really wanted to ride on my trip.
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