Ruidoso New Mexico

The wife and I rode to the Golden Aspen Motorcycle Rally in Ruidoso NM this weekend. The riding and weather was great. New Mexico has a very diverse landscape that is full of traditions and legends of the old west. With a day and a half for riding, we had a lot of fun. A 50 mile radius day ride from Ruidoso is like a history lesson with a lot of beautiful scenery. The landscape ranges from pine and aspen covered mountains to the desert valley sands below (Sierra Blanca Peak’s elevation is almost 12,000ft and fifty miles away is the White Sands National Monument with a elevation of 4235ft.) We arrived in Ruidoso about noon, ate lunch and went for a ride that afternoon, we traveled to Lincoln whose history includes the still well know names (thanks to movies)of Billy the Kid, Pat Garrett, John Chisum and was the focal point of the Lincoln County War in 1878. Many if not most of the buildings in Lincoln are maintained as part of the Lincoln State Monument. Walking down the street and through the buildings almost transports you through time so that you feel that the horse you rode in on was made of flesh instead of steel. We rode through Ft. Stanton that was originally built in 1855 and has served many purposes from a defense against the Apache Indian raids, site of the first federal hospital for the exclusive treatment of tuberculosis, it also housed over 400 German Sailors as detainees after the outbreak of World War II. Next on our ride was Capitan NM which is known as the Birthplace of United States Forest Service mascot Smokey Bear. Even though Capitan is much more modern than the other two it gives you that nostalgic feeling because much of it looks like you are in the 1950’s. Then it was back to Ruidoso which is a small mountain resort town in the Sierra Blanca Mountains.

Some other day’s ride’s on this trip or in the past include;

Cloudcroft NM (42miles) -it is another resort town that was only accessible by mountain train or pack mule for it’s first fifty years and you can still see the Railroad Trestle that bridges a canyon from the highway,

Alamogordo NM (46miles)- is home to Holloman Air Force Base and the New Mexico Museum of Space History. It is on the edge of the White Sands Missile Range that is almost 3,200 square miles of land used by the Air Force, the White Sands Test Facility and probably any other agency that wants to blow $h*t up.

White Sands National Monument (60miles) it’s 275 square miles of white Gypsum sand dunes. Only a small area has public access and there is no off-roading but it is cool to see.

Roswell NM (70miles)- there is not much to say about Roswell unless you are one of those who want to set outside at night, drink Alien Brew and stare at the sky.

Anyway, if you get a chance to spend some time riding in New Mexico do a little research because there is a lot more than just some great riding. Here are a few links for info in this small area of a big state.

Lincoln State Monument » New Mexico State Monuments
Lincoln, New Mexico - The Wild Wild West Frozen in Time

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Cloudcroft New Mexico - A Brief History
White Sands National Monument (U.S. National Park Service)
New Mexico's Lincoln County War
Roswell UFO Incident - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The pictures show; a deer at the elementary school. My friends in a BS session outside the cabin Friday night. A Local Pub parking lot. Graveyard at Ft. Stanton each grave had just a small white cross most were victims of tuberculosis. On the road outside of Capitan. Looking over Ruidoso (those trees have a lot of cabins scattered in them).

Good writing and nice pictures thanks for sharing your weekend with us. New Mexico is a beautiful state from east to west and north to south.

Thanks for the compliments. Writing about a great weekend is easy. The older I get the more fascinated I become with history. What a weekend and the ride through history continues as the Cannonball run has arrived this evening in Clovis. It’s an amazing event that gives guest a chance to experience the equipment and passions of the riders of the 95 year old motorcycles. The riders and support crews were very pleasant to visit with as they worked on their motorcycles. I especially enjoyed getting to talk to Pat Simmons of the Doobie Brothers about the problems and performance of the 1915 Harley that his wife Cris is riding on this run. I will post more with pictures tomorrow after the motorcycles have moved on.

This Saturday I hope to see them on the second to last stop. It's in Victorville, CA. I'll get some pics too.

I am fairly young but I have always been interested in History. Thanks for the most kick ass writing that I have read in a while. (Used to academic reading at this point). Please keep us posted on what is happening.