Day Four, May 17
Eagle Nest, NM, to Burlington, CO
"We ride for those who can't"
These photos were submitted by Lee Aitken:
LaJunta, CO, VFW Cobra Heliocopter (correction from earlier placement)
Official Sit Reps for Central Route:
May 17, 2008
Day Four - Angel Fire to Burlington
It was a cold morning as we woke up on the mountain at Eagle Nest, but much warmer than we often encounter in Angel Fire. The clouds looked somewhat ominous, but the weather held out for us and we had a nice breakfast sponsored by Eagle nest Community followed by the riders meeting. As we headed out down the mountain for Raton, we had 202 bikes.
Our first stop was a brief stop in Cimmaron to present a plaque thanking the community for their support. It was in the center of town on the main street while we all stayed on our bikes. Next we continued on down the mountain to Raton where we had a gas stop and brief ceremony where an after school classroom sang "Proud to be an American". The kids were so cute and proud. The gas was provided free of charge by Tim Trujillo and the independent Riders of Raton. The ride out of the area continued with a detour through Trinidad where we paraded through town and the community waved hundreds of POW flags. It was a beautiful site to see!
We continued down the road to LaJunta for our gas stop and lunch in the Wal-Mart parking lot. After undressing a bit (as the weather had warmed up), we headed straight out of town for a gas stop in Limon and a police escorted parade through town. Once we finished, it was back on the road to Burlington for our nightly stop. We had dinner served and the student drum line performed as did a country band inside. It was a nice new stop for us on the Run this year.
After dinner, we all retired to our rooms, but not until many folks gathered for laundry night at Jo Mamma's Dirty Laundry which stayed open till midnight for us. You know it's been a good day when your social entertainment for the evening consists of visiting with new and old friends at the laundrymat (tanning room, video games, pool room, bar, etc...)!! :)
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More from David Talley:
The day of being off the main interstates is over. We made it to Burlington, CO, on I-70 almost incident free. There was one guy who got off the two lane to the shoulder, and I think he may have misjudged where he was. He did an Arty Johnson off his bike. Last report was that he was a little sore, but ok.
No truck traffic to speak of, a few cow racks headed south on CO-71, and that is about it. One over-size got held up as we arrived at Burlington, but he was cool about it. Saw three west bound Stevens Trucks, yelled at all on radio but no answer; probably their radios, cause my bike radio is a monster that can reach oh about 1/2 a mile.
Tomorrow there will be about 400 bikes, east from Burlington, CO, to Oakley, KS, for lunch [and then on to] Junction City, KS, for dinner. All of it on I-70. My assistant Truck Talker, Krazy Karl Haartz from New Hampshire, will back on post; he covered a sweep position today. I will need him; it will be a busy day; no police coverage till Kansas City. So that is it.
Thanks again for letting me do this. Almost forgot: rough count 420 folks, 350 bikes today; probably at least 50 more bikes tomorrow. I know we got slammed at registration, but a lot of folks that signed on at Williams dropped out at Raton. Sorry I do not have more accurate numbers, but there is just so much to do. Every one is being safe, though. I have met a lot of folks that I only see once a year, but am always happy to see them every year.
