After a quick three-day pit stop at home to change bikes and sort, wash, and load gear, we left home yesterday on the 700 Tenere headed northwest.

Sorry for the poor quality photo…we were in a hurry to get on the road!

This is our first long-term tour on the 700, so we’re still somewhat sorting through our kit. We thought we had it sorted, but then decided to add a larger bag on top of the right pannier to carry food. But, as George Carlin said, “Stuff expands to fill available space”. So of course the bag is half full of non-food stuff already.

Our first night’s stop was Lubbock, to meet with Laura, a childhood friend of Diana’s, her husband Kevin and their family. We had a great time visiting with them, as Diana and Laura got to reminisce while Kevin and I talked motorcycles, airplanes, and podcasts (he’s given me some ideas for the future). They were kind enough to put us up for the evening, which we were especially grateful for due to the large storms that came through during the night.

In the morning, we loaded up in light rain and left a flooded Lubbock. There was standing water across many roads, including Highway 82 heading out of town, where the water was up to the bottom of the footpegs through one muddy crossing.

The rain let up and we danced with the rain clouds until Tatum, New Mexico, when the sky turned black and it really came down. We found an old abandoned gas station awning and took shelter for an hour or so until the worst of it passed, then moved on westward. We had originally planned to stop in Ruidoso at a campground for the night, but with all the rain, we decided to change direction at Roswell and head for Albuquerque. We had a strong crosswind for most of the day, but stayed dry until just before ABQ, when the skies opened up once again. We gladly took a hotel room for the night. We had planned to hotel in Farmington tomorrow night, but since we made extra distance today and are in a hotel, we will compensate our budget by looking for a camp site tomorrow night a little further north.