Day 0: High Rolls, NM to Cloudcroft, NM

This morning, I loaded up the bike with all the luggage I had shipped to my friend’s house in High Rolls, NM, and then double checked for oil leaks and made sure the Garmin Zumo XT2 was ready to go. Soon after, I pulled up the map and met up with Jeff and Ron at their Airbnb about 13 minutes down the road in Cloudcroft. Hard to tell from pics, but the rock driveway to the cabin had a crazy downgrade to it. I had to disengage the ABS and ride the brake in 1st gear. One of the requirements for staying here is that renters must have a vehicle with a 4×4. A couple of elk walked up to the house right before I arrived. Once at the cabin, we decided to go for a checkride to ensure everything worked, mainly to ensure Jeff’s KTM had the right jet due to the elevation.
As we were getting ready to go, I noticed my Garmin was dead; it wouldn’t take a charge or show any signs of life. Bummer! I had used it 20 minutes prior, and it worked great. We all jumped on our bikes, topped off on gas, and hit a 20-mile dirt loop between Cloudcroft and High Rolls. Jeff was checking for throttle response, and we were all getting a feel for our bikes on the new terrain. Things were going great until the sky opened, and the rain fell hard. We even had some close lightning strikes. The weather app was wrong – we were soaked. Once we got back, we changed clothes and dried everything out. After a while, we took Ron’s truck back into Cloudcroft and got lunch. The downtown is quite a tourist location. After lunch, we went for a small hike in the mountains. We all realized that being old and out of shape, combined with 8600 feet, made for a terrible idea. Around 3:45, one of Jeff’s friends, Ben, pulled up on his BMW GS 1250. He had been on the road since 3:20 am and rode 900 miles to meet us. His bike is 4 years old and has 180,000 miles on it- that’s wild! He showed up so he could take the truck/trailer and bike up to Antonito, CO, so Jeff/Ron could ride back to Fort Worth once this was over. At this point, we had plans to meet my friends Matt/Mica and their kids for dinner, so we all met up at a local brewhouse/pizza place called Cloudcroft Brewing Company. We all hung out, had dinner, and then back here. We’ve spent the last hour going through gear, looking at maps, and preparing for tomorrow. This place’s patio faces west, which makes for an incredible sunset.