Day 2 ~ Saturday 17th: Post - Colorado Springs, CO

520 miles - again

A pretty boring day of riding took place to Colorado Springs, CO.

From Post, I took Hwy 84 through Lubbock to Littlefield, TX. Decided to stop at McDonald's for a quick breakfast, thinking how glad I am not traveling toward the east.


I like small town McD's. Especially for breakfast, there will be a "regular" crowd drinking a bottomless cup of coffee and talking about town gossip. An Asian man walking in with motorcycle pants and jacket typically interrupts their conversation. The restaurant becomes quiet for a moment, then regains its noisy momentum.

Moving toward the north from there, I head to Dalhart. As I was crossing I-40, I fueled and stretched.



Only a few miles from there on Hwy 385, I was on OLD Route 66 for a block or two.



HWY 385 beyond this point has nice scenery. But there are many trailer trucks to deal with. =(



Arriving in Dalhart... and the main road was under construction - backed up crazily. I thought I left all the constructions in Houston, but I was wrong. Quick Google map helps. I ride most of it around and get out of the mess. I assume I saved around 30 min. of standing in scorching heat from the sun - not to mention the scorching heat from the engine. NC700X really gives me a lot of heat between my legs compared to other bikes I've owned.

From there I arrived in Raton, NM. I was not hungry but decided to have lunch. I thought food would keep my energy level up from this heat. I searched a restaurant with Yelp, then found Oasis Restaurant. It had 4.1 stars from the Google review. I was OK with that... Now I want to know WHO GAVE SUCH HIGH REVIEWS? I was very disappointed with this 4.1-star food. Maybe I didn't order the right food. I was not at all impressed. I would give two stars.

I am not a big fan of Interstate Highway travel on a motorcycle. I just don't like it. But today's goal was to get to the destination quickly, I sacrificed by taking I-25 to Colorado Springs, CO. By the time I hit Trinidad, I am expecting the temperature to drop. It's not. When I arrived at Pueblo, it's 99F. I'm in Colorado and it's hotter than Houston. This isn't right. A quick search of a Starbucks and hit the ice coffee again for the heat relief.

At this point, I am thinking, NO WAY I'm camping next two nights in this heat. So Airbnb comes to the rescue. Did a quick search and I found a nicely priced space? It was a motel room. So I reserved it for two nights. Put Mecca Motel in my GPS and head to Colorado Springs.



The Mecca Motel is conveniently located just south of the Garden of Gods and there are lots of commercial vendors nearby, like large pharmacy based supermarket, grocery store, and many fast food restaurants. The host was really nice - very knowledgeable of tourist stuff. We had a nice chat, then I unload everything into my room. I met a neighbor couple from Arizona and chatted for a while. The guy, Caucasian, drove his Mini to there from Phoenix and his girlfriend was from the Philippines.

All the sudden, I was hungry for Pad Thai - a noodle dish from Thailand. After a quick shower, a Google search reveals Wild Ginger Thai Restaurant just 5 min. away. So I went.



Pad Thai is definitely one of my favorite food. The flavor was good at this joint. The noodle was cooked just right and ingredients were good, too. But it was a bit too soupy for me. I am used to more dry Pad Thai. I could also use a bit more peanut flavor and a stronger cilantro taste. But my tummy was happy.

That was a good day of a ride.



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