We got wet... More on this later. The roads connecting Las Vegas, Taos, Chama NM, Pagosa Springs, Durango, and Ouray CO are arguably some of the finest roads for motorbiking in the lower 48. We set out from Santa Rosa after a fine breakfast. Any Hotel Complimentary Continental Breakfast with a waffle machine is a huge plus! We commenced the climb out of Las Vegas and at 9000 feet, we found twisties amonst the pines leading to Sipapu Resort where we stopped in to give it a rest. Leroy sprung for the coffee and we got to relax a bit on the back deck alongside a pretty creek and watch the hummingbirds fussing at one another. We then skirted the city limits of Taos and rode more fast twisties, finally exiting the cool mountains in a blur and opening up onto a broad plain, we pointed our bikes for Tres Piedres. We made a brief stop at the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge, 10 miles northwest of Taos, seemingly out in the middle of nowhere. It is the 5th highest bridge in the U.S. spanning the river 650 feet below. It was after this stop, that Leroy handily clinched the "Old Fart Award" by riding the most miles with his turn signals flashing! We eventually pulled over at scenic Hopewell Lake Park to have our picnic lunch and while we were there, the skies turned dark and the sound of thunder got us to thinking we may need to put on our rain gear. Sure enuf, no sooner had we pulled out of the park than the skies opened up on us. For the remainder of the afternoon, we rolled through several banks of rain showers typical of High Country. I consider myself pretty much a novice at riding twisties in the rain, so the pucker factor increased as the weather worsened and the posted speeds decreased from 20, 15, 10 mph in the hairpin turns. Since I can't come back from the dead like Jesus, I kept repeating my mantra of "Relax, Roll, Restraint", hoping to make it through another day! A dirt bike technique I seldom get a chance to use is shifting my weight to the inside of the curve which has the tendency to straighten up the bike while negotiating the turn. Riding the Wing in that fashion, I prolly looked as silly as a Dog Barking at a Butterfly, but I found it works just as well on the wet stuff as it does on the trail. Pretty soaked by the time we pulled into Ouray but it looked like it was clearing just outta town so we pushed on to Montrose, a working town that doesn't demand a King’s ransom for a hotel room. Found a great Mexican restaurant serving a mean margarita just a half block from our Hotel and then settled in for the evening, logging 468 miles for the day. BTW, I uploaded some snaps... Alaska, here we come!