We left Gallop and headed for Albuquerque. There, Gomes wanted to check out the house from Breaking Bad. I had also asked Marco the night before to reach out on the forums again to see if anyone in New Mexico or East Texas could help solve his rear tire problem.
As we rolled into Albuquerque to stop for gas I asked Marco if he had heard from anyone and it just so happened that there was a gentleman named Tim who reached out and he lives in Albuquerque not too far from that gas station. So while Marco headed over there to check on his wheel, Gomes and I made a quick dash over to the Breaking Bad house. As we pulled up there were 2 other groups there snapping some pictures. As Gomes got ready and snapped one of his own, 3 other groups came and went. In a matter of 10 minutes about 12 people had visited that location. Apparently it’s so common that the homeowner has put up no trespassing signs on her lawn. Gomes asked if she had had people throw pizzas on the roof. Her reply was, “Thankfully no, not recently.” We hopped back on the bikes and headed to Marco’s location.
We pull up to Tim’s home and Gomes gets some footage of the rear tire getting swapped. We were there for about an hour or so getting that taken care of. The heat was not helping the situation either. We wrap that up and thank Tim and his wife for their hospitality. They also have a blog that they update with their travels which you can find here, ziariderblog.com.
After grabbing some food we head out towards Texas. The goal was to try and reach Amarillo but at this point we’ll be happy with hitting Glenrio, which sits right at the Texas and New Mexico border. We continue on and Marco mentions that everything is smooth now. At our next gas stop we decide to relax for a bit since we’ve been pretty tired and really moving and covering miles. I notice that there are no places in Glenrio for us to stay and we change our destination to Tucumcari, NM. At the rate we are going we should reach there around 6pm which is early enough to get some work done and still get a good night’s rest.
We left that gas station and we were moving pretty well. We were doing between 80-90 miles per hour. We wanted to try and get to Tucumcari and just relax. It was pretty hot out, in the 90s and I could tell that my bike was getting worked hard. I kept an eye on the temperature gauge to make sure it wouldn’t run to hot. The needle seemed to be hanging around the 200 Fahrenheit marker and I took a mental note that if it passed that and got close to the 100 Celsius marker I would pull over and let it cool down.
5 Miles from our exit my bike loses power and comes to a crawl. I switch to reserve knowing that wasn’t the problem but really wishing it was. I pull into the shoulder and the bike goes off as it’s rolling. I put it in second and pop the clutch and it fires back up. I give it gas but it clearly doesn’t have the power it just had a mile ago. The oil light also kept going on and off randomly. I coast for about a mile and then come to a stop. We decide to tow the bike into town, once again using Gomes’ shadow, or as we call it, “The Comfort King.” I decide that I’ll give my bike the overnight rest and pray that it’s just a heat issue but deep down inside of me I fear the worst. Tomorrow morning I’ll check on the bike’s fluids and we’ll go from there. Either way we need to make it into Texas tomorrow.
When you guys come east and need anything come see me, let me know what you need , a meal a place to stay parts anything. I can show you some of the best roads the Blue Ridge Parkway and the Skyline Drive, Right here.