Paul Nomad - Intuitive Traveller: Albuquerque

It wasn’t a long ride to Albuquerque from Gallup, a couple of hours, and my priority was to get to the BMW motorcycle shop to have a brake light problem checked out. While riding with Glen and Leanne, Glen noticed that my brake light was on constantly and he wasn’t able to tell when I was braking. I remember being told that once before and in Cairns last year I had a blown tail light, so it seems this had been a problem for a while.

John, the Service Manager at Sandia BMW Motorcycles, was waiting for me after my phone message that I was arriving today with a problem to be looked at. He climbed on the bike and immediately I had confidence in his knowledge and ability as he checked, fiddled, checked again; asked me questions, explained what was normal and basically was very thorough.

He didn’t find the issue immediately but eventually the dash indicator behaved erratically and he could see there was a problem. They whisked the bike into the workshop and put it on the diagnostic computer. Shortly after, John advised that I had a switch that was sticking intermittently, they had one in stock and they could fit it immediately. Yes please!

*Note to self - take more photos of people!*

I was ogling over some older GS motorcycles that were on display on the mezzanine floor.

I was approached by another John, an ex army officer who had his 2014 1200GS Adventure in getting tyres fitted. He wanted to know all about my trip and planning and we talked for an hour. Once his bike was ready he offered me a ride to try it out. I jumped at the opportunity.

The bike was a brand new current model with all the gear. The first thing I did was over-rev it as I started, my throttle hand used to the millimetres of play on my 2006 model, but this was responsive from the first touch. I was a bit tentative finding the clutch engagement point, and with a new wet clutch in this model it felt different. Once moving though, the power was effortless, the brakes, clutch and handling were feather-light, and I immediately felt comfortable on the bike.

On my return I had a Cheshire grin, it was a beautiful bike to ride. But I had my trusty Ziggy who had proven herself over and over again, and I was happy to be on her for my world trip. Ziggy was ready when I arrived back, switch replaced and tested, and as I rode off with a few new Facebook friends, Ziggy felt like a bike with eight year old technology. I couldn’t be happier!

I found a nice but cheap hotel at the top end of Central Avenue, part of the ‘Historic Route 66’ again and decided to spend a couple of days here due to riding for the last six days without a decent break.

I enjoy exploring a city on foot and particularly like the old part of a city to get a sense of the history through the buildings. Albuquerque was no exception with the Old Town precinct displaying a collection of mud adobe buildings around a couple of squares and numerous alleyways. The shops were bursting with goods mostly of Indian Navajo origin, also a range of Mexican and Central American items, with a theme of green and red chilies apparent by thousands of colorful porcelain bunches hanging from the ceilings. Indian women lined the verandahs of some old buildings selling handmade jewelry, while shop after shop displayed a new range of pottery, artwork and clothing.

The Rattlesnake Museum was excellent with the owner Bob a passionate herpetologist with a stunning collection of venomous rattlesnakes from all over the Americas. As with all snake and reptile enthusiasts, Australia is somewhat of a mecca due to the high number of reptiles from crocodiles to geckos, and more than a fair share of venomous species. We chatted for some time about Steve Irwin, The Crocodile Hunter, who Bob was a big fan of and he had a moving display to Steve’s amazing work with venomous and deadly reptiles.