Saturday, February 24, 2018

Aspencade - October 1978

Today's house cleaning of mom and dad's treasures had me digging through dad's large file of vacation trips.  Going back further than I do, I'll eventually be browsing through the old trip maps and literature when the time is easier to come by.  The slimmer Aspencade folder from '78 caught my eye so I pulled out and scanned a few of the documents.



Both dad and I with CB750 Honda's, I convinced him to join me for a couple of weeks to head down to New Mexico in early October for the annual Aspencade Motorcycle Rally in Ruidoso.


We left the Twin Cities on I-35, spent the first night at Eisenhower State Park west of Ottawa, KS.  The next night we were at a KOA in Amarillo after turning right at Oklahoma City.


From there, southwest into Clovis, on to Roswell, Hondo and into Ruidoso.  We registered at the Chaparral Inn but camped east of town a few miles.


My Olympus OM-1 zoom lens zeroed in....we're setup just beyond the little Winnebago and in the shade of that young tree.  My orange Timberline enjoying the shade.  It would get into the low 80's during the day, frost on our seats in the morning.


It was back when "Touring" was really taking hold; big fairings, loaded Gold Wings and Harley's crossing multiple state lines and the country.  Cycle, Cycle World, Motorcyclist, Modern Cycle started sharing rack space with Rider, Road Rider magazines.

 
The Chaparral...


Ruidoso Downs Racetrack next door....






Rider Magazine's Dick Blom.....







 








 A Schnauzer undercover in the shade.....



 Newlyweds.....


Roger Hull, founder, editor and "Sage" of Road Rider magazine.....



The "Aspen" part of Aspencade....Dad and I rode up to the Ski Apache Resort.





We went to visit the Cloudcroft abandoned trestle....



Dad's out there, half way across....



Thursday dad's work/riding buddy Don arrived after visiting Colorado.  The 3 of us joined the group ride to Lincoln during their weekend Apple Festival.




Bleachers for the Billy The Kid performance....



Gold Wing Superglide....



I remember this guy....he wasn't a very skilled rider.


This one had British registration.


Friday we did the Mystery Ghost Town Tour to Apache.  It was fun visiting with Jack; we both had touring saddles and there weren't that many 900SS owners that did.





We got the 750 on the scale....



At the laundromat....


Saturday parade...






Don and dad at the White Sands National Monument Visitor Center.







Leaving the rally, Don had to get back to Minnesota, dad and I headed east as far as the Mississippi River and then followed that back to Minnesota.



Crossing the Mississippi, we camped near and visited Historic Nauvoo, the Joseph Smith settlement that was made on his way west to Salt Lake City.



A Different Trip


One of my earliest Posts described the trip Brad and I made to Montana and Alberta back in 1976.  Here's the link

Today I found this post card that was sent to my grandparents from Jasper National Park.





9 comments:

  1. Thanks for the multiple views into the past.....

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    1. Dom, a couple of grand trips...a few 'new' things remembered.

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  2. Neat to travel back in time..so lucky to have the great memories of past adventures. Thanks for sharing.

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  3. Neat that your Dad kept a file of the family adventures...enjoyed traveling back in time with your blog..think of all the roads well traveled with your Dad. Thanks for sharing!

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    1. Speedy, dad like his dad before kept a record of every trip, most of them West. I know that dad's pleased that I'm still going.

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  4. Wow, that's quite the collection of memorabilia that your dad kept. It must be a treasure trove of memories.

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    1. Richard, the old highway maps, campgrounds/motels visited, tourist stops, many hundreds of old slides....all a bit overwhelming but I'm working my way through it.

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  5. Thanks for the trip back through time. I had just turned 18 back then and had graduated from h.s. that summer... It's really neat to see all the old pics.

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    1. Erik, I was a few years ahead of you. Aspencade was one of the first public showings of the '79 Suzuki 850 Shafty. Before the end of October, I was (going to be) the owner of one, still one of my favorites, probably because it took me on some of my favorite adventures.

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