There are lots of ways to get to Taos, New Mexico. Most folks (and by that I mean skiers) fly into Albuquerque, rent a car and take the route recommended by their GPS device. That means north on I-25 to Santa Fe, north on U.S. 285 to Española, and then north to Taos on U.S. 68.
But for motorbikers there’s a better, and decidedly more exhilarating, way to go north to Taos and beyond. But first let’s eat.
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On a Sunday morning it’s very busy, but for the diner, the pace is leisurely, which is nice. The food is excellent. The huevos rancheros al fresco comes with eggs cooked perfectly over-easy, just the right amount of cheese, and a well softened blue corn tortilla at the base. Bacon at almost all breakfast spots is usually limp, if not outright raw, but the bacon that comes as a side dish at the Tesuque is crisp and crumbly — mmmm, bacon, the perfect start to a day-long ride.
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At Taos it’s onto U.S. 64, the lower half of the “Enchanted Circle” a road that motorbikers from all over North America crave to ride. The road
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The St. James is a remnant of 1880s westward expansion. The hotel was a major stop along the Santa Fe Trail and host to a long list of famous names from the period, wild west trailblazers, lawmen, and gunsligers. According to the hotel’s website guests included Buffalo Bill, Annie
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The hotel’s current marketing scheme includes selling the idea that the place is haunted — if you believe in hocus pocus and the supernatural then check in for the night, maybe you'll see a full-torso floating apparition wearing a big handlebar mustache, a striped waistcoat, and a tin star. The closest most people are going to get to touching the ethereal plane though is an expertly grilled green chile buffalo cheeseburger at Vera’s Café inside the hotel. Served with thin, crispy french fries the burger is a perfect motorbike lunch — not the kind of gut buster that you feel for hours, but a tasty morsel that simply satisfies.
During the summer the little town of Cimarron and the St. James hotel are going to be crummy
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So visit Cimarron and the St. James, and go there the back way thorough Taos. You’ll enjoy peg scraping curves, delicious New Mexican dishes, and just maybe you’ll see a ghost, for sure you’ll see more merit badges, olive drab knee socks, and colorful kerchiefs than anywhere else on Earth.
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