I first met Soni and Dave back in 2017 at Sturgis when we shared a camp ground together.  Later that same trip I went and stayed with them in Colorado Springs and met their sons – Trevor and Gavin.  I had a huge amount of fun with them and I am excited to be catching up with them again.

I knew that Soni and Dave were on their way home from a Veterans Motorcycle Club Meeting in Cedar City, Utah.  Lucky for me Trev was home and gave me a hand to bring all of my gear in and put Stan in the garage for a well earned rest.  

Trev showed me up to my penthouse room on the second floor and then gave me a tour of house.  I was super impressed and happy for them as one of the main reasons that they moved to Los Lunas from Colorado Springs was to have a better lifestyle in a more affordable State;

Trev told me that I had a surprise coming in that he and his mum were taking me out somewhere that night.  He wouldn’t give me a clue as to what it was and I certainly had no idea.

Not long after getting myself sorted Dave and Soni arrive home and there are hugs all round.  Its great to see them again and know that they are doing well.  Soni tells me to go and have a nap as she is worried that I will be too tired for what my surprise is – thanks Mum!  I go off and have a power nap before getting ready for whatever it is I am going to.

We head off around 6:30 pm in Soni’s Dodge Challenger and leave Dave at home to have an early night after driving non-stop for 9 hours.  I laugh at Soni’s car as she is a real ‘petrol head’ and drives like a lunatic;

Soni had read my post where Pam (Spearfish) had taken me for ride in her Comaro and I think she wanted to prove that her dodge had some serious grunt as well – at one point Trev was telling his mum to slow down! Ha.

Soni tells me that we are heading to ‘Indian’ land for the secret event.  At this stage I am thinking that it must have something to do with a show on at a Casino.  I really don’t have a clue until we pull up in a carpark that feels like it is in the middle of nowhere until I realise that it is the carpark for the Isleta Indian Tribe amphitheater.

Soni finally tells me what the surprise is – she has bought us tickets for the Lynyrd Skynyrd farewell tour concert.  I can’t believe it as I had been disappointed when I had heard that they were calling it a day as I had thought that I had missed my opportunity of ever seeing them live.  I found out later that Dave had driven the whole 9 hours so Soni could rest up to take me out – big team effort.

We get through security and find our seats which turn out to be in a prime viewing location.  The amphitheater is well designed and sits on a natural slope that allows patrons to also sit on the grassed area at the back.  Soni tells me that they get all of the top acts calling in and they often go;

  

We grab a beer and have a look around;

At $14 each there is no way you are going to have a skin full!  The first band is Drew Dixon and sound great even though I had never heard of them.  The second band is Grand Fuck Railroad who were massive in the 1970’s – even I can remember their No.1 hit “Some kind of wonderful”.  You would not have guessed that the guys were all around 70 as they had real energy and a great sound.

To really amp up the crowd before the main act came on they played AC/DC’s thunderstruck – absolute gold to hear an Aussie anthem overseas.  I bought us all bandannas as a souvenir of the night;

Lynyrd Skynyrd come on and they were even better than expected – they played all of their hits and really interacted with the crowd.   We had an absolute ball and managed to get back home just on midnight – both Trev and Soni had to be up before 6 to go to work the next day so it was a good effort on their part.

As you would expect I take the next morning pretty slow and just hang out with my mate Bear;

Bear is 9yrs and a great old dog that just lays around and sleeps (when he is not drooling all over you) – it was sad to hear that he isn’t doing too well and most likely will be gone by the time I come back on another trip.

The guys get home from work and we have an early dinner/night – we do find time to take in the view from the hot tub;

Next morning I embark on trying to get a new set of globes for Stan’s headlight and yet again something I think will be simple takes forever.  I start by phoning the local motorcycle dealership and the first 3 attempts of being transferred to spare parts sees me get disconnected.  On the 4th try I get through and spend 20 mins explaining what I want and then only realise that over here they call them bulbs and not globes.  I get put on hold whilst they try and find the correct part number – I hang up after waiting 30 mins.  I have better luck on the net and order a set from New Jersey that should arrive in a few days. 

The afternoon is spent watching replays of the MotoGP – I am trying to keep up so that I know what is going on for when I go to Phillip Island in October.  The guys arrive home and we have an early dinner as Soni has decided we all need to get some exercise.  We go for a hike up El Cerro de Tome (Tome Hill) where we have a 360′ view of the valley;

There is a lot of huffing and puffing but it was well worth it.  We make our way back down and head home.

Next day I get up and see that Soni has left her lunch on the kitchen bench – I email and get directions for her work so I can drop it off to her later.  First up I call in the local PD, State Police and Sheriffs office (all close together) to collect a few patches.  I then make my way to Sonni’s work.

Sonni, Dave and Trev all work at the Veterans Hospital which is located just outside Albuquerque and 30 mins from home.  I have a great ride up the Highway to the hospital.  Along the way I get a picture of the Rio Grande river;

I meet up with Dave, Soni and Trev – each of them give me a tour around of where they work which I find really interesting.  After touring around I head back home on Stan.

Later that evening I go with Dave and Trev for a $5 burger special at the iconic Luna Mansion.  The restaurant is normally very expensive but they have the special on Wednesday nights – I laugh as the waiter spends 10 mins explaining all of the menu when really all we want is the budget special!  

We enjoy our burgers and head home.  Later on Josh & Maria call in with their young son and brand new baby.  Josh is mechanic at Harley Davidson and has a look at Soni’s bike as she is having starting issues with it – the news is not great as it needs a decent amount of work on fixing it.  Josh and Maria are a great young couple and it is sad when I hear that Maria was recently diagnosed with MS – always makes me wonder why such bad things can happen to good people.

Next day is exciting as Teddy and her partner Andy arrive to stay for a couple of nights.  Andy is over on Holiday from Germany and is touring around the US on his Harley that he bought in the States some time ago.   Teddy was also at Sturgis in 2017 and is great mates with Sonni & Dave.  She would have to be one of the craziest Germans that I have ever met and is great fun. 

Later that evening we all head off to Belen which is a small town not far from Los Lunas.  We are meeting up with Dave who is having a Vets Motorcycle meeting at a local hangout ‘Possee Bingo Hall’.  Soni has made sure that all of the members wives are going to be there to meet us;

The meeting is just wrapping up as we arrive and I have a lot of laughs meeting everyone;

From the meeting most of the group head over to one of their favorite hangouts ‘Rail Cafe’ which brews its own beer;

Karaoke is in full swing and the ladies are not shy in having a go.  I get to hang out with a great bunch of fellas (Vets) that have all seen some serious action;

‘Bastard’ is only 31 and has been pensioned out of the Military after being blown up 3 times whilst on deployment – his story is incredible (like all of them).  We have a lot of laughs before calling it a night and heading home.

The weekend comes around and we head off on Saturday morning for Taos.  Teddy/Andy are following on their Harley behind us as we make our way to our first stop Madrid – small town where a lot of the movie ‘Wild Hogs’ was shot;

Maggie’s Diner is actually a souvenir gift shop so we all go in and buy a few things each as a memento of the visit.  A walk around the town is interesting;

We have a great drive through the countryside and our next stop is the Rio Grande Gorge;

It is surprising just how windy it is on the bridge and I have trouble keeping my balance.  Only a few miles up the road we arrive at our accommodation in Taos – Soni had booked it via time share and it turns out to be a great place to stay;

Later that afternoon we head out to Red River – another small town that explodes in number over the Memorial Day weekend when they hold their annual motorcycle rally.  We go to the Steakhouse for dinner as Soni has a $100 gift voucher to redeem that she won re best female custom bike at the last rally;

We have a great time and at the end of the night we say farewell to Teddy & Andy as they are off early to continue their holiday.

We have a combined effort in the kitchen the next morning and cook up a storm of bacon/eggs/sausage.  We then all walk down to the local Kit Carson museum;

From there we had a walk around the town – I managed to score my best coffee of the trip and laughed when I found out that the barista learnt her trade when she worked for 6 months in Melbourne (Australia).  We rap up our Taos visit and have a nice leisurely drive back home.

The next few days are spent just hanging out and catching up on odd bits and pieces.  Stan’s new headlight globes arrive and it only takes about 10 mins to fit them and he is back in business.  

I have had ball with these guys and love New Mexico.  I have made some great friends that have nicknames that would not be out of place back home (Johnny V, Bastard, Barbque Larry).  Its going be hard to say goodbye but I am sure it wont be too long before we are hanging out again.

The trip is fast coming to a close as I now have to start winding my way back to LA.

 

 

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