Gabriel's north of Santa Fe, New Mexico

* Atmosphere

* Good food: food of the Southwest and Old Mexico

* Great service

* Tableside guacamole : made right in front of you.

* Ease of access: exit 176, Hwy 84/285

LINK

* Five miles north of the Santa Fe Opera

Every time we're in the area, we go here to eat. The food is great and we love watching them make the guacamole at our table. Unlike so many restaurants, they give you enough for four people to eat and not have to worry about everyone having enough.

The chips, which is an important part of a mea are fresh, crispy and never ending.

The atmosphere is casual to as formal as you want. We're seen people in tux, cowboy, hippie, slacks to t-shirts and shorts.

The service is very good and right at your elbow when you want a refill.

There is an art studio next to the restaurant, but we've never been there early enough to go in. It's on our list of things to do.

If you want an pleasant evening, good food, good service and an enjoyable atmosphere this is your place.

Gabriel's is a four motorcycle hands down.

John Madden

Landmark Grill at the Plaza Hotel in Las Vegas, NM

This is a must.

We were told there was an hour and a half wait. It was only fifteen minutes.

The wait is after you're seated, a waiter/waitress appears, you see a menu, order food, watch other people (we love watching people) and then get food.

That's the 90 minute wait!

The food is well worth the wait.

Our waitress, Stacy, was also well worth the wait. She was friendly, outgoing, funny, and has a personality that lights up a room.

She's a student at New Mexico Highlands University, in Las Vegas। She's also a member of MARIACHI VAQUEROS de la SIERRA that performs at many functions.

The evening was well worth the drive from Pendaries (check blog for eating experience at the Lodge)!

Per a quote from their website:

"Unparalleled in service and delicious food, the Plaza’s own Landmark Grill serves breakfast, lunch and dinner 7 days a week in an elegant yet casual Victorian dining room. The Grill specializes in charcoal-broiled steaks and chops, New Mexican, and the occasional alligator on the menu!"

To eat here is for the eating experience, food quality, good service as well as atmosphere. It's not fast food by any means. It's quality with a touch of lace boarded by Old West History.

We were not interested in the alligator. The steaks were mouth watering as was everything else.

The price is a little on the high side, but all things considered, it's not bad. Even for a couple of tight wads like KP and I.

It's an evening out, not just a meal and a four motorcycle rating.

John Madden

Pendaries Golf Course

Pendaries is a beautiful course!

The course is open from April 15 to October 15. Mark your calendar, check out your GPS, head to Pendaries for clean, fresh mountain air and outstanding golf.

It's at 7,500 feet, 6,080 yard from championship tees and 5,060 yards from the forward tees.

This is a great outdoor experience!

All around you are trees (ponderosa pine, aspen and others) cheering for you to have a great round of golf.

The staff is friendly, a fully stocked Golf Shop, snack bar, a modern fleet of golf carts, the view is inspiriting, course is challenging, homes in and around the course are spectacular, view of the mountains is limited to a few holes, view of the sky is everywhere and a bad day here is better than most great days elsewhere.

Deer are part of the gallery. Deal with it. You'll enjoy their comments.

Like water, you'll not only see it but be challenged by it.

Homes to wish for add to the glamor of the course.











Makes me wonder if God plays this course.


My very good friend and the man responsible for me taking up this game....Kenneth Poole.

Thank KP and looking forward to many more rounds of golf at Pendaries.

John Madden

Hermitage Golf Course, Nashville, Tennessee

My second golf outing while in the south was at the Hermitage Golf Course

Our youngest son, Shane, and I got lucky and on the day we had a tee time the rain stopped.

The humidty was so thick it looked like fog। "Pops, when it heats up it'll burn of" Shane told me.

The course is so beautiful, lots of trees, sand traps, water opportunities, more green grass than all of Amarillo, Texas, but very little breeze. A little breeze would have been welcomed, to say nothing that a wind of 10 or more miles per hour would have helped.

My past experience with heat and humidity was heat caused humidity to acellerate, not burn off.

After five plus hours and 12 holes it had burnt off so much we gave up and went to look for air conditioning, something cold, with lots of ice, shade, no heat and no humidity.

By the time we agreed to call it quits I looked like a drowned Grandpa.

The course is extremely beautiful and challenging. Which I don't need at this point in my attempt to learn the game of golf. I'm enough of a challenge to contend with.

So much water (trying to figure out how to pipe it to West Texas without it costing anything - water seems to have a magnetic pull on my golf balls), lots of sand opportunities, trees with targets on them and enough grass to cover all the yards in Amarillo.

The staff was great, especially the three Southern Gentlemen who prepared and took care of the carts.

We had a great conversation with them.

Two had severed in the Air Force (our Dad spent over twenty years in the Air Force, which makes my brother, Lynn, sister, Candy, and I AFB's - Air Force Brats).

We are proud of that honor.

The other gentleman wished he had been physically able to serve। He works with prison ministries.

That threesome show up as "Assets" to everyone they come in contact with.

Thank you gentlemen for making our Pops and Son golf outing an even greater experience.

John Madden

Jackson Country Club Golf Course, Jackson, Mississippi

My first venture into golf while on vacation in Mississippi and Tennessee was in Jackson, Mississippi at the Jackson County Club.

The Jackson Country Club is a eighteen hole golf course designed by designer John Fought.

My brother-in-law, Ronnie Smith, told me "I haven't played much. I use to play a lot, but not anymore."

My ancestors (Cherokee) would say 'he speaks with a forked tongue.

I had an idea that those words clearly told me Ronnie was a "ringer."

I'm a newbee golfer (this was my 15th round of golf) and if I shoot anywhere below 120 or near 100 I've had a good round of golf.

Ronnie, who hasn't played very much (and am I glad) shot a 79.

I shot 108 and was thrilled.

Okay, let's start a little closer to the beginning. I brought my golf clubs (via Southwest Airlines) to Jackson, Mississippi so maybe Ronnie and I would get an opportunity to play a round.

Vision this:

Newbee (me) with new golf bag (US Army), used- but not much - Arnold Palmer irons, Woods and looking somewhat fashionable.

Ronnie's (ringer) golf bag looked like it was older than me (65), clubs - irons and woods - have no idea but lots of miles and years on them and he looked more fashionable.

Get the picture?

Newbee (me) looked like a new biker with more chrome on his ride than smarts in his head.

Ronnie (ringer) looked like a newbee who stumbled onto the golf course.

I smile every time I think of that picture.

It was fun, the course is very beautiful.

The more I play golf, the better review I hope to give on the course. For now all I can say is I'm having fun learning and like sharing with others.

As the old phrase goes, a picture is worth a thousand words. So, here is the Jackson Country Club course.

My sister, Candy, is blessed with Ronnie as a husband, father of their children and a nicer guy, you'll have to play a lot of golf to find a better one.

Even if he is a ringer. Just kidding.

John Madden

PS: When you see Ronnie as him about "Barney's lake."

Panderies Lodge

Panderies, NM:


We tried to eat at the Lodge twice.

Notice I said....TWICE!

The first time, KP said let's eat in the bar. It was crowded and with only one waitress and one bartender.
This combination made for a long wait.

The waitress was not friendly. No smile was going to cross that face.

She waited on people as she saw, not in the order they came in and found seats. When we brought that to her attention she informed us "I'm the only one here."

We and and everyone in the place already knew that.

Attitude is everything, especially when your tips depend on it.

Maybe the waitress and bartender haven't read that in the "How To Make Friends and Influence People" book for restaurants.

Judy went to the bartender and told her we had been there longer than some who were being serviced and the bartender rebuked for her effort.

KP when to the bar to see if we could order drinks at the bar, prior to the waitress waiting on us and the bartender rebuked him his efforts.

Had we just walked into some kind of time warp?

At one point the bartender walked to the center of the dinning room and said in her authoritative,loud,unfriendly and if you don't like it....voice "there are only two of us so you'll just have to be patient."

Several possible customers responded to her shy outbreak and exited the hostile atmosphere.

So we're sitting there and thinking "how could that have been said, differently, that would not have offended an already restless room full of hungry dinners?"

Earl Nightingale, where are you (and your course) when you and your course are needed?

The saving grace was a lady who magically appeared at our table and said "I've never done this before and have no idea what I'm doing."

She had a smile,laughed and the cape of the bullfighter, being held in front of a angry bull, disappeared as if a fairy had just waved her magical wane.

She told us she was from Albuquerque worked in mortgage and hoped her volunteering to help would offset her wine bill at the bar. She was fun, full of life and every table she went to became a festival instead of a cell in a dark and deep cave of a colony of bats.

She was great, helpful, smiling, laughing and before to long our food and drinks appeared,

What a difference sunshine makes in our lives.

We forced a sizable tip into her hands, even as she objected saying she wasn't a waitress and tried to walk away.

NOTE: When KP or my Judy offer you a tip, take it or they're likely to pin you and make you take it.

Once the food arrived it was good as were the Margaritas and Pina Colada.



The second venture into no-mans land, of the Lodge, was on Sunday evening. We opened the door to the bar and quickly were comforted by the bartender, again. We were told they were having a Mystery Theater, it required tickets (we didn't have an opportunity to ask about buying tickets), the bar and resturant upstairs were closed until 7:30 PM (almost two hours later) and escorted outside.

Okay, we're not really into bartender/waitress abuse so we loaded up and drove about thirty minutes into Las Vegas, NM.

For the life of us we couldn't figure out why they would schedule a Mystery Play evening that required closing the bar and restaurant on a holiday.

Labor Day weekend is sill considered a holiday, isn't it?

Ratings: One Motorcycle

- John Madden

Santa Rosa, NM:

Joseph's Restaurant was our first stop. We needed to eat and we've stopped there several times before. The food has always been pretty good. The service depends on how busy they are, the youth full age of the waitress, how many of their friends stop by to visit and of course attitude. This time we had a happy,friendly, not to busy to wait on us and enthusiastic young lady.

Rating: Four motorcycles!
Food was good, service was good and we'll stop there again.

Hubbard Museum and history

If you like museums you need to go to the Hubbard Museum of the American West.

I'm a museum groupie. They are some of the most interesting places to spend your valuable time.








There are so many outstanding displays and you can fill that "wonder what it was like in the Ole West" question that roams around in your mind.











Joel was a Cowboy/Western movie star. How many times do you get to see something that not only belonged to but was used by a movie star?

Guns were a way of life in the ole west. Personally I love seeing any and all guns. Just think how far firearms have come.








This Colt 45 SA (single action revolver) was given to a ranch hand by Billy The Kid.

The knife was his.

Have you been to Lincoln, New Mexico?

Go. It's full of Billy The Kid history.









Commemorative Winchester rifle that was made to pay tribute to Chief Crazy Horse of the Oglala Lakota Sioux.














My wife, Judy, and i both grew up in Rapid City, South Dakota. South Dakota is the homelands of the Lakota and history is everywhere.

Visit the Crazy Horse Memorial.

Go to South Dakota, it's an awesome and very beautiful state.

The museum has so many pieces of the American West for you to see.



















Charles Goodnight was very instrumental in the American West. Among many things he did is credited with inventing the first chuckwagon.



















Goodnight is also responsible for the Loving-Goodnight cattle trail. His home is just East of Amarillo and the city of Claude, Texas is the historical caretaker.


Enjoy your travels and as us bikers say 'keep the rubber side down."

John Madden