Denny and I pose for a photo with our new buddy, James Martinez. James runs a Mexican restaurant in Leadville, Colo., helps wayward tourists and rides a really cool, blue and white Harley-Davidson Soft Tail.

Day Five: Taos, N.M., to Leadville, Colo.

Miles coveraged: 252 miles

Often the most memorable moments on a motorcycle aren’t created by the miles you’ve ridden or the sights you’ve seen. Sometimes, it’s the people you meet, totally by chance.

Chance meetings can happen when you’re in a four-wheeled vehicle, but honestly, it happens more frequently and you meet more interesting characters on a bike.

Just to catch you up, Chris and I left on our Honda VTX 1300 with Dennis and Melissa Villhauer (who ride an 1800 VTX) and took a little ride through New Mexico and Colorado. We rode the first night to Liberal, Kan. On Day Two, we tried to ride to Taos, N.M., but were stymied by strong storms and heavy rains that moved to the area. We spent the night Eagle Nest, N.M., 26 miles short of our destination. On Day Three, we enjoyed Taos. There, you should be caught up.

Wednesday morning, we left Taos and headed north to Colorado to hook up with some friends. A few miles into Colorado, we stopped for lunch at a Irish pub called St. Ive’s in Alamosa.

Now, most New Mexico or Colorado small towns we rode through were dirty and seemed to have lost their way. Mostly, they are a collection of adobe buildings, trailers or stick houses. Sometimes, all three were scattered throughout the lot; an adobe house attached to a wood-frame garage and trailer thrown in the back yard somewhere.

But Alamosa was different. It’s a bit bigger than most southern Colorado towns and 10 times cleaner and more orderly. It left a great impression.

We headed further north. The riding was windy, but easy as we scooted through a wide valley between the San Juan Mountains and the Sangre de Christo range. Once north of Mineral Hot Springs, the road got curvier, the scenery better and the riding more interesting.

We decided to stop for a mid-afternoon beer at a place called the Lariat Saloon in Buena Vista, Co., and there we met James Martinez, who rode up on a Harley and struck up a conversation. James owns a Mexican restaurant in Leadville called “The Grill Bar & Café.” He gave us some advice on scenic roads and where to find the best pizza in Leadville.

Turns out he was right about the scenery, and the pizza.

We zipped up U.S. Highway 285, then took a James-advised side trip to Twin Lakes, a little settlement just off the highway on the shore of two beautiful glacial lakes.

We rode on to Leadville, checked into a hotel and took James’ other recommendation: We ate at High Mountain Pies, a local pizza joint. For the second time, James was spot on. The pizza was fabulous. I don’t often like posting pictures of food, but this pizza deserves it.

As we called it day, we popped into James’ restaurant for a nightcap. James mixed us up some of his special rum punch, showed us some astonishing watercolors that his wife, Linda, painted. We exchanged phone numbers, e-mail addresses and Web sites and promised to stay in touch.

Here's the delicious pizza Denny and Melissa ordered at High Mountain Pies. It was a half and half pie. One half was "John's favorite" which featured pineapple, jalapeno peppers, fresh garlic, pepperoni. The other half was buffalo chicken with cream cheese, bleu cheese and red onions.