| Page 7 Day 28 - 2/10/02 Mileage today 35.3 Climbed today 890' NEW MEXICO 9 We have been riding highway 9 Thru New Mexico for several days now. It is the nicest road we have ridden yet. We can ride all day and have less than 40 cars pass us. It is very well maintained, smooth riding. The people of New Mexico are among the nicest people we have ever met. The only request we have is to shut off the wind machine. We have been battling head winds for days now. I was under the impression that the winds were supposed to be from the SW. not the east or NE. It is frustrating at times but we know they can't last forever. The winds really slow you down and cut your daily mileage. Unlike a hill you can't see the wind. A hill eventually stops and goes down, the wind is constant and annoying. When you’re on a hill you can stop and rest. In the wind you stop and it is still there. Day 29 - 2/11/02 Mileage today 35.6 Climbed today 950' RIO GRANDE We weren't too sure how far we were from El Paso. Our map said 51 miles from Columbus and the road sign said 75 miles to state line. We new we were anywhere from 35 to 50 miles from El Paso from our campsite. We had our first light wind day in days. We made it into El Paso in no time at all. By the way it was 35 miles. We stopped for a bite to eat at a Mexican restaurant recommended to us by a couple of bikers we met as we entered town. I didn't write their names down like I usually do I remember ones name was Ed I think the other was Richard. They were from Los Cruses, New Mexico. They were scouting out a Mtn. Bike trail for their bike club and for inner-city kids they work with. At the restaurant we met Christopher and Flower. Christopher is a Pilot, flying cargo planes, and Flower is a videographer. They took some pictures of us and some video of the bikes. We went to Motel 6 were we had reservations and Myron had a package sent to. It was nice to have a room and a hot shower. The simple things you miss while on the road. Like being able to go to the bathroom at night without having to unzip 3 tent zippers, hot coffee in the morning & all the things I take for granted. Day 30 - 2/12/02 Mileage today 22.5 Climbed today 1,000' We spent most of the day today doing laundry and shopping for supplies. We didn't start out of town until after 2:00. We can't wait to get out of town. We found the people really nice but it is too big of a town. It wasn't set up for cyclists. We took our lives in our own hands cycling thru El Paso, especially the recommended routes by the locals. People who don't cycle really don’t understand how dangerous it is to cycle on the routes they commonly use in their cars. We emphasize we are on bicycles and that we need quiet safe riding routes but that doesn’t always sink in. Also when we ask a motorist how far and they say about 4 or 5 miles that translates to 12 or 13 real miles. However in Texas we found that Texans don’t like to lie. So when we ask how far the response is " I don’t know fur sure but, I recon it’s between now and then". Our short time in Texas tells us that between now and then is about 10 miles. As we got further away from the center of town the cycling got better and we got a bike lane, a real nice one. We stopped at a house with almost two acres about 20 miles out of town and asked if we could camp there. Everything around was private property. Joe was the owner; he was very hospitable and let us set up our tent. He even had us in for coffee in the morning. Thank you, Joe. Day 31 - 2/13/02 Mileage today 19.9 Climbed today 2,002' SAND BLAST We were sand blasted all night. The wind didn’t let up all night or day. It was all we could do to do 4mph today. Much of the time it was less. Our highlight today was meeting Kraig and his buddies. Kraig (aka rocketman) Moise is a border patrol officer. His partner is Prinz. Prinz is a beautiful German Shepard. Prinz is German bread and trained. Kraig was a big help. We needed water and he filled our bottles, he also let us use his personal phone. We only made 20 miles today. Tomorrow is another day. Day 32 - 2/14/02 Miles today 62.1 Climbed today 1,220' FLY BY No wind, Lets take advantage. We made more miles by 10:00 than we did all day yesterday. About an hour into our ride we were alone in the desert. At least we thought so. There was nobody on the road but in the sky was another thing. A fighter jet buzzed us he was no more than 100' above us. I thought it was awesome. Even Myron, whom doesn’t care about jets loved it. Soon after that we were ready for a break. We saw a sheriff car parked along side the road so, we decided to stop and say hi. He was from New Mexico. He was transporting a prisoner to eastern Texas. We stopped at a little jewel of a lunch stop. It was the Comundas cafe. It had letters and postcards - thousands of them, from all corners of the world saying how great the food is and who they were and where they were headed. If you go, save room for the pie, it was great. Day 33 – 2/15/02 Mileage today 50.0 Climbed today 1,418 Van Horn We were about 50 miles from Van Horn. We are anxious to get there. We got a message from Chris saying that he was going to be there. We also had some packages waiting for us at the post office. We stopped about every hour for about 5 minute to stretch and relieve. During our lunch stop a Constable (sheriff) stopped to ask if we were ok. He was looking for a hunter in the area that ranchers had hired to kill coyote and mountain lion. We rolled into Van Horn and went to pick up Myron’s Vitamins. They weren’t there. Myron needs his vitamins all ten pounds of them. I used to tease Myron about the fact he takes so many vitamins. He takes about 50 a day. But something is working, He can out ride me any day of the week, and I'm 28 years younger than he is. We found a motel for 20 dollars a night, so we took it. We tried to find Chris, no luck. We called about 20 motels, no sign of him. We left a message on his phone to call us at the motel. Sorry Chris we would have like to seen you. We ate at the Van Horn restaurant and auto museum. A very cool place. Myron asked if you know what is the only word in the English language that has three double letters in it? |
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