May 20, 2018 Deming, NM to Lake Caballo, NM

74.75 miles.  The wind has been my friend since I got on I  10, but today it was a fickle mistress, just like my last trip through here. I started the day by hitting the McDonald's in Deming for breakfast, and in the two miles it took me to get there, I knew things were gonna just suck today. The wind did a 180, and was blowing out of the east, just the way I was headed. I felt like I was on a stationary bike, pedaling my ass off, but going nowhere. And it wasn't a gentle, morning, breeze....it was BLOWING. I  jumped off I 10, today, onto New Mexico 26, and headed in a general northeasterly fashion, beginning the northern track towards Albuquerque. The first hour on 26 was due east, and I think I made it about six miles! 26 is a beautiful road, nice shoulder, but it is more desolate than anywhere on I 10. I had a 50 mile ride ahead of me to Hatch, which is the chili pepper capital of the world. Fortunately, after those initial six miles, the road started bending ever so slightly to the north, and the wind got just a little South to it, and things weren't as terrible as I thought they might be. It was still pretty flat and desolate, until I went over a small pass, and into some beautiful agriculture, and cattle country.  Before that I passed a wind farm, with 28 turbines ( imagine that), and noticed how dusty the air was. No haboob, mind you, but there were plenty of coarse particulates in the air. Pam passed me about half way to Hatch, but didn't stop until we had discussed....in Hatch. By the time I rolled into town, after five hours, averaging 10 mph, she had been there fore a while. The place I wanted to eat, Sparky's, had a line way out the door, so we decided not to wait it out. It was Sunday afternoon, and all the joy riders were out from Albuquerque, I guess. I had a sandwich in the Rv, emptied the ice trays into my warm drinks, and was on my way in a half hour or so. And no, we didn't by any chili peppers.
Pam went one direction, and caught I 25 north to our campground, and I went another, on NM187,  for my last 25 miles, with a well deserved tailwind. The air was hot, and the WeatherBug said the humidity may have been as low as 3%. I don't think I've ever been in that ' feel', before. My ride took me through the fertile Rio Grande Valley, where I saw the chilies growing, ( they look like onions), as well as cotton, corn, alfalfa, possibly wheat, and lots of fallow fields. I crossed the Rio Grande twice, and actually saw water in a river for the first time since Tucson. I also saw two dust devil's that had tumbleweed and debris up 30-40 ft in the air. Neither one of them got me this time. I say that because this is where I got rocked by one last time I  came through. I got to our site at about 4:30. It overlooks Lake Caballo, which is a man made lake on the Rio Grande. Tomorrow's adventure has some unknowns that we have yet to figure out, so I'm not even gonna talk about it.