April 16...Deming, NM, to Truth or Consequences (Hot Springs), NM

89.22 miles in 7:33.....total miles for the trip in five days....369.81.....2293 ft of climbing, 2283 ft of descent...average speed...11.8 mph...max speed...42.8 mph.

I woke to 44 degrees and a forecast of more high winds. When I walked outside, it felt warmer than 44, but the wind was cold. I got on the road at 8:40, because if the winds weren't in my favor, it was going to be a long, long, day. I have not really detailed a lot in my last couple of blog entries, because this is my third time in Deming, NM. It seems to be the crossroads of all routes south of the major mountains. Everything else is either way north, or impractical on a bicycle. That being said, I am heading on a much more northerly path than the previous two cross country ventures. This morning I headed northeast, on NM 26, which I was told was a nice road. Turns out it was a GREAT road. It had two lanes, not much traffic, and those wide, smooth shoulders that New Mexico seems to be so good at. Just out of Deming, there was lots of loose gravel on those smooth shoulders, and I actually spent a lot of time riding on the wrong side of the road, because the lane was nicer, and the shoulder was cleaner. I always got back to the right when there was traffic coming, which I could see with the LONG, straight sight distances. The road was basically a straight line for 48 miles, with a few hills to roll over, and fortunately, the big wind was at my back, and I made great time. It was a pretty boring ride, again, with lots of brown prairie grass, some sporadic bushes, and a few cows here and there. A blog I read stated that NM 26 was the kind of a road that had a hawk in every tree, trouble was, there was only one tree. How true. There was one good descent into a valley where there was lots of farmland, alfalfa mostly, and a dairy or two. Then after a long, gradual climb, I really dropped fast, into the Hatch Valley. I hit 42.8 mph without even pedaling. A weighted down bike can really get rolling with a tailwind and a smooth road.

Once in the town of Hatch, I found that it was the chili pepper capital of the world, and everything was very Mexican, and all the restaurants would have lit me up. There was one unique place I found that was American, so I had a cheeseburger and strawberry milkshake. Then the fun started, as I left Hatch, NM 187 took a northwest direction, and the tailwind that had been my friend, suddenly was a gusty side to head wind, and it was 2 o'clock in the afternoon, a time when the winds really start to rock for a few hours out here. I broke out the dust mask, and hunkered down for 39 miles at 6-8 mph, and and even harder time just trying to keep the bike on the road. I was in real farm country now, and the fields that were plowed for cotton, onions, and  chili peppers, we're not yet planted, so the dust was kicking. There were times when the dirt was stinging my skin like pellets, and tumbleweed was blowing like it only can when the winds break all the trapped tumbleweed that normally doesn't move. The bike got smacked several times by big chunks, because it is very difficult to predict speed of that stuff, because it changes very rapidly, and it was hard enough just keeping the bike on the road. There was only local traffic because NM 187 pretty much paralleled I -25, but there were no shoulders on the road at all. I would have stopped to take a picture of the Rio Grande River when I crossed it, but I was getting blown around, and I didn't want the dust to destroy the camera, like happened when we came across  Texas  on the way west the first time.

After about 15 miles of this, a miracle happened. The road took a few turns to the right, and the side buffeting suddenly got a tailwind element going. The road was pretty flat, and the farmland became a huge mountain range to my right, the Caballo Mountains. I had been following the Rio Grande since I crossed it, and the Caballo State Park appeared, which is a huge lake caused by the Caballo Dam on the Rio Grande. Up until this point the Rio Grande hadn't been very impressive, pretty much about the size of Big Wheeling Creek. I did notice that there were tons of washes heading towards the river from my left, which would have been the Mogollon Rim, a giant mountain range that I climbed on the first trip. It reaches from here up to Flagstaff, and on to the Grande Canyon. My guess is that things really get rolling around here when it rains in the mountains. As I got closer to Truth or Consequences, NM187 began to roll, and many RV parks and summer places for the lake popped up. The tailwind kept blowing as I got into T or C ( which is what the locals call it). I stopped in town and checked my list of cheap motels, and I had to roll another two miles to my $38 room. There was a pretty nice restaurant next to the place, so I blew the money I saved on the room on some really good, but overpriced chicken Alfredo, then locked myself in the room to avoid the potential 34 degree low forecast for tonight. Overall, this will be one of the days I really remember. What a windy experience. 

Once I got into town, I searched for what had to be a great story about how the town got its name. I figured that it was going to be a great western story. Nope. It turns out that the town changed its name from Hot Springs, as basically a publicity stunt, after the famous 50's TV show called Truth or Consequences. There was some politics, and some philanthropy involved, but the people here voted on the name change three times over the years, and the name stuck. T or C festivals now are among the most popular tourist attractions, as well as the many hot springs that the town was originally named after.

Ready for dust storms

NM 26 was a great road, with little scenery!

Hatch, NM is famous for chili peppers

Taking a rest in Hatch

My lunch spot in Hatch.  The Colonel and Ronald were sitting out front!

My treat in Hatch!

Selfie!

Robin Hood was across the street with T Rex.

Look for the red chili's hanging everywhere!

The Caballo Mountains were huge.  The green trees are near the Rio Grande

Or T or C to the locals!

T or C in the Rio Grande Valley

The Ace Lodge - $38!!!

View from motel in Truth or Consequences

At a decent meal for once in T or C

April 15....Duncan,AZ to Deming, New Mexico

95.11 miles in 7:14:16....elevation gained....1473 ft....descent...741 ft...average speed...13.1 mph...max speed...19.7....I woke up this morning to a beautiful, cool, sunny, windless day. I knew it wasn't going to stay windless for long, and the forecast was for a tailwind today, unlike the last two days. Since I cut yesterday short, the plan was to finish yesterday's originally planned ride to Lordsburg, then get onto the 30 mph tailwinds and blow out the 60 mile trip on Interstate 10 to Deming. U.S. 70 out of Duncan is so sweet, just like riding in yesterday. The shoulder is smooth as a babies butt, no frost heaves, no chip seal, just great cruising surface. The ten mile climb out of Duncan, and into New Mexico, was very gradual, and wind aided. This was the kind of stuff I envision when I think of ideal riding conditions. The scenery was sort of boring, but beautiful in a New Mexico kind of way. I saw two big, dead snakes on the road, so I had to stop and check for a rattler, but neither were rattlesnakes, a little horny toad, and multitudes of little lizards. When I came into New Mexico, I lost an hour, moving into the mountain time zone, so it took four hours to do a three hour ride into Lordsburg.

I stopped at the McDonald's in Lordsburg and loaded up on fluid, and ate lunch. I met a guy there who was riding the southern tier into the wind. I felt his frustration as he told me he was going to sit in McDonald's for a while, after averaging about 7-8 mph all morning. He had come from Key West and was going north through California, so I gave him my blog address, and maybe he would use it to scout ahead. He also took a picture of me and my bike set up, since he had a Specialized Tricross, like mine, then I was on my way.

Interstate 10 was really a pleasure to ride with a 20-30 mph tailwind, and I blew into Deming a little after five o'clock. The shoulder was as smooth as any I've ridden, and it was very clean of retread blowouts and broken glass, like you normally see along an interstate. I think the wind has something to do with that, as I was hit with two chunks of tumbleweed as I got closer to Deming. My legs really feel pretty good after what they've been through the last four days, but I guess tomorrow will really answer that question for sure. 

I ate at McDonald's again, and spent the evening on a motel wifi that actually worked, and iced the quads pretty well. Excitement for the day included a fight between two homeless people across from the hotel as I walked home from supper. Six police cars showed up and had it under control before I got too close. I also watched four police cars pull over a couple as I ate supper yesterday in Duncan. The Wild, Wild, West. Yeehaw

Welcome to New Mexico!

Blanket flowers just like on the Outer Banks , were along the road for about a half mile.  Hmmm, did someone plant them?

US70, beautiful shoulder, no traffic, no scenery!

Doug, smiling even though he was heading into the wind!

There were some mountains in the distance at the Continental Divide.  A slight uphill, turned into a slight downhill on I-10 after I crossed it.

Sign in the rest area on I-10

Motel in Deming NM

April 12, 2015.....I begin again......Mesa, AZ to Globe, AZ

66.27 miles in 6:36...... Elevation gain...4300 ft......descent...2150 ft.....maximum speed....38.5 mph.....average speed.....10 mph.     There is no way you can train to travel with a loaded bike, so you just gave to load up and go, and hope for the best. I bought front wheel panniers for this, my first unsupported trip. I have to carry everything I need in these two front wheel bags, along with the three back bags that I have carried at various times in the past. By design, Pam is staying in Mesa to work one more week, then get some service done on the RV, and she will catch up to me sometime, somewhere, in about ten days. Thus means that for the first time, I'm really crossing the country on my own. If something goes awry, she won't be 59-60 miles away, tops, to bail me out. The bike has to stay healthy, and I have to stay healthy. Today's ride began with me having a cold, the sickest I've been since I retired, but when the gun goes off, you have to answer it, so I left, hoping to recover as I ride, averaging over 70 miles a day, every day, until we meet again.

The bike is really heavy, loaded with tools, spare tire, clothes, especially cold weather and wet weather gear, medicines and toiletries, Sports Illustrateds, of course, the iPad, so I can blog and keep up with the world, and extra space for water, which is heavy, and some food.

There is only one way to get out of the 'Valley of the Sun', no matter which direction, and that is uphill. I designed my course to avoid as many mountainous areas as possible, but you have to climb to get into the rest of the country from the Phoenix metro area. I chose to head southeast, on US 60, to get out of the valley. The first 15 miles were really still in Mesa and the metro area, mostly on Baseline Drive, because US60 is a major highway in the city. The route goes just to the south of the Superstition Mountains, so there were always huge mountains to my left, and pretty flat desert to my right, filled with cholla cactus, and Seguaro cactus, for about the first 33 miles of the trip. From the minute I started pedaling, I was on a sometimes unnoticeable uphill grade. Sometimes it was noticeable, too, but it went on for 33 miles. The sun was out, but it was cool (75-80 degrees), and the ride was quite pleasant. US60 is a busy road, even on a Sunday, because it's the ONLY road going to the south, around the Superstitions, which cover an area approximately 65 miles by 35 miles. If you go north of this range, you must go to higher elevations and through more mountains, some even having snow, hence, US 60 it is. I gained about 1500 ft in those previously mentioned 33 miles, which tenderizes your legs without you really knowing it. Then the fun began. In the next three miles, I gained another 1500 ft. That's a pretty significant hill, if your not paying attention. Then after 36 miles of uphill, I got to go downhill, and rolled for a few miles, to the 44 mile mark for the trip,  into the town of Superior, AZ. It's a small, Hispanic looking town that is probably there because of the mining industry. I stopped at a Circle K convenience store and bought some lunch, and refueled. My GPS told me I only had 23 more miles to go to my destination of Globe, but it predicted that it was going to take three and a half hours, when 23 miles should normally take under two hours. This gruesome prediction, told me that I was in for some serious climbing, and I wasn't deceived. US60 out of Superior on a steep grade, and got only steeper. The shoulders that had been reliable, disappeared, as the four lane road twisted and swiveled up through the mountains. It turned out to be a four mile, 7-8% grade, which is brutal, considering most interstates max out at a six percent grade at their steepest. Think steeper than Wheeling Hill in Wheeling, or Lincoln Hill in Washington, for four miles. The scenery was absolutely beautiful, but I only could take pictures when I stopped, and my screaming quads and oxygen debt kept me from thinking about pictures, as I climbed to over 4600 feet. I went through one tunnel, which was about a quarter mile long, and looked at hoodoo shaped rock formations whenever I thought to look up. I stopped about once a mile, and walked about 100 yds each time, just to get my legs back from the brink of failure. It would have been challenging without packing 40-50 lbs, but the weight helped me to understand my limitations, so I wasn't embarrassed to walk short stints. The alternative was to stop and tighten up while standing or leaning on a guard rail. 

At the top of the mountain, was a small town called Top of the World, and I rolled, up and down gradual grades, with a cool tailwind helping me along, and clouds that threatened rain, something I haven't seen in a month. Thank God for the prevailing tailwind, and the clouds, for a hot sunny day could have been disastrous. Then the descent finally began, as I dropped about five miles at a rate of 30-35 mph, past a huge copper mine, into the town of Miami, AZ. Miami is pretty much a semi deserted town that looked like it had its typical boom, with the copper mine, and then faded as the mine tapped out. Miami lead into Claypool, which lead into Globe, as the mines were visible for the entire final six miles of my ride. Claypool and Globe look a little better off than Miami, but these towns almost certainly exist just because of copper mines and the mineral industry. The area reminds me in many ways of a West Virginia coal mining town. The cactus were long gone, because of the elevation, and I even saw a black mountain that I would swear is a slag dump from a coal mine. 

I eased into the Bell Aire Motel, to crash into my $40 room. No luxury, the room was clean, but old, the shower felt good, and the TV, and fridge worked. There was free wifi, which I used to type this, so I was very happy with my accommodations. I walked about a mile and had a great Italian lasagna dinner and a beer, before crawling into bed, hoping that my legs will somehow function, with my 50 lbs of ballast tomorrow.

Loading up the bike to start his journey

Time to mount up!

Posing for goodbye picture!

Just showing how he's loaded up - even carrying an extra tire on the back

Leaving Towerpoint

Goodbye sweetie!  Safe travels!

Roadrunner made of rocks as I entered US60, the Superstition Mountains are in the background

Cholla cactus and mountains line US60

Nice shoulder with a gradual uphill grade into the mountains

Sign as I descended into Superior

The tunnel and beautiful mountains as I climbed on US60

Looking back after I survived the tunnel and walked for a short while!

No shoulder for the big climb!

Sign after completing the climb!

The 6% grade was either up, but mostly down, into Miami

Top of the World, at 4600ft

Roadside chapel near Miami

Miami, the copper center of the world

These monuments advertised mining championships, not football like other towns!!!

Downtown Miami - notice the pigeons above the door.  And you can see daylight through the windows above the door!

One of the copper mines

Pretty yellow weeds grow in the sidewalks of Miami

Bell Aire Motel

The Bell Aire Motel in Globe, AZ

Italian carb loading!

Looks like a coal slag in Globe

Sunset in Globe

Two days at the Miami/Everglades RV Resort (Dec. 15, 16)

This is an apology to all our friends and family who follow us on this blog!  I didn't realize that Mike had made a few entries that were waiting for me to add photos, so here is the first entry, with another to follow.  We will be catching up over the next few days????

With all the things there are to do in Miami and the Everglades, we did nothing. We lounged at the pool and soaked up the warm sun, which had temperatures near 80 for two days. One evening we went into Homestead, hit the mall and picked up a few things. We also stopped at a roadside farm stand and picked up some locally grown tomatoes and corn, and an avacado that was the size of a volleyball. The next night we drove towards Key Largo to Alabama Jacks, out along a canal in the middle of nowhere, and had some conch fritters, and waited for some manatees to swim by, but they never did. I basically rested up for a potential 125 mile ride to Sugarloaf KOA, and Pam got to relax, without having to set up or break down the RV for a couple of days. We are going to check into Sugarloaf one day early, which is a good thing too. Thank you tail wind....now if the wind will just cooperate for one more day.

Alabama Jacks

Sign inside the place

Relaxing next to the canal - but no manatees!!!