April 11 - Deming NM to El Paso, TX

102.04 miles in 7:45 ( century in 7:35)...average milage per day , 74.87 over six days. Ascent...673 ft ( 7685 ft for entire trip)
I had a little rumble with my GPS girl as I pulled out of Deming, as she told me there were three ways I could get to El Paso, but wouldn't take me on the one I wanted to go on. She kept trying to take me through Columbus, NM, which is right on the Mexico border. We went that way on our first trip west, and I was not interested in doing it again. I rode about four miles before I figured out what she was doing to me, and I turned around and finally got on track. I also could take I 10 all the way to Las Cruces, then south to El Paso, which became NY plan 'b' if plan 'a' didn't work out.
I started out with 30 miles on NM 529, which turned out to be a nice local road which basically paralleled I 10. It was nice because I could look at some local ranches, and count jackrabbits, instead of watching for steel belt shrapnel as I rode on the interstate. After 30 miles of paralleling I 10 ( more or less), my first choice of travel, which would cut off about 20 miles, turned off on a perpendicular path from the 10, but as I suspected, it was a dirt road. The decision was made easier when I waved down a pick up truck, and the guy knew his way around very well. He was a blessing, because he told me that the county roads on my intended path were about 30 miles of dirt roads, sometimes very soft, and the hard pack was washboard in many places. I decided that the potential for disaster, dirty bike, and bouncing over washboard, would take more of a toll than an extra 20 miles. I ended up getting on I0, and riding into las Cruces.
It all worked out real well, because I had a great tailwind out of the west, as well as a downhill ride as I descended into the Rio Grande River valley,  in las Cruces. It was about 40 miles from Las Cruces to my motel in El Paso, and I followed the Rio Grande the entire way. I was basically on NM 28, which took me through all farmland in the Rio Grande bottomland. Mostly pecan trees, but also cotton fields which hadn't been planted yet, and some onions and some green chillies. The last 15 miles or so we're on a bike trail, right along the river.  The motel was not very far into el Paso. There was a Texas Roadhouse not far from the room, and it got my attention right away. I walked about a mile, and my Achilles tendons did pretty well. Now we'll see if I can move when I get up in the morning!

Road runner near the Rio Grande

Welcome to Texas. There was no sign wherever I entered Texas, so this was the next best thing!

Mountains near Las Cruces

Flooded pecan trees. This is how they irrigate them. 

One of the hundreds of roadside memorials I've seen. 

One of four Mexican farm towns I rode through between Las Cruces and El Paso. 

Farm house with a tree stump carving in San Miguel. 

That's me with a pecan 

Mountains above Las Cruces 

The Rio Grande

The first 30 miles of my century day was on this road out of Deming. The 

April 11 - Pam's trip

 Mesa, AZ to Casa Blanca, NM

If you are a cyclist just skip this entry and read Mike's April 11 entry!  Otherwise, it's time to head for Pittsburgh with the motor home!  I'm not following Mike as his support vehicle because my Dad has been extremely ill and it's time for me to get home to him. 

Vacating Towerpoint, our winter home, went rather easy. I did combine last years first two days into one day and so I'm in New Mexico!  The only dicey time was when I was on a 2 lane road, climbing mountains between Payson and Heber, AZ and my low fuel light came on!  Fortunately I made it to Heber and fueled up at a circle k that was big, easy in and out and empty!  Diesel fuel was $2.07 and I couldn't complain until I got to New Mexico and it's $1.89!  Anyway, I'm staying at the Dancing Eagle casino campground for $11!  That includes full hookups too!  It was a recommendation from a customer. Anyway today was a lot of climbing out of the valley of the sun, and traveling along the Mogollon Rim. Tomorrow I head into Texas. 

Looking towards Window Rock right before I left Arizona. 

Welcome center in New Mexico 

The rocks were beautiful!

And big fluffy clouds 

The view from the casino restaurant 

Yes the rocks really are that red!

April 10 - Lordsburg NM to Deming, NM

60.13 miles in 4:34....347.18 total for the trip...(69.436 miles per day)....ascent....545 ft (7012 total for trip)
The day started out with 9 am mass, listening to a Nigerian priest say mass in Spanish.... Good experience. So, I got out of town at about 10:30 for a five hour ride, that only took 4 and a half hours because of a pretty hefty tailwind. I've ridden through here twice before, and it was been the same story. Wicked wind15-25 out of the West. First time in 2013 I was pedaling into it, on the way home last year, I documented the same 'assistance' as I rode to Pittsburgh. It was just as boring as it has always been, so I broke out the iPod and had musical accompaniment instead of the sound of wind and Interstate 10 traffic.
Yesterday I mentioned another biker named Jeff that I passed. Well, today I passed him again, doing his same 6-7 Mike's per hour. This time I rode with him for almost an hour. ( or I might have averaged 15&16 mph for the trip). We talked and I learned that he has taken bike trips to the middle East, China, and Taiwan in the past. This trip actually originated in northern California, before he took a break in Quartzite, ( which is in western Az, not Eastern Az like I stated yesterday). He embarked on this trip because his wife died at some point, he had no commitments, and is on a mission to lose 50 lbs. But for now, he's just cruising along. He had a much nicer touring bike than I noticed before. I left him after a while because rain was in the forecast for later in the afternoon, and I wanted to get to Deming, which I did. I offered to split a room with Jeff, but he said he preferred tenting in the cold and rain, because he didn't know if he would make town. We traded phone numbers in case he changed his mind, but I never heard from him.
I 10's shoulder was really crappy for the first ten miles out of Lordsburg, but then it improved greatly, which made for really nice high speed travel, as I was hitting 20 mph for the last 30 miles, after passing the continental divide. Got a nice old room in downtown Deming for $29.99, right next to a subway sandwich shop. I looked at the maps and decided to take a shortcut tomorrow, and miss las Cruces, and head right into el Paso. We'll see how that goes tomorrow.

A piece of a car from the 1940-50 era.

No dust storms today, just a few dirt devils in the distance. 

Headed for the Mississippi just like all the water from here east 

This is what you get for $29.99 in Deming, New Mexico 

April 9 - Willcox AZ to Lordsburg, New Mexico

73.93 miles in 5:40..(287.05 miles in four days)..ascent....1306 ft....Somewhere over the ridge heading to Benson, the saguaro cactus disappeared, and after the ridge heading into Willcox, the predominant plant became the yucca tree, amongst the regular desert scrub and mesquite trees. And as I got closer to the godforsaken place that is Lordsburg, sand, or dirt was the predominant feature. This is the area that is famous for zero visibility dust storms. All 74 miles were on Interstate 10, with a general tail or side wind, except for two miles through the very sparse town of San Simon. The entire ride consisted of two very long gradual ascents, and two long gradual descents. It should have been an easier ride then it was, but today was the day that some fatigue set into my legs.
I passed another bicyclist today on one of the ascents. He was a big guy, maybe 250 lbs, and he was struggling. His name was Jeff, and he started in Quartzite, (Eastern Az) and was headed to Minnesota. He had all new panniers and the right equipment, but I hope he didn't bite off more than he can chew. He could barely talk, pumping up that hill at about 4 mph. And I thought I was feeling fatigued! The shoulder of the interstate varied between beautiful and terrible, but the ride, even though beautiful in its own way, was pretty boring. I had plenty of time to dodge steel belts and tire shrapnel on the bad areas without missing much. My 13 mph average for the trip was testament to the ease of the ride, but my legs just weren't feeling the ease! The temp got up into the 80's, which was nice. Highlights of the trip were the trains, two dead coyotes, a dead snake, a dead bobcat, and two dead legs. Just kidding.

The "beautiful " boredom. 

My kind of prices!

April 8 - Tucson to Willcox, az

83.77 miles in about 7:11...ascent...3514 ft..(5161 ft in three days)...213.12 miles in three days....I was awake at 6am for the second day in a row. What's up with that??! I didn't roll until about 9, because I was only planning to do about 50 miles. I figured that my legs, which were pretty tenderized yesterday, would need an easy day, on the third day of travel. The third day is always the hardest day when I begin a workout regimen, so I figured it was gonna be a short, climbing day. Little did I know that my legs would feel great, probably because of the Extreme Endurance tablets that I'm taking. I took them last year on my trip and I swear by them. They supplement nutrients I need to keep from cramping and they prevent the buildup of lactic acid. They work.
The first 12 miles out of Tuscon were on the Julian Wash trail, which I documented on March 21, 2013, the first time I rode it on my way to Tombstone.
The vast expanses of this area allow for some unique sights, that I would like to mention here. Yesterday, north of Tucson, I passed an airplane graveyard, with probably 100 retired jets, 727's and such. Today on the trail, there was another airplane graveyard, this time the majority if the planes were huge transports and transoceanic passenger planes. Then, out in the middle of nowhere on I 10, there was a track that was miles long, with Union Pacific locomotives on it. Probably 3-400 of them. Unique, to say the least.
A few miles after the trail ended, I was routed onto Interstate 10, which is the only road through this rough, mountainous area. The next 28 miles were spent on a nice, clean, newly paved shoulder, with a nice tailwind and a great slipstream from the heavy truck traffic. The mountains were shaded by white puffy clouds, as well as visible rain storms way off in the distance, all around me, even though I was pretty much riding in sunshine all the way to Benson. After climbing 1700 ft on the interstate, to about 4200 ft. as I descended  the 700 ft into the San Pedro river valley, where Benson is, I watched a nasty storm dump a lot of water onto the town. Even though I was still dry, I rode through the runoff all through town. I also decided that things were going so well that I would keep going to the next town, originally scheduled for tomorrow. Continuing onto Willcox would make my ride 83 miles, but could my luck at dodging storms hold up?
The ride out of the valley began with a 12 mile ascent, also on I 10, which climbed 1500 ft to damn near 5000 ft. It started out dry, but about half way up, the rain began...then the hail started as the temperature dropped from 75 in Benson to about 52 on the top of the pass. Thunder and lightning ensued. If this stretch had just been another boring climb on a hot sunny day, it wouldn't have been nearly as memorable. How many people get to see and feel so many storms, not to mention hail, in the desert. Especially since it hasn't rained a drop in nine weeks!
When I got to the top of the pass, the weather did not warm up for the rest of the he ride, but it did pretty much dry out, until I was in my room, when it rained again. On top of the mountain, I visited the well advertised home of the 'Thing'. It's a mummy if some sort, but I found out by word of mouth, as I didn't pay to see it. The last ten miles or so was a decent descent into Willcox, where I found a hit shower and a meal at Pizza Hut.

Hummingbird and a desert flower!

Closer look

Rain on the mountain 

Home of "The Thing"!!

Skies over Wilcox

April 8 Eloy Az to southeast Tuscon

72.16 miles in about 6:45...total ascent 1158 ft....without ever going up a hill!!!  The most unique factoid about today's ride was the steady, unnoticable, rise in elevation from beginning to end, as I began to rise out of the Valley of the Sun. Another unique thing was the total lack of sun....all day long. Cloud cover prevailed ( thank God again), as a front is bringing in potential rain tonight. I have not seen a drop of rain since January 30, which is nine weeks. That's alot of ' dry', even in the desert. I once again pretty much paralleled Interstate 10, on frontage roads which I had to myself, even though I longed for the smoother Interstate shoulder and the slipstream created by the trucks. I was a good boy though, and bounced along the deteriorated roads into a headwind that wasn't as subtle as the ascent. Highlights of the trip were Picacho Peak, a uniquely shaped mountain, which was visible for 30 miles, hundreds of prairie dogs, two close brushes with road runners, a dead horse next to the road, and 'The Loop.' The loop is a bike trail that took me from about 20 miles north of Tucson, past the downtown area, and popped me out pretty close to my motel. And tomorrow I'll be getting back on it to head east. The trail basically followed the Santa Cruz River, which started as a briskly flowing 10-20 wide stream, and gradually deteriorated into a wide, sandy wash that was surrounded by industrial parks, recreational area, and quarries. I saw the tops of the buildings in downtown Tucson, but really bypassed an area that I was looking forward to riding through. Shacked up in a motel 6, very close to I 10.

Saguaros are blooming 

Dead horse alongside the road 

Picacho Peak

April 7 Here we go again!

OApril 6...57.19 in 4:33...ascent 489 ft....after a nice winter in the valley of the sun, which included our normal workamper stint (Pam worked over forty hrs a week being the best bartender they've ever had, and I did 24 hrs a week running the kitchen), it's time to ride another adventure, this time, hopefully to the outer banks of North Carolina. I rode some during the winter, but after five pulled muscles playing softball, ( hey....we won the league championship in the over 50 division!) and 16 days vending beer at the Oakland A's and Chicago Cubs spring training, I'm not in the best of shape to do this. But that's not gonna stop me. I should be in shape by the time I get there.
I picked the hottest day of the year to start, and I was ready to hit the pool at the days Inn in Eloy by three in the afternoon when I pulled in. God blessed me with a northerly wind as I headed south , and stopped halfway between Mesa and Tucson. The first twenty miles were on bike trails as I left the valley through Chandler. I followed a canal (or two) all the way to the Gila Indian reservation, where things got desolate. I climbed one five mile mini pass, as it was really only me, some scenic stand alone mountains, mesquite trees and saguaro cacti as I rolled along AZ 87 and 187. I basically paralleled Interstate 10, passed through the town of casa grande, ate at a subway, and headed out for one more hour to Eloy. There was no water in my room, and while they did repairs, I hit the pool and ate at the Iron Skillet at the truck stop across the street.
Pam is not with me, as this is solo run. She has a few more days of work,  then will head to Pittsburgh on a northerly route to visit with her father and Buddy for a while.
My trip from Phoenix to Pittsburgh last year had perfect weather and great luck, so this year I expect the law of averages to catch up to me. There is no date for arrival that I must adhere to, and I am taking a totally new route that I haven't done on the first three cross country rides. So I hope u stay tuned, and please feel free to  comment on the blog, so I know  who's out there!

Temperature in Casa Grande