Final Ride! Separ to Columbus-Mexico Border Crossing 8/21 64 miles

  After a day off in Silver City, and a trip to the Gila Cliff Dwellings, we were ready to ride to the finish.  We rented a car when we arrived in Silver City because we didn't want to unhook everything on Rocky to drive the 45 very windy miles to the cliff dwellings.  Daren found it very strange to drive a car after driving the motorhome for so long.  He tried to make Sarah and I car sick on the way!  The dwellings were amazing.   It is believed that 10-15 families inhabited 46 rooms in 5 caves.  We got to go in all 5 caves, but our time was cut short by an incoming lightning storm.  We were advised to stay a half hour til the storm passed, but decided to take our chances and hike down the canyon to our car.  I'm glad we didn't wait, because the storm didn't hit for at least another hour.
We dropped off the rental car very early in the morning, followed by Sarah in the rv.  We then drove about 50 miles to our start in Separ, NM.  Sarah talked to a border guard at a gas station where we stopped, and asked if the Columbus crossing was ok.  He said the trouble there had been contained and it was ok to go on that way.  Silas rode the first 15 miles with us on this all paved section.  We saw many suicidal centipedes on the highway at least 6-8 inches long!  We saw one coiled rattlesnake off in the dirt about 20ft from us thank God, and many Border Patrol trucks passing us.  After Silas stopped riding, we continued on the very hot, dry desert path.  There was a dirt path next to the pavement that Border Patrol liked to drive on.  They were very friendly with us, honking and waving.  We were actually comforted by their presence.  Sarah felt better that they were around also.  We didn't even mind being buzzed by a Border Patrol helicopter.  Not much else to report on this 95 degree day.  Thank God we had a tailwind.  We kept an 18-22 mph pace for the last 49 miles, which got is into the border by 2pm.  The end was bittersweet.  We were glad to be finished, but after all the build up, we couldn't believe it was over already.  So many long and beautiful days, rough roads, and new friends.

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Pie Town to Hwy 12 near Old Horse Springs 8/20 42 miles

After a relaxing night with visions of wonderful pie, Daren and I set off for our second to last ride of the trip.  We were hovering around 7800ft and had gentle rollers with one 5 mile climb of 800ft to top out at 8200ft.  Nothing compared to some of the climbs we had been through.  What we weren't expecting was the animal rescue operation at about 10 miles in.  We had plenty of run ins with overprotective dogs chasing us through towns, but here, there were three friendly dogs that saw us from across the field and decided they wanted to join us for the days ride!  They were sooo... happy to be with us no matter how much we scolded them.  They followed us for almost a mile, when we decided we better turn around and lead them to home.  Heading down the driveway to the rescue place(someone's house with lots of fences, cages etc.) several dogs started appearing from behind structures.  None of these dogs were caged.  Very soon, I found I was surrounded by we estimated, 30 dogs, with a total of 50 in the general area.  Snarling/barking pit bulls, dobermans, german shepherds, you name it.  The three originals were trying to steer the others away from me.  I was trying to maintain my composure, Daren was trying to get me and my bike between the dogs.  It seemed like too many minutes went by before we saw a human being, and I had already started heading out the driveway at this point.  A man dressed in green pajamas came out and told Daren to head out and they would drive out with their car and the dogs should follow.  Not really.  The wife (also in green pajamas), headed out in her Civic yelling the dogs names trying to get them into the car!  Eventually the nastiest meanest dogs returned home, but the three originals plus a couple of cute lab/german shepherd pups remained.  The lady kept apologizing saying this has never happened before.  She thought we were part of the Great Divide Race, but were early(2nd race), or else she would have locked the pooches up.  They have 100 dogs at this shelter, and many cats.  She was trying to herd the dogs with her car, driving forward to catch some, backing up trying to cut other ones off.  It was hysterical!  Finally she resorted to throwing the dogs into the car.  Daren caught the last two for her to put in the car.
 About 45 minutes after the whole thing started, we were on our way.  That kept us going for quite a while.  The road turned from descent dirt to deep sand, and I flipped.  Now get this, only my second fall in over 1500 miles!
The rest of the ride was pretty uneventful thank God.  We did have a horrible bone jarring 5 mile descent to Rocky, who was parked next to the highway.  Again for the sake of time, and the want to visit the Gila Cliff Dwellings, we drove from Old Horse Springs area 150 miles or so to Silver City.

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Grant to Pie Town 8/19 58 miles

After a nice evening at the KOA(I can't believe I'm rating rv camps!) in an otherwise dilapidated run down town, we decided to split up the ride to Pie Town.  We all wanted to ride to get pie, so this was the best way.  Daren rode first, heading out on pavement to an area about 25 miles out of Grants on Hwy 117.  He had a flat part way through, but otherwise a beautiful fast ride by incredible rock formations in the Cebolla Wilderness.  We stopped for a few moments at La Ventana or The Window, to admire the incredible rock structure forming an arch.  Just down the road a few miles, was the start of the dirt road, Sarah and my turn to earn pie!  The dirt road started out rough with washboard and thick sand.  It looked like a long but well deserved 33 miles to pie.  Eventually the washboard smoothed out, and we had a fast pleasant ride through Pinon pines and the Sawtooth Mountains to the east.  About 20 miles in, the dirt bike riders from Vancouver Island came up on us.  They noticed our squirrely bike tracks through the sand and washboard, and were quite impressed with our progress.  I noticed that Mike's front tire was low, which he said explained why his ride felt so precarious!  They pumped up the tire, then made quick work to Pie Town.  They saw Daren and said we would be along soon, not realizing that it takes 10 times as long to ride a bike!  Daren started getting concerned about how long it was taking because of their report, but we were making good time by bike standards!

One incident did slow us down a bit.  There was a dust spout(like a water spout/tornado) on the left side of the road.  It was spinning there for several seconds, and since it was on a downhill, I decided to ride past it.  Well at this point, it decided to move across the trail into me!  I felt like I was in a real tornado!  It was pulling my legs off my pedals, and sandblasting me.  It slowed me from 15 miles an hour to standing still, but did not push me over.  It was the strangest sensation.  Once it passed, I needed a few moments to regroup.  Sarah had watched the whole thing from behind.  She couldn't believe I even attempted to go, but then just watched, shocked, as the dust spout consumed me.  A short time later, Daren called.  Silas was going ride with us into town so he could get pie.  We met up with him toward the end of the road, and rode the last 5 miles or so up and down the hilliest hottest section to Pie Town.  Daren had checked out the town before we got there.  Two restaurants selling pie and a post office.  What more could you want?  Apparently the first pie restaurant(at the bottom of a hill) was not friendly.  The PIE-O-NEER restaurant(at the top of a hill) was much friendlier, so we went there(one more hill!).  After a small lunch, we started in.  They had the best pie!  Banana creme, apple-cranberry al la mode, lemon meringue.  All the pies freshly made, fantastic!  We ended up staying at a small rv camp in Pie Town.  No dinner that night.

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8/18 ClearCreek Camp to Pueblo Pintado 63 miles

With the new day and knowing that I was splitting the ride with Sarah, Daren and I headed out towards Cuba.  The steep descent we had into camp yesterday was a steep climb this morning, but no problem today.  After a mile and a half, we started a spectacular descent through a rock lined canyon, that put smiles on our faces.  I topped out at 43.5 miles per hour, and didn't even fear for my life!  We leveled out through the town of Cuba and continued on the pavement alternate to the route at a good clip of 15-20mph.  In this part of New Mexico, the route builders give alternatives to the dirt because during monsoon season, which this is, most of the dirt becomes unridable.  We continued on toward the well known(just kidding) town of Pueblo Pintado.  The mountains and trees immediately gave way to dry dessert and few rock formations as the temperature started to climb. At 40 miles, the unique rock formations were back and at 42 miles and the start of a long hot climb, my day was done.  Sarah and Silas met us on the side of the road just past another popular town, Torreon.  I felt a little guilty about Sarah starting out on a climb, but she's young(about to be older Aug 29th, 33??), and Daren is always strong.

Silas and I headed up the road in Rocky.  We saw after the long climb, the old familiar hot, dry desert.  After waiting at a designated meeting point for an hour, I decided to backtrack toward them, thinking that they might be incredibly miserable and wanting to call it.  I was right.  It was a miserable ride for them.  Daren at this point had 63 miles and Sarah 21, good enough!  We had planned all along to drive from Pueblo Pintado to Grants and the Bandera Volcano and Ice Cave anyway, so cutting it 5 miles or so short didn't seem like a big deal.

We headed to a region near Grants called El Malpais which is Spanish for "bad lands."  The reason it is called this, is that the lava flows that came from the Bandera Volcano, extend 23 miles leaving very sharp, and jagged lava or "A" lava.  Early sheep herders called this area the "devils playground." Here the Bandera Volcano and Ice Cave is located.  The history of the volcano and ice cave is very interesting and long, and I will not try to explain it all here, but to say it is an incredible geological sight!  The ice remains in one of the lava tubes near the volcano.  The lava is an excellent insulator and as rain water and snow melt seep into this cave it freezes.  The cave never goes above 31 degrees.  There is a frozen pool at the base of the cave that is 21 feet deep, covered in an arctic algae that is green.  Many years of natives, explorers, railroad workers etc have chipped away at the wall ice.  Imagine being in the hot dry desert and coming upon this cave!

After hiking the volcano and the ice cave, we headed to Grants for the night.  We met a couple of guys from Vancouver Island who were riding the Divide on dirt bikes.  They're both 70 years old, pretty funny and incredibly tough.  One guy is from New Zealand, the other from England, so needles to say, pretty fun to listen to.

More pics here

Coyote to ClearCreek Camp near Cuba 38 miles

We left Vista de Lago in Rocky, and drove to our starting point at Coyote.  We decided not to backtrack to Abiqui, but ride from here instead, joining the designated route at 10 miles, and 2200ft of steady climbing.  We said our goodbyes to Deborah and Billy and headed down the road arriving at the start 20 min.  At the start, I noticed my wallet was missing, and started the frantic search, when Silas confessed that he hid it back at the house in an armoir!  Are you kidding me?!  He was serious!  With sketchy phone service, we were able to call Deborah to confirm that the prank was true. You can imagine the trouble he was in!  Fortunately, Sarah was there to the rescue!  She headed back to the house, meeting Deborah half way up the washboard road to retrieve my wallet while Daren and I started our journey.  With some relief we started climbing, but with so many days off, I had a hard time.  My heart wasn't in it today even though the scenery was beautiful.  Lots of forests and streams lined the way.  Maybe it was the 28 miles of steady climbing to ClearCreek that kept the life from returning to my legs!

Not much else to report on this ride.  We had a screaming downhill to the camp for a mile which I new I would be climbing the next day.  I just hope I will be re-inspired by the next morning.

A few more pics here

Abiquiu 8/14-8/16 Rest days

After several tough but great days of riding, we met my sister, Deborah and brother in-law, Billy for a few days in beautiful and unique Abiquiu.  They made a vacation in New Mexico so they could visit with us, and we were very excited to see family after a month and a half of being on the road.

After spending the 13th at the Abiquiu Reservoir rv park, we drove to Taos to meet them and do several loads of laundry.  We didn't want to over burden the septic at the home they rented in Abiquiu, so we thought an afternoon in Taos we be a great way to pass the time.  We had lunch and went to several galleries and grocery shopped.  A women in a gallery told my sister that a week before it was awful to be there because of smoke from a nearby forest fire.  We have been very fortunate on this whole trip to not run into any fires.  The only one near the Great Basin in Wyoming was in an area we wanted to skip anyway, so very lucky indeed.

The house they rented in Abiquiu, named Vista de Lago, was great! The construction was very unique incorporating many windows to take advantage of the location on a mesa high above Abiquiu Lake.  Also very visible was the Cerro Pedernal mesa, so famously depicted in many of Georgia O'Keefe's paintings.  

We spent many hours enjoying the views, gathering cool rocks, and enjoying each others company.  We used it as a base camp for many trips around the area including the Ghost Ranch, which was part of a 1766 land grant to Spain, eventually donated to the Presbyterian Church in 1955.  Many artists spend time there for artistic and spiritual reasons.  Georgia O'Keefe bought a home here as well as in Abiquiu.  We went to the Plaza Blanca cliffs, or White Place, an other worldly area of white sandstone that has been shaped into mesmerizing cones and shelves.  We were able to walk right next to many of these formations.

Sarah, Deborah, Billy and I went to Santa Fe to sight see, shop, and go to the Georgia O'Keefe museum.  

We had one incident with a mouse in the house which was pretty hysterical.  I saw it by the fireplace and Sarah, Deborah and I ended up standing on couches, screaming and in hysterics, trying to get away from the vicious creature, while Daren, our knight in shining armor gathered it up, clinging to the back of a chair, in a bucket, and set it's panicked soul free.  I may be tough riding, but when it comes to rats and mice, I'm a complete wimp!

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Hopewell Lake to Abiquiu 8/13 57 miles

Rhea's ribs were still painful from her crash the day before so she hitched a ride in the RV with Jody while Joe, Sarah and I rode.  We were a bit apprehensive about the road conditions because of yesterday's mud bath but were looking forward to an elevation profile showing 5000 feet of descent and only 1000 feet of climbing.  We set out at a brisk pace trying to keep up with Sarah who must have heard that there would be pie and ice cream in Abiquiu. We raced along through the trees and valleys enjoying several long downhills before arriving at the dilapidated old Spanish town of Vallecitose.  The town's main street was made of dirt and was lined with a mix of trailers, rusted automobiles and the collapsed remains of 100 year old adobe buildings. The only inhabitants appeared to be vicious dogs who greeted us with a chorus of barking and darted out of driveways to snap and snarl as we ran the 1/4 mile gauntlet.  About half way through two behemoths that had been lying in the street fell in on either side of us and "escorted" us to the edge of town before the barking finally subsided.

After leaving town we started up the day's only significant climb trying to keep up with Sarah who seemed to be running on adrenaline left over from our dog encounter. I tried to slow her pace (and keep her from killing me) by reminding her that she was NOT a beneficiary of my life insurance.  I persuaded her to stop for a short lunch at the top of the climb before we started another looooooong steady descent on a road with lots of loose gravel and soft spots which finally succeeded in slowing her pace.  During the course of the descent the terrain changed from Ponderosa pine forest to New Mexico desert complete with sand, cactus and spectacular rock formations.  The desert terrain continued as we rode onto pavement and drafted the last 20 miles into the Abiquiu where Jody, Silas and Rhea were waiting at Bode's country store with cold drinks and ice cream.  After our snacks, we said our good buys to Rhea and Joe who were staying at a B&B and headed out to our campsite at Abiquiu Reservoir. 

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