Lots of Catching Up

Hello everyone we finally have a computer again to post with. It's probably a pretty good thing that we didn't post sooner though because Chris and I were both pretty miserable all through New Mexico. After the day in to Roswell we didn't think it could get any tougher but...



Day 19

On day 19 we headed out of Roswell to head towards Carrizozo, New Mexico and it was an incredibly eventful day full of ups and downs, both literally and figuratively. We left Roswell and headed straight up in to the Capitan Mountains. Although Capitan Peak loomed to the north at over 10,000 ft. we only climbed up to just over 7,000 ft. (which was plenty high for us). The climbing was the toughest we had faced yet and the wind didn't get any better. The day had some interesting sites as we passed through Lincoln, New Mexico, which is where Billy the Kid used to hang out. It was a really cool town, although we felt like we stepped back in time when we rode in. We also rode past the spot were Smokey the Bear was found. We didn't know there was an actual Smokey but I guess it was a bear cub that they found clinging to the top of a tree badly burned but still alive after a forest fire. Those were the high points of the day, the lows were the two separate thunder storms that we had to ride through, one of which hit when we were at our highest point (7,017 ft.) and was complete with hail and freezing cold wind. That made the descent out of the mountains a little tricky and we couldn't feel our hands or feet by the time we reached Carrizozo. It was a very interesting 92 miles and we've decided that the cooler the sites we see the more we get punished for it. Oh yeah and I forgot to mention that upon arriving in Carrizozo we found out that the motel had given our room away and all they had left was a room with a king size bed. I slept on top of the covers and Chris slept under them.



Day 20

On the morning of our 77 mile day from Carrizozo to Socorro, New Mexico I was on the phone with Lindsay and I told her that I thought we didn't have much climbing that day. Wow was I wrong. We rode through The Valley of Fires at the start of our ride which was a pretty desolate place and then we proceeded to climb in to the same strong headwind for most of the remainder of the day. I also had some tire/wheel issues that slowed our day down quite a bit with the 4 flats that I had to deal with. There was a light at the end of the tunnel though, Socorro Springs. When we got to Socorro there was a great brewery and restaurant called Socorro Springs that was right next to our hotel so we got some good food and great beer.



Day 21

On Day 21 we had what seemed like a never ending 107 mile journey from Socorro to Quemado, New Mexico. We went through 3 different mountain ranges, the largest of which was the Datil Mountains taking us up to about 8,100 ft. There was a lot more climbing and wind but that's no longer news. We met a group of guys from outside Chicago on Harley's heading to the Grand Canyon. They were really nice and we chatted with them for a while and took some pictures on the kind of bikes we wished we were on at that point in the day (motorized ones). We finally reached Quemado a little after dark to find the key to our room already in the door because the cafe that serves as the motel office was just closing up. We also couldn't get cell phone service anywhere in Quemado and there were no phones in the rooms so we couldn't make our nightly check in phone call to our parents and grandparents. As a result of missing this phone call we got 5:45am wake up from the woman who came to open the cafe saying there were numerous messages for us, some of which were from the state police who my mom & grandma had sent out looking for us. I think the people in Quemado thought we were a little crazy but at least Chris and I know that we are loved and have people worrying about us. Also when we got up in the morning there was a car across the street that had hit an elk in the middle of the night. Elk must be enormous because the car looked like someone had drove it in to a wall at 50 mph.



Sorry and I know we're not all caught up yet but it's been a very eventful week and we got a little distracted last night with my grandpa here in Phoenix with us. Also the disappointing Piston's game kept us up kind of late. We'll get all caught up next time we have a computer and we should be only be 5 days away so we don't have much more to post. Thanks for reading.

Don & Chris