Fort Hancock.

Today is Fort Hancock. Our camp for the night is a local church that have kindly allowed us to sleep in the grounds or in the church itself if we want. Fort Hancock is on the Mexican border, so much so that I'm about half a mile away at the moment and the pictures I've taken will show the lights in the nearby Mexican town. I've not heard gunfire so far, but it's early yet.

As fort Hancock is an old western outpost I've taken all my pics in black and white today.

He they are.

El Paso Update.

I've made it to El Paso. It's been a few days dice my last update during which I've had a cold and it's been cold. A couple of nights were minus five, which were a bit chilly. The odd thing is that there's no frost as the humidity is zero so it looks nice and warm. Sneaky, deceptive New Mexico weather. We've racked up about 920 miles now, I need to check my spreadsheet for the exact details, but we crossed the Emory Pass at 8224 ft. I was suffering from my cold and some lingering plumpness that I've still to ride off so it was a relief to finally get there. Today has been about negotiating the pecan orchards (pronounced pecaaaaan for some obtuse reason). On a side note I've tried to explain that you do pronounce the "h" in herb and that it's not "eeerb". It passes the time.

On the subject of pronounciation, its taken a few members of thetour a little while to understand that my name is either Rhod (Rod) or Rhodri. I was "Roadie" fora while amongst other things, so when we passed through Roady I had to take a picture.

So here are some photos of the Emory Pass, a cafe, Rodey, Las Cruces and some Pecaaaan nuts and trees.

The Road to Mimbres.

Was pretty special. To give you an idea of the day, we awake at about 6:00am to knock the frost off our tents. We're at altitude so the cold really comes down in the night and I'm resorting to no less than four quilted packing blankets to keep me from hypothermia at the moment. Things should improve in that department soon as we're about to go over Emory pass at 8200ft, the highest point of the tour tomorrow and start the descent into Texas and warmer climes. Once we're up we help ourselves to breakfast which is usually coffee, a bagel and some peanut butter for me but everyone has their own thing as there's plenty on offer. Then it's time to check the bike, fill up with liquids, pack a sandwich for lunch which for me will be cheese as I don't trust ham that's been marinating in its own juices for four hours in 90 deg heat. Then we pack our stuff up, put away the tent and start the days riding. Today we went up towards Roberts Lake and a 3000ft climb through amazing sun dappled pine forests with barely a car in sight. Finally we went over the Continental Divide again and started dropping down through quick switchbacks to the lake. Views from up top were exceptional. Having said that it was quite cold and there were still patches of snow at the side of the road in places. After a long haul along the lake road we crested the continental divide again (3rd time) and headed for Mimbres our destination tonight. One the we made some bike repairs, Flynn popped a spoke so we've fixed that and had a nice filling dinner of tortellini. On e we pitched our tents it was time for the nightly map meeting and then bed, where I'm now posting to the blog.

Basically, I'm knackered.

Silver City.

Here are a few interesting facts about Silver City, our home for the next two days.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silver_City,_New_Mexico

It's a sizeable place with a some interesting things to look at. Today we went to he Gila Cliff Dwellings of the Mogollon people's.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gila_Cliff_Dwellings_National_Monument

It reminded me of Barry (not the South Wales home of Gavin and Stacey) but the troglodyte village in Southern France I visited as part of an exchange trip in 1977.


http://io9.com/5762847/an-underground-city-in-france-where-people-have-lived-for-thousands-of-years/

Silver City was also the home of "Billy The Kid".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_the_Kid

Who also rode withe the Jesse Evans Gang. Oh ho.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesse_Evans_Gang

Here are the obligatory pics.

Civilisation.

Silver City today. I'm tired out as I have a cold and we've covered about 360 miles in four days including a quiet 38 today. The views are still breathtaking and the weather is starting to be a little colder (We're at 6200 ft now). There was ice in the water bucket when I woke up this morning. But I'm using packing blankets from the van to keep warm.

Here are the usual photos.

One for the statisticians.

I'm enjoying the first "layover day" which so far has involved a trip to the local bike shop fora spare wheel. I popped a spoke a couple of days ago and even though I was able to put in one of the spares I carry, I'm not that sure it'll last another 2500 miles. In the meantime here's a summary of the last weeks riding.

Monday 11th San Diego to Alpine. 43.41m
Tuesday 12th Alpine to Live Oak. 36.67m
Wednesday 13th Live Oak to Brawley. 69.77m
Thursday 14th Brawley to Palo Verde. 70.38m
Friday 15th Palo Verde to Quartzsite. 45.08m
Saturday 16th Quartzsite to Wenden. 44.24m
Sunday 17th Wenden to Wickenburg. 53.98m
Monday 18th Wickenburg to Phoenix. 60.14m

Which I make a total of 423.67 possibly.

Early night.

After nearly a week of riding we're starting to settle into a routine.

Well, some people are. I'm by nature an early riser, however the average age of the group is in the sixties and I've discovered that people with time on their hands have nothing better to do than to go to bed early at 7:30pm (I kid you not) so they can get up at 5:00am to "avoid the heat of the day".

I'm struggling with that, however they're all so nice and polite.... I was sleeping outside last night (as a few people in the group do) and chose the groundsheet outside the van for my abode. I heard some rustling during the night I chose to ignore presuming it to be the usual stagger to the toilet for some poor unfortunate, but no. When I finally awoke I was surrounded by luggage. The buggers had dropped all their bags around me forming a "circle of wagons" display that any French museum would be proud of. And this was at 6:00am. I'm going to have to put some Night Nurse in the old codgers coffee.

Having said that it's now 8:40 and I've been lying down on my mat for 20 minutes writing this and I'm buggered up.

I've just been treated to the evening "Coyote Chorus". They sound quite close so I might not get much sleep.

By for now.

Quartzsite.

Quartzsite is a strange place http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quartzsite,_Arizona

It appears to be made up of old people in RVs who spend their time searching the locale "fur rocks we cun polish". And they do.

Spent the first night of the trip under the stars and found it a bit more comfortable so I'll do the same tonight. We've done about 300 miles so far and have now entered Arizona.

Oh, and we won the 6 Nations again of course. Woot woot!!!!

Yesterday was Brawley.

Our first big day of 70 miles was hard work. The heat was an unseasonably high mid 90s and dry so you'd dry up aft 5 miles if you didn't drink like a thirsty Viking. We dropped 1200m to 40m below sea level, just on the south side of the Saltern Sea. Showers were at a local school about a mile away which was odd (not that odd, the kids had gone home). And we stayed at a local rodeo. Frankly I was knackered, however as the youngest tourist I'm unable to show any sign of weakness. I'll have to put something in the old buggers coffee to slow them down.

The other interesting spot was the large fence that is the Mexican border. (Pic below) I had my passport checked but only after the border guards asked if anyone "wasn't from the US". Maybe the Mexicans haven't thought of that approach?

Palo Verde

Here we are in Palo Verde, the weather is a bit warm (95 degrees today) and a "nice" headwind all day. 70 miles starting at 8 in the morning ending at 2:30. The ride through the sandy part of the desert was surreal and great fun. As a means of illuminating how hot it was I drank 7 litres of Gatorade today, however I didn't need a "restroom" all day.

Here are some more pics.

Wild Turkey.

Second night on tour and we're in a campsite south of Live Oak at Sacred Rock campsite (there's this rock and it's sacred). Another long day of climbing even though we managed only 36.67 miles it was 1157 meters up in 70 plus degrees with the sun banging down on us all the way. Worst of all there was a spiteful headwind that had me pedalling down a fairly steep hill and sill only managing 9.5 mph. Nonetheless, the campsite is great and best of all we have access to a bunkhouse, so no problems with my single sleeping bag tonight.

The campsite is overrun with wild Turkeys were another welcome addition to my wildlife sightings and another box ticked. Dusk at the site was great, a few of us walked up to the top of the local hill where it was rumoured we'd be able to get a glimpse of the comet that's currently passing close by. As we walked up the sun was setting and the local coyotes gave voice (it's the mating season) and the evening was alive with lusty howls. although faint, the comet was clearly visible just a couple of degrees to the left of the moon. Excellent. Tomorrow is a largely downhill day so a respite for the old legs, however it's 70 miles in 90 degree heat and we'll be below sea level. We're currently about 3600ft so that's going to be quite a freewheel.

In the meantime here are some pics of the todays trip, the campsite and my bunkhouse.

Why do they call it Alpine?

I'll tell you why, because it's up a bloody big hill.

Our first day in the saddle on the trip was rewarded with amazing views, a spot of climbing a trip to the local Indian Casino (for a buffet lunch). Departing Point Loma Beach we dipped our tyres in the Pacific, headed on up the San Diego river and started gently ascending towards our first nights rest. When we finally arrived, we set up camp, grabbed a shower and headed off for dinner. it must have been a tiring day as everyone was in their tent by 9:00pm for some much needed rest. During the evening I'd explained my "method" for ensuring a comfortable nights sleep was to pack two light sleeping bags. If it's warm, just use one, if it's cold, use two I smugly announced. It was warm... At first, then it was cold, then I discovered I'd forgotten to pack the second sleeping bag.

Our first day was 43.41 miles but 1085 meters of climbing. My poor poor knees, bloodied, but unbowed.

Additionally we encountered a couple of Ostriches, an Emu and my first whiff of a Skunk. Now I know.