Day 16: Kingston, NM to Las Cruces, NM

Day 16: Kingston, NM to Las Cruces, NM
Miles: 88.78
Theme: You never know what is around the next corner!

We had a wonderful time at the Black Range Lodge last night. We had a turkey dinner with stuffing and the whole works. Yummmmm. The only thing missing was the pumpkin pie, but I am not sure any of us had room for it anyway! Shortly after dinner I was off to bed and slept the best I have all trip. I woke to the sound of a rooster!

For breakfast Steve (I believe that was his name) cooked up fresh eggs with chili peppers, french toast using home made bread, oatmeal... It was great to have such a feast at breakfast. Some of the motel breakfasts are a bit lacking if you are riding all day. Enough about the food. We quickly got on to the bikes and were headed down the road. We have a pretty good idea of the terrain ahead each day as Carol leads a map meeting each evening. The first 9 miles were down hill. That was nice as we will be riding 88 miles today. What Carol didn't tell us is to watch for the cattle in the road. I hadn't gone but a couple of miles when I came across about 6 cows - all on the side of the road. Well not all, one was checking out the can that someone had dropped. I didn't check if it was a soda or beer, but the cow didn't stagger away, so whatever it was, there wasn't much left! Some of the cattle were quite big with long horns, so I went as far away from them as possible!

The first 26 miles went by very quickly today. It was mainly downhill and the scenery included some rock walls at first, then it changed to what I would call high desert. The grasses are a golden color and swayed in the wind. You could see the mountains in the background. Once again, very picturesque. After that, the land quickly became more barren however and seemed a bit more desolate. I can't imagine living there. I would ride along and all of a sudden there would be a single house with an out building out in the middle of nowhere. At one point we came across a sign that read "Caution Congestion Ahead. You went around the corner and there were about 5 buildings. It must be terrible at rush hour!

At mile 26 we went around a bend and all of a sudden there was a large lake ahead. It seemed to appear out of nowhere. That is the first big body of water we have seen since leaving San Diego. This was the first stop for Lisa (Young Pup) who was driving the Sag Wagon today. Given how quickly we got to mile 26, it felt like doing 88 miles wouldn't be too bad today.

And then we started off again. Our plans were to have lunch around mile 50. As soon as we left the Sag we headed into a head wind. So much for the rest of the day being easy! It seemed that no matter what direction the road turned, we faced a head wind. The scenery wasn't that great so you you noticed the head wind all the more. At one point when I was riding I noticed some little hut type things. There were literally hundreds and hundreds off them. As I came closer I realized they were shelters for young calves. Seems like a miserable life out in the middle of nowhere to be penned in like that. I think the cattle I saw on the road this morning had a lot better life, even if it comes to the same end!

The landscape was fairly barren and didn't hold my interest that much today. With the wind blowing, everything just seemed brown and dirty. The one point of interest was the number of chili pepper drying and processing plants. As many of you know, New Mexico is known for it's chili peppers. I had to stop and take some photos of the bags and bags of chili peppers!

We finally reached our lunch destination - well actually we rode past it and came out the other end of town, so had to stop and ask someone how to get to Sparky's. All the locals told us that Sparky's was the best place to eat. Note to self: next time we ask where to eat, also ask for directions! Sparky's was quite the place. How can I describe it, let's see outside was the Statue of Liberty, Ronald McDonald, The Colonel Sanders, Uncle Sam. You name it, it was there. The recommendation for lunch was the chili cheese burger. So you guessed it, that's what Tex, Kathie (minus the chilis) and I had. I scarfed it down. I didn't realize how hungry I was!

We then got back on the bikes. We meet up with Victoria, Lise, and Nancy. We learned a couple of things from Victoria. First the Sag Wagon had a flat tire, so it meant that we would be on our own for the rest of the ride. That really isn't a problem if you have enough water. Second, Victoria was told that the road up ahead was closed but the town folks thought that we could get through on bikes. So what the heck - we were all game. It turned out that we only had to get off and walk the bikes for about 200 yards, so it was the right decision. At the end I took a photo of everyone standing around the Road Closed sign.

From there we rode on. The head wind just wouldn't stop this afternoon so the last 15 miles seemed long. We thought that we would hit a visitor center around mile 72 but if it was there, no one found it today. Given that the Sag was down, their wasn't much spare water. We all made it though some a bit more parched than they would have preferred.

I think I mentioned yesterday that I was having an issue where my toe is going numb. It happened again today. At one point I just let my right foot hang down for a bit and pedal with my left leg only. I already am a spectacle given my bike, so I am sure people were really wondered about me as we pedaled into Las Cruses just using one leg. All is well though. It was another good day of biking. I'm off to bed now though as I am tired. Tomorrow we will head out of New Mexico and start the BIG state of Texas! El Paso, here we come.