Day 39 - ending at Roswell, NM - The Great Plains Trail - Sort Of

June 22, 2023

Day 39 - ending at Roswell, NM

Day 39 - Dexter, NM to Roswell, NM

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Woke up at 3:52am and decided to get started with the day. And the first thing was to figure out what I'd be doing tomorrow. The GPT leaves Roswell on US-70 going northeast. Before Elkins it turns north on a dirt road that eventually hooks up with NM-272 near Fort Sumner. My at-home plan had me staying at Haystack Mountain OHV (Off Highway Vehicle) Area tonight, where primitive camping is allowed. The next day's riding would be 72 miles, mostly on the dirt road. I don't know how well the bike would do on this dirt road. I don't know if two gallons of water would be enough for two days in this heat. I also don't know if I'd see anybody on this road. If it wasn't so hot, I think I would have stayed with my original plan.

My new plan, I decided this morning, will be to get a motel room in Roswell this evening, then ride US-285 and NM-20 to Fort Sumner. There are no services between those towns along the highways that I know of, and it's 84 miles. I've never done 84 miles before. But at least if something happens, they'll be people passing by.

So today I needed to get to Roswell. The GPT goes through Roswell, so I'd be able to stay on the trail today. The only thing is, the GPT uses back roads and not the highway to get from Dexter to Roswell. This made what would have been a 20 mile ride a 31 mile ride, but the scenery was worth it.

That's the summary; here are the details.

There was no breeze this morning where the tent was set up, but I found a good cool breeze down by the lake where I went to get a sunrise picture.

I was working on yesterday's report when the gentleman who's a part-time worker for the park showing up. He did a good job sharing local history.

At 8:30am I walked over to nearby Becky's Lakeside Cafe for breakfast. I was their only customer at the time. When I left Becky asked for my name so she could pray for me.

After breakfast I gave the tires a careful inspection, then packed up. I was ready to leave at 10:50am, but wanted to get more of yesterday's report done. There weren't any faucets at this campground that I could find that would accommodate filling my water jugs. I had half a gallon between the two. Being it's a short day, that would probably be enough. Of course I needed ice too. Becky provided that just before I left at 11:37am. Noon came pretty soon after that. I'd gone 2.3 miles.

The waypoints on my GPS are for following the GPT. It'd been so long since I'd looked at the routing, it was like new information for me at every turn. For the start of this day those waypoints had me heading mostly east on back-country paved roads - some with a few hills. I powered up the first hill. While catching my breath I wondered if that was really a smart thing to do on such a hot day. To not overexert, I decided to walk up some.

At 1:31pm, I arrived at the south end of Bottomless Lakes State Park. There are a series of lakes in this park. Near the south lake is also camping and pavilions for picnicking. There were a lot of people here picnicking and swimming. I just wanted a picture of the lake. The entrance sign for the park indicated there was a day use fee. For motorized vehicles, that fee is $5. What the fee is for bicyclists wasn't posted. I figured I'd find that out later and pay. So I got pictures of several of the lakes as I proceeded north. I found park headquarters at the last lake, so I went in to ask about the day use fee. The fee for bicyclists is also $5, but since I was just passing through and taking pictures, that didn't count as day use. They had cold water for sale for a dollar, so I bought a bottle.

The road north out of the park has a sharp U-turn to get up on top of the bluff. I did some walking there. At 2:58pm, I coasted back down the bluff some. My GPS indicated a turn to the left onto River Road. River Road is a flat paved road I found out. Nice! It ended at US-380 east of Roswell. About a 7 mile flat ride from there to Roswell.

I arrived in Roswell at 4:47pm. The highway's shoulder disappeared in town, so I hopped on the sidewalk for a while, then later back on the highway, since traffic was not heavy. When I got to Main Street however, things were different. Main Street was very busy with not only vehicle traffic, there were tourists all over. It was a slow walk for me the few blocks I stayed on Main Street heading north. Just past the courthouse I turned back east to take side streets to the motel I planned to stay at. I headed back to Main Street when I got close to where the motel is. I happened to walk past a motel Google Maps didn't have listed - National 9 Inn. I stopped to check with them what their price is. "$50." I registered and ended up in a very nice room at 6:34pm.

I took a shower, then at 8:00pm, walked over to nearby Applebee's. I had two root beers with my steak dinner, and another root beer to-go as I left.

Back at the motel I worked on today's report. I worked on it way too long - not getting to bed until 12:52am. I think I just messed up my plans for an early start in the morning. The wind is predicted to be a tailwind for me all day tomorrow, so I guess it's not critical that I leave really early.

Jeff

Spent: $14.50 plus $3 (breakfast) + $1 (water) + $58.85 plus $5 (motel room) + $23.67 plus $5.21 (supper) = $111.23