June 4, 2023
no rest for the wicked
money don't grow on trees when there's no trees
we decided that although we could get a room for 60 some bucks, this town was terrible. It was right on I40 and just sucked. It did have a grocery store, but Line convinced us to push on towards Cuba, NM. I figured we could get an off day there, but it was two more days of riding at least. We checked the weather, and it called for alot of intermittent rain, so we took the Chaco alternate which is all paved, and goes around the mountain instead of over it. We heard you can get stuck in this "peanut butter mud" and literally cant even push your bike because it builds up on your tires. There are stories of people having to get rescued. So we took the paved again. the only down side was boredom and we had to go 70 miles to the only place to camp on the way: a gas station. We started late, maybe 10 am, and started down this highway. We filled to 80% water capacity since we probably wouldnt find water. The miles went on and on. We watched the road stretch out for 7 miles in front of us at one point (we measured it). There was no shade and wind was a constant. Mary drafted behind me when it was in our face. we both suffered when it was at our side. We stopped at a road sign to have lunch: a bagged salad from the grocery in grants.
We couldnt reapply sunscreen enough. At one intersection, I decided to look at the map to see if there was any water source coming up and it took the both of us about 3 minutes to fold the map back because of the wind. Passing motorist probably thought we would die there, lost and in the middle of nowhere, fumbling with a map in the wind.
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We turned to make our last 5 miles and had only taildwind. even with this, It was hard, but we finally pulled into the gas station. We inquired at the front. The nice attendant showed us our accomodations for the night: a dirt patch next to a rail car filled with broken washing machines about 50 yards from the station. Luckily the store was a pro convenience store, being the only one for many miles. They had fruit and frozen meals (all meat though). We bought a bunch of food and went back to our rail car to stay out of the wind. hiding behind the railcar, I took a modest sponge bath and we cooked some ramen with beans bought from the store. We set the tent up and flopped in exhausted. About 10 minutes later I was outside putting out the guy lines to fight against the gusty wind. I laid down and listened as trucks went by at 90 mph. A few rain drops fell and I hoped it wouldnt flood the place. It would just be a mud patch. This dusty dirty stuff sure gets old. I hate walking in my sandals with socks on in dusty dirt.
Mileage:72
Up:2841
Down:2671
time:8
Today's ride: 72 miles (116 km)
Total: 298 miles (480 km)
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