Day 39: To Hachita

September 27, 2024

Boom! What a morning! We rode 50 km by 9:30 with the majority being hard packed, downhill, and with incredibly unique scenery. We feel like superhero’s!

The day started again with stars and moonlight at the 6 AM alarm bell. I was again awake by 5:30 so that was not an issue. We joined a couple (Peter & Inge) from Holland who were also riding and staying at the RV Park, for breakfast at the picnic table. Coincidentally Inge was reading along our blog and knew we may see each other.

We were rolling by 7:15 in full light and not yet overpowering heat. Our goal was to beat as much of the heat of the day, as well potential afternoon winds.

The scenery this morning was very nice. There was a lot of prickly pear cactus and other unique things we had not seen until this point in the trip. The riding was downright easy. For the most part it was downhill on hard packed dirt. Occasionally we’d hit a loose section of sand that would send the bike into a fishtail. We could believe we’d ridden 50 km by 9:30 am and we were soon approaching a junction with a convenience store at the highway.

By 10 AM we were sipping our second coffee of the day outside the store in the shade and already feeling the heat rolling in. After the coffees Peter ran back in and came out with Snickers ice cream. Well done!

This is one unique store. It’s big for one thing. I expected to roll into it and find the conventional convenience and gas station wares. Nope, this was a trinket store on steroids! They had bags, T-shirts, fireworks, ornaments, Route 66 sign. Basically anything you could imagine. it was fun walking around and of course not buying anything because well who has space and I’m a minimalist.

Seeing the firecrackers brought back some childhood memories.

We decided that since we were stopped we should just eat a couple of bagels for lunch and push to Hachita which was our destination at 100 km. Back riding at 11 and onto a frontage gravel road for about 10 km and then on the paved road to Hachita. When we turned onto the road we noted it was tar and chip road and it said loose gravel. Well the first car that passed nailed me in the shoulder with a rock. Fortunately it only startled me and didn’t hurt too bad. Every car thereafter we looked down as they passed for fear of getting hit in the face and worse the eyes; I would not want to see how my sunglasses would fare.

We took turns pulling and made really great time arriving just before 1 pm into Hachita and according to Strava my second fastest 100 km. That’s saying a lot because I don’t normally ride loaded!

This guy talked when you passed. Feed me money and I predict your future.

Nice to see Antelope Wells on signs! Hard to believe how big highway signs are from a bike.

Found an example of the flowers in bloom.

We quickly downed a Coke that I can’t say was ice cold. I think it’s so hot here that the poor refrigerator could not keep up. The town itself looks destitute. It’s littered with buildings in decay. We donated to the community centre and here we’ll enjoy slightly cooler temperatures and WIFI and then ride the final 75 km to the end.

I just ate more noodles and ramen. I’m on the refuelling program for the weight loss getting here.

101 km / 343 m of elevation gain

Today's ride: 101 km (63 miles)
Total: 4,411 km (2,739 miles)

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Joanne RobertsonPlus one Snickers Ice cream. Almost there!
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