Two Glorious Days

I don’t really know what my expectations were for this trip, but yesterday was the first day that I really felt like I was riding cross country.  After Bisbee, we headed to the small town of Douglas, where we turned left onto historic Route 80.  The roads were good, with rolling hills up and then rolling hills down.  There was little to no traffic, and we rode for another 50 miles.  The photos won’t do the vista justice, but we were in the high desert and we could see for miles and miles, passing ranches and mountains and cattle.  The sun was out, but not too hot, and at points we even had a tailwind.  The wild flowers were in bloom, giving the mountains a golden color, and the roadside was a sea of purple and red. Today was more of the same – smooth roads, little traffic, great weather.  This is what I came for!

AND THEN THERE WERE 12

Sadly, one of our group had to pull out yesterday.  Kevin strained his IT band, and, after visiting urgent care, he learned that he shouldn’t be cycling and he needed to go through 6 weeks of PT.  To make matters worse, Bisbee is really far from any airports and he is from NJ.  He had to take a cab 40 miles to a rental car company, and then rent a car to get him back to the Tucson airport, not yet knowing when the next flight to NJ will be.  We’ll all miss him.

SHIT HAPPENS

Aside from the expected bike issues — as a group we’ve had at least a dozen flats so far — a few of our riders have been sidelined for days due to gastrointestinal issues. One poor fellow had an attack while riding and simply couldn’t get his kit off fast enough — needless to say, it was sacrificed.  I’m being very careful not to eat greasy foods!

ONE NIGHT IN NEW MEXICO

Today is our only stop in NM — we are in the small town of Columbus — famous for the attack by Pancho Villa.  There are only 1500 residents and we were served dinner by the Mayor and his wife, who also own the Milagro hotel where we are staying.  I asked him what he was proudest of, and he said the Columbus is the only municipality that borders Mexico.  He also said he was proud that he was elected as an Anglican in a 95% Hispanic town.  The people seem very happy here, but I didn’t ask any questions about immigration.

We have seen numerous border patrol trucks and three wheelers on the roads we’ve been traveling. Tomorrow we head to El Paso, for the first of approximately 17 nights in Texas.