coasting cold, new mexico, silver city retirement

October 4, 2008

Day Thirteen

"From the faraway nearby."
- how Georgia O'Keefe signed her letters when she lived in New Mexico -

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One of the reasons I enjoy camping so much is that when I'm inside a tent, it feels like I'm inside my own tiny kingdom. A wild bear could look at my tent and think, “Mmmm.... I love these things. Soft on the outside, crunchy on the inside.” But from the inside, there's a sense that these thin, translucent, rip-stop nylon walls are somehow capable of withstanding not simply an ursine onslaught, but also a forest of redwood trees falling on it, armor-piercing bullets, or even a thermonuclear blast.

One thing's for sure, these thin walls, plus my sleeping bag, do provide a measure of relief against the cold. It's cozy nestled inside a sleeping bag so, at 5:00 when my alarm went off, I really didn't want to leave the warmth of my bag and face the chilly morning.

I did climb out, though, and upon exiting found that Erin was already packed and ready to go. Apparently he's one of those "morning people," that group of humans whose biorhythms I'll never understand, and whom I have a hard time comprehending in the morning: my brain is simply unable to process those... things coming out of his mouth... "words," I think they're called?

Even so, he politely waited for us to get our gear together. While we were gathering our stuff Klaus casually mentioned that he didn't need to wait for us and, like a rabbit on a racetrack, he was gone. Within fifteen seconds he was pedaling away, clearly anxious to get back on the road.

There’s a 30% chance of rain today so I stuffed my sleeping bag inside my waterproof pannier bag this morning, just in case. We're leaving the desert at last.

Because of the temperature, I wore a short-sleeved shirt, a long-sleeved shirt over that, a jacket over the shirts, a balaclava, a bandana around my neck, tights for my legs, tights for my arms, and low light glasses. I'm going downhill for a while, which means (1) a lot of wind and (2) I won't be exerting myself enough to generate much body heat, so it'll be cold for a while.

Even dressed with my warmest clothes, my fingers and toes got so cold they hurt.

after a few miles we stopped at the New Mexico border for a quick picture

as we descended the scenery became green, a color we haven't seen in a while

We stopped for lunch in Buckhorn (pop 200), a town whose name proudly announces it's in The West. The only building in town was Last Chance Liquor. No, we didn't drink our lunch.... it was the only building in town. Fortunately, there was actual food inside.

After Buckhorn, there was Cliff (pop 400), then Mangus Springs (pop 0).

We passed a prison and paused for a picture.

It was cloudy today, and the wind slowed our progress. Sometimes, when it's this windy, even drafting behind Klaus is difficult.

We passed Treasure Mountain and Lop Ear Creek.

Okay, hold on a minute. I've mentioned that I love interesting town names, but Lop Ear Creek??? Come on.... I have to know how it got its name. Van Gogh never came to America, so... mobsters? If anyone can find out, please post it, because I've never been able to find anything.

We continued our steady climb and finally reached the continental divide which, interestingly, isn't the highest point of our trip. Still, the divide is always a landmark on any bike trip.

We didn't write "vamos" ("Let's go" in Spanish) but were in agreement with the sentiment.

After twenty minutes of coasting we arrived in Silver City just as a few scattered raindrops started, then stopped. I called a few motels, and we also looked at some of the rooms. We got a cheap one, but not the cheapest, and made sure it had wireless internet.

The young woman checking us in told us Silver City was rated as the "Fifth Best Retirement City in the Country." It seemed like a nice enough place, but the statement made me wonder how many cities were included. Five? Two hundred? I'm not sure how many, but I don't think I'm quite ready to pack up and move here yet.

We ate at The Red Barn, a steakhouse, where we both ordered burgers.

I retired, to bed, in Silver City at 12:15.

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distance: 69.9 miles
average speed: 11.5 mph
maximun speed: 39.2 mph
time on bike: 6:04:24
cumulative miles: 651.2 miles

Today's ride: 70 miles (113 km)
Total: 650 miles (1,046 km)

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