Feb 10, 2007

There are 2 parts to this entry, I want to put a lot of emphasis on PART I.

PART I.

157 miles in two days!

We started out about 12 miles west of the New Mexico border on a slight uphill. It was slow going for the first 15 miles until we were a couple of miles into New Mexico where the tailwind kicked in.


We sustained a speed of 17-20 mph for the next 60 miles stopping only at the continental divide, a couple of rest stops and once for a flat tire.

Forgot the tripod that day.

Check out this crazy piece of metal that I ran over on the shoulder.

Looks harmless enough from the outside, but wait...

That thing casts a shadow!

We took one last stop because I had to wipe the catchup off of my face. I ran over a packet on the shoulder and it sprayed all over me. What a Barney!


It was so flat and windy in this section that we saw this series of signs several times.




oK we get it, actually I think I got it after the first sign. Fortunately, the wind helped us.

We took our time those two days and enjoyed the easy riding. At one point we (Dad and I) could not help but laugh because we were hardly doing any work and sustaining a speed of 20mph.

PART 2.

Knee pain and food poisoning.

We are currently in El Paso, Mexico...I mean Texas. This place is huge. Even huger is Juarez Ciudad which is just south of the border. Looking to the south at night there is a vast sea of little sparkling lights for as far as you can see. It looks like when you are a freshman in college and you visit Tijuana for the first time at night. Coming over that hill from San Diego, ya thats what its like. I realized today that those little lights are not in Texas but in Mexico. I think Juarez might be a bit bigger than El Paso.

Anyway, back to the pain...

So last night we stayed in Las Cruces, NM. Did not see much of that town and in hind sight, we should have rested there instead of El Paso.

Las Cruces, those mountains are way more impressive in person.

That night my knee did not feel great. We left in the morning for a short 45 mile ride to El Paso. We crossed the Rio Grande which was not very Grande, it was a tiny trickle at this point, lots of people taking their share up river I guess.


About 20 miles in, the knee locked up and stopped me in my tracks. We took a rest and I managed to coax the knee to go a bit farther. At 30 miles we met the sag wagon and decided to call it a day on account of a bummed knee. So we drove the rest of the way to El Paso.

That night we went out to dinner at this sea food place that was recommended by a local. The food was pretty good and we probably ate a bit too much. That night Dad was not feeling too good and it continued to the next day (today). He made it until about noon and slept the rest of the day in the RV.

We are hoping that all of this gets worked out by tomorrow and we will be cruisin' once again.

I want you all to know that we will be fine, and I am trying to tell you everything so you can struggle with us. Thats what this is about right? Sharing struggles with others to make it a bit easier to roll along. My grandma likes to say, "Many hands make light work." Its not supposed to be easy, so we struggle on. Thanks for sharing the load.