We have made it into the biggest state in the lower 48, Texas.
The few days we had in New Mexico were amazing. we truly enjoyed every day of bicycling through the south part of the state. Everyone there was really friendly. literally almost every car that passed waved to us. We camped for free in the town park of Hillsboro the day we rode over Emery Pass. The next morning we had an amazing breakfast at their General Store. The Next night we spent in a state park camp ground where we met a really great park ranger. so great it made me kinda want to be a park ranger.... He hooked us up with a site for the night plus gave us a good amount of water and some food to snack on. He also makes Jewelery and is quite good at it http://www.benhoffacker.com/. We went to a bike shop the next day in Las Cruces. Before that we stoped and had coffee and some oatmeal and a chocolate scone at a place called "The Bean" We really liked that coffee shop, it was in the town of Mesilla which also happens to be known because its where Billy The Kid got locked up! So our 4th and final night in NM... We planned to go all the way into El Paso and cross into Texas but we got side tracked just a few miles before that boarder. We stop ed at a house that looked interesting. It had Large metal sculptures covering the yard mixed in with airstream trailers. we ended up talking to the owner and artist. his name is Willie Ray Parish. good him. he's awesome. His wife and him are both art professors and artist. They have an amazing space there and we were lucky enough to camp right there in the middle of what they call the sculpture garden.
We have pictures of everything i've been speaking about, they just aren't on the computer yet. but one day i'll post the best of the best.
Our first meal in texas was a mexican breakfast that blew us away. Absolutely amazing. I even dreamed about the cafe we ate it in that night.
so far texas has not been as great. but were just getting going and this isn't the best part of the state really. With all the terrible things happening right now along the boarder we are constantly aware of our surroundings and sometimes feel as if we cant stop and rest even if we want to...
We had prime conditions riding the first day, but yesterday was just the pitts. we ran out of water because one of the service stations that we were told was ahead was actually closed, and we had a terrible head wind all day long. The upside is upon our arrival into sierra Blanca, WE FOUND HUEY!! ha, so we caught up with him, shared our hate for the day that just ended. talked about where we have been since we last rode together, which was in california.
We were glad to see he was still on the road. He constantly gives off vibes that he might pack it in at any moment and head back to Colorado.
Anyways, thats where were at. hopefully today the winds on our backs. Were excited to keep riding and make our way into austin. we have a lot of good things ahead. Hopefully next time i post i can get some pictures as well.
$NBD$
4.13.2010
4.08.2010
4/08/10 New Mexico!
It takes both time and energy to sit down and write on the computer, Today is going to be a really big day for us, we'll be climbing up and over the largest peak of our entire trip at 8,228 ft. above sea level. But I am going to try and quickly update as to what the past week has been filled with!
First and foremost, in my last update I talked about how we were in Phoenix and were going to leave that day. That isnt what ended up happening, we decided to stick around for the day and spend one more night at the Hostel. The weather was perfect and there was talk of a large art walk that evening just up the street.
I am so soo glad we decided to stay, the art walk was hardly that. It was more of a festival. They apparently do this every first friday of each month. There were Bands playing all over the place, the streets were lined with vendors selling art and food of all kinds. We spent an hour or so walking around with our friends from london that we made at the hostel then parted ways so we could get a beer. We headed over to "hoodRide" which is a house/bikeshop/art gallery where a band was playing in the front yard and a dj in the back. 5th st is lined with places of this nature. There are houses families live in but in between there are these houses that have been converted into businesses. Another favorite of ours was "Conspire" which was a house that doubled as a gallery selling clothes and zines/library and a full stage in the back yard area where bands were playing all night. Here is where we met a fellow cross country traveler. Her name is Shay, She was on week 5 of her journey Walking across america. She was super inspiring and you can read all about her journey at http://www.fakeplasticshay.blogspot.com/
So we did eventually leave Phoenix after sitting in the morning for about an hour with shay sharing stories over coffee from our new favorite coffee spot. We have been making good mileage since that day off. We want to travel far every day for two reasons, 1. Everyday we travel further then average gives us more opportunity down the road to take time off and hang out. and 2. We DO in fact want to make it to New York before it gets two hot and humid on the east coast.
We have had a few more nights camping on the lawns of RV parks, One night In the grass next to the camping area in the parking lot of APACHE GOLD CASINO. And one night In a great camping area at 6,290 ft. elevation In the mountains 8 miles to the Arizona/new mexico boarder.
2 Days ago was probably the most visually stunning bicycling of our lives. Arizona was absolutely full of things we did not expect. We climbed up and over a Larger pass that day and on the back side we were welcomed by miles and miles of poppy flowers. It was unlike anything either of us have ever seen with our own eyes. It made me think of the wizard of Oz. We later climbed back up into the mountains and into a real pine forest which is unlike anything we have seen so far. Thats where we camped and thats were we froze. We are traveling quite lite and therefor not really prepared for almost freezing temp.
So this brings me to yesterday which was quite big for us. The day started with us coasting down from our camp site into the state of New Mexico. with that means we hit a new time zone. We took a picture to remember it. New mexico is nothing like the new mexico we saw when driving through a few years ago. Its much more "Home on the range"ish. And its quite nice. We later in the day fought through some hard uphills all the way back to the same elevation we camped at the night before and crossed the great continental divide.
Southern New mexico is Mountainous, which is what were dealing with right now. But after today things will mellow out again for a while as we head into Texas.
I'll try to upload a few pictures now but that can sometimes take alot of time so i'll see what i can get done before vanessa gets on here. (hoodride. Phoenix, Az)
(Oz is just beyond that hill, Arizona)
First and foremost, in my last update I talked about how we were in Phoenix and were going to leave that day. That isnt what ended up happening, we decided to stick around for the day and spend one more night at the Hostel. The weather was perfect and there was talk of a large art walk that evening just up the street.
I am so soo glad we decided to stay, the art walk was hardly that. It was more of a festival. They apparently do this every first friday of each month. There were Bands playing all over the place, the streets were lined with vendors selling art and food of all kinds. We spent an hour or so walking around with our friends from london that we made at the hostel then parted ways so we could get a beer. We headed over to "hoodRide" which is a house/bikeshop/art gallery where a band was playing in the front yard and a dj in the back. 5th st is lined with places of this nature. There are houses families live in but in between there are these houses that have been converted into businesses. Another favorite of ours was "Conspire" which was a house that doubled as a gallery selling clothes and zines/library and a full stage in the back yard area where bands were playing all night. Here is where we met a fellow cross country traveler. Her name is Shay, She was on week 5 of her journey Walking across america. She was super inspiring and you can read all about her journey at http://www.fakeplasticshay.blogspot.com/
So we did eventually leave Phoenix after sitting in the morning for about an hour with shay sharing stories over coffee from our new favorite coffee spot. We have been making good mileage since that day off. We want to travel far every day for two reasons, 1. Everyday we travel further then average gives us more opportunity down the road to take time off and hang out. and 2. We DO in fact want to make it to New York before it gets two hot and humid on the east coast.
We have had a few more nights camping on the lawns of RV parks, One night In the grass next to the camping area in the parking lot of APACHE GOLD CASINO. And one night In a great camping area at 6,290 ft. elevation In the mountains 8 miles to the Arizona/new mexico boarder.
2 Days ago was probably the most visually stunning bicycling of our lives. Arizona was absolutely full of things we did not expect. We climbed up and over a Larger pass that day and on the back side we were welcomed by miles and miles of poppy flowers. It was unlike anything either of us have ever seen with our own eyes. It made me think of the wizard of Oz. We later climbed back up into the mountains and into a real pine forest which is unlike anything we have seen so far. Thats where we camped and thats were we froze. We are traveling quite lite and therefor not really prepared for almost freezing temp.
So this brings me to yesterday which was quite big for us. The day started with us coasting down from our camp site into the state of New Mexico. with that means we hit a new time zone. We took a picture to remember it. New mexico is nothing like the new mexico we saw when driving through a few years ago. Its much more "Home on the range"ish. And its quite nice. We later in the day fought through some hard uphills all the way back to the same elevation we camped at the night before and crossed the great continental divide.
Southern New mexico is Mountainous, which is what were dealing with right now. But after today things will mellow out again for a while as we head into Texas.
I'll try to upload a few pictures now but that can sometimes take alot of time so i'll see what i can get done before vanessa gets on here.
(hoodride. Phoenix, Az)
(Oz is just beyond that hill, Arizona)
(self explanatory, New Mexico!)
4.02.2010
4/2/10 down the road
here's a snap shot of Huey and myself. I spoke about Huey in the last post but we haven't seen him in a Few days, He's staying in hotels and what not so we ended up going separate ways at some point.
The day after my last post we rode through some really movie picture book like desert spots in california. This was taking outside of Glamis, CA which they call "the sand Toy Capital of the world" on the weekends in the winter months 100's of 1,000's of people come out and camp with their Rv to ride their Quads/dirt bikes/dune buggies here.
That day we rode 75 miles to the closet place to camp from the day before. We stayed at an RV park that charged us 6 bucks to camp on their land. and we were very happy to pay 6 dollars. We woke up early to the sound of the birds. Which by the way is how we've woken almost every day, SO many birds in the desert. Who knew... Anyway, we rode on. It was a pretty mellow day, we saw some sheep!
Yesterday was the longest yet. We rode 90.93 miles all the way into Phoenix Arizona, the next week wont call for so many long days but we don't mind them to much, if we get enough of them in we can feel like we can take a day off. We stayed at a hostel last night, and they gave us a 2 for 1 deal. People have been really good to us once we let them know what we are doing, where we are coming from and where we are going. We had a nice dinner and shared some pasta with a guy named shane whos staying here from Seattle. Its a really nice place, it's just a big house.
The day after my last post we rode through some really movie picture book like desert spots in california. This was taking outside of Glamis, CA which they call "the sand Toy Capital of the world" on the weekends in the winter months 100's of 1,000's of people come out and camp with their Rv to ride their Quads/dirt bikes/dune buggies here.
That day we rode 75 miles to the closet place to camp from the day before. We stayed at an RV park that charged us 6 bucks to camp on their land. and we were very happy to pay 6 dollars. We woke up early to the sound of the birds. Which by the way is how we've woken almost every day, SO many birds in the desert. Who knew... Anyway, we rode on. It was a pretty mellow day, we saw some sheep!
And then we crossed the California state line! woo, were in Arizona!
This is a sweet picture of our bikes after that day, we camped at an over 55 Rv park for a whopping $3.50! wOooo
along the next day we stop ed for lunch at the Kofa Cafe, and it was great. I had a Sea Dog, It was a foot long Beer battered Fish on a hot dog bun also a foot long. with fries and coleslaw. vanessa got a nice Grilled cheese and we split a piece of coconut cream pie. we really splurged that day on lunch, we figured we deserved it for saving so much money on sleeping arraignments the 2 days prior.
We rode along and made our way to another Rv park to camp in, Rv parks is all there is to stay at when traveling through the desert. and its mostly people who are retired living there or what they call "snow birds" these people live up north most of the year and travel south and stay at these parks for the winter to get away from the snow.
Anyways, we made it safe to our destination and camped in grass instead of rocks for the first time in days. We also played a mean game of horse shoes. and vanessa beat me pretty bad.
Yesterday was the longest yet. We rode 90.93 miles all the way into Phoenix Arizona, the next week wont call for so many long days but we don't mind them to much, if we get enough of them in we can feel like we can take a day off. We stayed at a hostel last night, and they gave us a 2 for 1 deal. People have been really good to us once we let them know what we are doing, where we are coming from and where we are going. We had a nice dinner and shared some pasta with a guy named shane whos staying here from Seattle. Its a really nice place, it's just a big house.
so here we are, One full week on the road and over 400 miles behind us. We absolutely look like we have been living on the road, We are both very sun tanned / Burnt. With really weird tan lines, like the straps to our helmets and vanessas glasses. so we kinda look crazy. But its funny and we dont mind.
Were making today a mellow day. were not gonna leave town till the after noon and only go about 35 miles, then wake up tomorrow and start the new week fresh.
Our bikes bags and bodies have been holding up just fine. so all signs are go for a good first week.
Until next time. NBD
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