Remembering

Although I've never seen a movie about the Alamo it is one of those epic pieces of American history that everyone has heard about but not very many know anything about. Similar in a way to Lewis and Clark. So history nerd that I am I walked into and immediately got lost in the Alamo. They have done a great job telling the story of a rather insignificant event that led to a pretty historic victory. What I gathered from the monument was that Santa Anna's vicious treatment of rebels so angered the Texans, or Texians that when Sam Houston met Santa Anna on the battlefield the battle lasted less than 18 minutes. Anyway,LOVED the Alamo and San Antonio. After that we set out to finish off Texas. East Texas is one of my favorite parts of the trip. It is so green despite the current drought, the people are friendly, and the air smells like roasting, smoking, or grilling beef. One of the main motivating factors for the ride was to eat some delicious BBQ and we decided to start trying some out. The first we tried was Bill Millers BBQ. It is kind of the fast food of BBQ. It wasn't very good. We biked into a town called Luling and met up with a guy named Mike at the grocery store who is also an avid cyclist and he showed us around town and told us one of the best BBQ places in Texas was just across the street. In fact there were two really well known BBQ places in this tiny little town, but only one was open on Tuesday and they happened to be open for breakfast. So I ate breakfast and then went to City Market. Inside there were two sections; the smokehouse where the meat is cooked and sold and then where you can buy sides. The guy selling the brisket was rude, always a good sign, and slopped my beef on some paper with a few slices of bread took my money and I went to find a place to sit. It was the best beef brisket I've ever tasted. thinking about it makes me hungry and sad. Then we got on our bikes to ride. I then realized that a breakfast like that is a perfect way to start your day if you're planning on sitting on the couch and trying to catch flys in the drool coming out of the side of your mouth. Despite our gastronomical setback we still made it where we needed to and ended up sleeping behind some semi trucks behind McDonalds.

Training Day

After breakfast we hung around town until evening time. We found a place to camp not far from the UTEP, university of Texas El Paso, where there was a little road construction. Fortunately for us the road construction lasted all night and we were serenaded by jack hammers and dump trucks all night long. They even provided us a night light that resembled the sun. Even though we were sleeping right in downtown no one bothered us except a couple guys that gave me a part of a hamburger. After I explained I was not a bum and what we were doing they were a little more impressed. So after a very restful night we woke up and rode the mile or two to the trainstation and loaded up. The trainride was great! Except nobody got robbed and the train didn't get hijacked. A couple people did die but that was over in Juarez. Just kidding everyone! But from what I'm told Juarez is a really dangerous town. I really think everyone should take a train ride at some point cause they are really cool. It is a lot more laid back than flying, more like driving except you don't have to drive and you can walk around and order food inside your car. We did head over to the dining car and justified the price of the meal for the sake of the experience. I was hoping it would be like the one scene in Casino Royale, but it wasn't. Not even close. Anyway after several hours of looking at the scenery and napping and half of the Jungle Book (book not movie) we pulled into San Antonio at 10:00 pm and since we were only a couple blocks away from the Alamo swung by to check it out and then got lost trying to find a hotel we got booked into. The first thing on tv in our room, Conan the Destroyer and we laughed ourselves to sleep.

Broken Roads

Neil Diamond sings a song called "Brooklyn Roads." that has nothing to do with anything but when I wrote the title I thought of that. So back in Las Cruces talking with Dillon he mentioned his dad worked with Amtrak and that there is a train that goes from El Paso to east Texas. I mentioned the possibility of taking a train through the vacant space between east Texas and west Texas and Drover's eyes lit up. Apparently he has always wanted to take a long train ride. Actually I think he has always wanted to rob a long train ride, but since this is a close second he is willing to take it. And who knows, we might still be able to rob some people. Like how I was robbed when I saw the Rio Grande. The trickle of water called "big river" (I'm pretty sure that is the translation, but I don't speak Spanish) looks like something I could produce if given a few hours and a lot of water bottles. Also Pecos Bill loses all credibility. I could have dug that river and I ain't no "western superman." Also I have been able to pick up the local lingo quite well as I just demonstrated. I'm sure a bunch of you (if anyone even reads this) are saying that it is because they use the river for irrigation and it has been dammed, blah blah blah. So we went down to the train station that was built in 1903 and found out if we could get our bikes on there and we could only the train left that morning, Thursday, and the next one doesn't come until Saturday. So we bought tickets and set out to find someplace to spend two days. Not far from the station was a institute building and we asked the CES missionary if we could camp in his backyard. In addition to letting us stay in his backyard he gave us a tour of El Paso and showed us racetracks where he used to race and train horses. He had grown up in the area and had a ton of interesting stories of a time when the west was a little more wild. He even took us out to dinner. He walked into this little Mexican restaurant and told everyone to get to work grabbed us some menus and sat down. Drover leaned and asked "do you think he owns this place?" Turns out he did along with seventeen others throughout El Paso. He told us more stories of his youth and racing horses all over the west. We told him that our favorite town we have stopped on was Duncan. He got a wry smile and said "what did you boys find to like in Duncan?" He then went on to tell us that Duncan was one of his favorite towns and that everyone there for as long as he can remember has been very nice and the town was always pretty. So back to the title as we have ridden along the streets of El Paso we have concluded it is the least bike friendly town in which we have ever been. There is never a shoulder and if you ride along the side of the road people try to hit you. We thought the side walks would be better but it appears they have gone out of their way to make them worse. Trees were trimmed just to the right height to take our heads off, sidewalks were broken and jumbled, and the buttons for crosswalks were in the weirdest places. In one ten second section I nearly got run over by a bus and hit by two different women drivers. I'm not sure people here are familiar with bikes or if they even know what they are. I had to resort to yelling "BICYCLE BICYCLE BICYCLE!!!!"at every crosswalk and then eventual just dropped the crosswalk and yelled everywhere I went. One lady was going to hit me while she was backing up until I yelled at her to stop. It has been fun biking around here and I'm hoping the rest of the trip is not like this.
So anyway James, the guy who let us camp in his backyard, tool us back to his restaurant for breakfast where they have 2 eggs, 2 pancakes, and 2 bacon for $1.99. He told us they still make money on it and from how many people were in the store, I believe him. Anyone notice the pancakes? Still not sick of them.

NM and the west Texas town

The ride to Deming was mostly uneventful and we met up with the bishop who took who took us out for dinner and then let us spend the night at his house. Turns out he does a bit of wood working and metal working. He took us out to his shop and we had a look around and got a whole bunch of ideas for new projects. The next morning his lovely wife fixed us up a big breakfast of pancakes and they pointed us in the right direction out of town. I'll never be able to fully thank the people I've met on this trip. Everyone has been so awesome. Leaving Deming also meant leaving small towns for a little while and we are both sad to see them go. We pulled into Las Cruces and met up with our hosts for the night Zabeth and Dillon. They showed us around old Las Cruces and then took us back to watch Northern Exposure. I had totally forgot that show even existed. It was before the Seinfeld revolution of sit-coms but it still was enjoyable. We got up and peddled into El Paso and Texas. In Lordsburg we had met a guy who said to give him a call when we got into El Paso so we did and he told us to come over and get dinner. It turns out we were just in time for a bible study they were having and met a bunch of great people and had a bunch of fun. The next morning they fed us some pancakes they make on special occasions, has anyone been counting the number of pancakes I've eaten? And I don't think I'll ever get sick of them.

Church

One thing we have noticed on our trip is that small towns are way more fun for us than big towns. Also everyone has more time in small towns. On our way into church we got invited over for lunch which turned into dinner and showers and a bed to sleep in as well. We were invited over by two brothers and their wives who live out away from town and just a little ways from each other. Both were cops at one point in their life and were a lot of fun. The next morning Lloyd and his wife, Carolyn, fixed us a big breakfast of pancakes and then Lloyd and his brother Roger asked us if we wanted to shoot a special shotgun they have. It was just a single shot, break action, shotgun but what they didn't tell us was that they loaded a magnum round and with a gun that light there is very little to stop the recoil. My shoulder still hurts and I still chuckle when I think about their prank. They dropped us off in town where we got our bikes which were locked up in the church and started our ride for Deming. We opted for the I-10 and road almost all the way to Deming on the freeway. The wind was in our face most of the day so we didn't make real great time but we enjoyed he ride all the same. Southern New Mexico has a different kind of beauty, it is very flat with mountains popping up out of the flat Haphazardly. We have an almost totally clear view of the horizon in almost every direction. And in that huge sky there is not even the hint of cloud. The sunsets in this area are spectacular.

Duncan

That morning we got up to the sounds of people setting up the farmers market. They had people selling food and a local author selling his books. Everyone was complaining about the cold and another couple of people were setting up some microphones and tuning guitars for some music. It felt like all the folks in the community got together and said "we need a reason to get together once a week. We should have a farmers market." We went over to say goodbye to our friends from the night before and Sharon asked us if we had been to Three Sisters Bakery. She took us over there and got us a dozen donuts. They were soooo good. In fact we ended up going back there later that day and got apple pie pockets and meat pie pockets and everything we tried was absolutely delicious. We finally got on our bikes to get going and on the way out of town we saw Germaine's Emporium. It was an antique store that just kept expanding. It had everything you could think of even a room with all old west stuff. Hats, spurs, dusters, even guns. Duncan so far is the coolest town we have stopped in. We finally got on our bikes for real and biked to Lordsburg, New Mexico. We spent the rest of the day at McDonalds charging our phones and dumpster diving. We called the bishop in the area and he told us we could camp at the church and planned on attending the services the next day. That night was real cold again but that wasn't so bad, what kept me up all night was people walking throuh the church parking lot. The church is in the middle of a neighborhood and people used the parking lot as a shortcut home. I am sure nobody cared we were there or e even thought to rob us but I still woke up everytime a car drove too close or someone walked by.

Fairs

After the Apache Rez there was little for 10 or twenty miles and then we came upon town after small town. Also along the way for about 10 miles were signs for "Taylor's Freeze" about every half mile detailing every aspect of the menu. On hot days ice cream is almost unbeatable so we stopped into check it out. Then after an hour or so break we continued on to Safford and rode right past a temple. I had heard of the Gila valley temple but had no idea that we would ride right past it. We stopped to maybe go in but we had just missed the session and the next one wasn't for two hours. Instead we headed on to Thatcher where we hung out at a McDonalds. Actually McDonalds is one of my favorite places to stop since they have free wifi, usually we can find an outlet to charge our phones, and now to top it off MONOPOLY!! also drinks are only a dollar. So I bought a drink and won a quarter pounder. Pretty good investment I think. We were at McDonalds for a while because Drover found someone on couchsurfing.com who was willing to put us up for the night. We arrived while they were still at work and waited out the rest of the time. Our host was a primary teacher named Libby who has been living in the area a couple years. Our arrival also coincided with the arrival of the Graham county fair. Libby and another teacher in the area by the name of Kristen even got us in free! It was awesome. So we checked out the fair and the highlights were our hosts/fairguides, a hypnotist show two crazy guys selling some of the best kettle corn I've ever had. Also another near highlight was a comedian? (I'm not sure what else to call him) that did lip syncing to semi comedic songs. He said he performs over 120 times a year but I have no idea how. Also no idea how you get popular telling really bad jokes and lip syncing to other peoples songs. Mili and Vanili. I don't know how to tie them in but I want to make sure everyone knows I'm mocking them to. Anyway the fair was a blast. The next morning we went to breakfast with Libby and Kristen and caught the town parade with 4 marching bands and a handful of interesting floats and a lot more I couldn't understand. After the parade we said goodbye to our new friends and biked out to our next destination Duncan. We had kinda outran a storm coming into Safford and on our way out it looked like it was going to catch up. The wind stayed mostly on our backs and we caught a little rain but nothing bad at all. Watching a storm come over the desert is pretty cool. I brought a long a mp3 player (are they even called that anymore?) on the trip and have been exploring the dark recesses of my music selection and on this ride I was peddling along when music from Once Upon a Time in the West and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly came streaming through. I'm pretty sure everyone knows my affection for western themed film bit this took the enjoyment to a new height. My grin was hitting mile post markers on either side of the road. If Clint Eastwood would have driven by and tipped his hat I probably would have ridden into an oncoming semi to end life at the top. I'll talk about other music later.
We were climbing little by little into Duncan and finally topped out at and coasted down the hill into the tiny town. The population sign said 2000 but I was informed it was more like 700. It has been around since the mid 1880's and looked so cool with white lampposts and the western style store fronts. Just before riding into town I heard Drover coming upon on me when I thought "why is he in such a hurry? Also why is he barking?" I turned around to discover a ferocious dog, not Drover, gaining on me. I hurled an insult at that I think was technically correct even though I didn't have time to ascertain the dogs gender. I increased my speed from 12 mph to 16.5 at which point the dog decided that it wasn't worth the effort and turned around to bark at Drover. I'm sure bringing down a biker is just one rung lower than getting hit by a car in dog toughness hierarchy and was glad to disappoint. As we were riding through town looking for a place to camp we came up upon an art store/visitor center which to date has been the best find on the trip. Inside Alan and Sharon greeted us warmly showed us the art work for sale the criteria being: 1 it is local, 2 locals made it. They told us we could camp in the park across the parking lot. While talking we discovered that Sharon had gone to the same college as us and that there was a farmers market in the park we were camping in the next morning. We set up camp and got ready for sleep being very aware of the drop in the temperature. It had been getting cool since our night on the Apache reservation but that night it was very cool and got down in the low thirties. We stayed warm though through our expert status as cold weather campers and I was happy that the colder weather gear I brought along didn't end up just being dead weight the whole trip.

Roadkill

The road we have been traveling on has more road kill than I've every seen. I've seen dead birds, coyotes, skunks, snakes, and even a bloated rottweiler. As we were leaving Superior Charles talked to us about the road to Globe, which goes over a mountain, and how dangerous it is. Turns out the shoulder is there sometimes and there are several bridges and a long tunnel to go through which the shoulder entirely disappears. And also this road is frequented by truckers and trucks towing large loads. Scary though it was we made it with only minor outbreaks of profanity. We got go the top of the hill and started he ride down. Drover suggested I go first since I am by nature a little more cautious and would be more liberal on the break then he would. Going up was tough physically but down was really a test for the nerves. There is the lane with the cars in it that can only be ventured in occasionally and very briefly, the line that has the reflector bumps, an occasional shoulder which varies in width from a foot to four feet wide and then the different varieties a thorned plants, crucifixtion thorn, catclaw etc... So on the down our speeds ranged from fifteen miles an hour to my topspeed of 35.6. Drover got his up to 39.5. There is a balance between the fear and focus that comes into play when doing dangerous things. When you cross the threshold from fear to focus your skill improves greatly. First drop on that hill with catclaw and a cliff on one side and a semi on the other going 28 miles per hour i was in all fear. But as we continued down and speed increased so did my focus until that was all there was and I was hunched over and peddling to get as much speed as I can. When you make the switch into full focus it is one of the coolest feelings there is. I remember one other time skiing at Targhee on a powder day where all there was in the world was my skis and the fluffy snow and I'm sure I did the best skiing of my life. So we made it into Miami, Arizona which is right next to Globe did some shopping. Apparently Wal-mart doesn't like it when you bring your bike in the store. I thought I was being polite by not riding it but they still weren't to happy.
After we cleared Globe our next big stretch was through the Apache Rez. We bad been warned to be real careful during that part of the ride but I was unsure why because every one on the reservation was super nice to us. The next day someone even thanked us for going through at a grocery store. Anyway we got a delicious Apache burger at a gas station and found a place to camp. It was one of the few times we actually set up before dark and since we were a little ways away from the road we built a small fire and sat around and ate and talked like your supposed to do when you go camping. At three o clock that morning I was convinced it was about to rain and had to find a place to set up my tarp. Of course it didn't. After working with the youngwalkers at Anasazi I have come to cherish camping where I don't have to take care of other people.
The next day, Thursday, we got up and saw a brewing storm behind us and decided to make tracks for Safford in hopes of beating the storm. For a great portion of the morning we fought through the wind making only what felt like a little progress and then shortly after we left the Apache reservation the winds changed and started blowing us to our destination. After we had peddled so hard for so little we were rewarded with twenty mile an hour speeds with what felt like no effort. When you bike in the wind you are constantly aware of it, but when you bike with the wind all it just feels really easy. You don't feel anything because you are going the speed of the wind. I'm sure there is some really super deep and insightful analogy I could make with this but I haven't. I do appreciate a good tailwind probably more than the next guy.

On the road again...

So after a week break in Mesa we finally hit the road again and set off to a little town called Superior. It was even harder to leave our friends a second time but we managed to tear ourselves away and continue on the trip. We had made it a good ways up the road and were just to the top of a big hill taking a break when this car stops by and asks us where we were headed and when we responded Superior he asked if we wanted a place to stay. Of course we did. Right after he left I realized my bike had a flat tire. Then I realized I used up all my spare tubes and didn't have a patch kit. Drover also used all his spares. Since it was a slow leak I pumped it up and had to pump it up again every mile or so. On top of this my right knee which had been hurting a little had start to hurt a lot, my energy was low and I was starting to feel sick. I finally couldn't do it anymore and told Drover to bike the last two miles into town and meet up with Charles, the guy that was letting us stay at his place, and I would walk my bike into town and just meet up later. Drover rode off and I sat down to regroup mentally for a few minutes and then got up to start walking. About a hundred yards after I started walking a man in a big truck stopped and I threw my bike in the bed of his truck and passed Drover riding. He dropped me off at a Circle K, and nothing strange was afoot, and shortly after I unloaded my bike Drover peddled up and we walked our bikes the two blocks to the place we were staying, nearly losing the flesh around our ankles to a pack of wild chihuahuas. We pulled into the house and Charles welcomed us inside. At this point my head was going fuzzy, and my stomach hurt so bad. I tried to pay attention to the conversation but ended up just escaping to the bathroom. Pretty soon Charles left leaving his guest house, currently being renovated, in our care and I took up residency on the couch hoping to find some position where I was not in pain. Charles had told us to help ourselves to the food in the cupboard so Drover started cooking while I laid on the couch. Eventually the time came and I rushed to the bathroom and ralphed all that was in my stomach. After that I took a few bites of what Drover had cooked and then laid back down, my stomach still hurting but feeling much better. Eventually I checked out the fridge and saw several cans of Sprite which of course is great for sore stomachs. Now feeling much better we explored the few DVDs laying around and were excited to find The Expendables among the collection. We popped it in and enjoyed it on Charles' HD flatscreen. It is sometimes nice to know someone is looking out for you.
So the house that we were staying in had its own story. It at one time was condemned but was being renovated by Charles and his wife, Mary. It is going to be in a house show mid October and has several parts that are finished and many that are still in progress, the primary one being the six inch gap under the front door. It does a good job keeping people out but cats have no problem getting through and we enjoyed tripping over them. Mary is an artist so the inside of the house was really cool and we each had our own room with a bed which was a real treat since I have been sleeping on a cot or the ground for the last five months. The next day we set out to find some bike tubes of which there are none for road touring bikes in Superior. We did get a hold of a patch kit along with some groceries. We figured we should make the most of our time with a kitchen. After I patched up my tires, while I was at the house my other tire went flat, it started raining and blowing and we determined our current condition was far to comfortable to venture out of and we waited the storm out and decided to head out the next day and spent the evening, cooking, eating, and enjoying the history channel.

Mesa

We stayed in Mesa a week and partied.

Deserts, diapers and dehydration part 2

So continuing on from the last post... We took off from the truck stop and made it to a flat spot a little ways from the freeway and camped for the night planning to bike to water at a truck stop 15 miles away. Before we headed out we were real nervous because we knew we were going to have a big hill to climb especially after the last hill we had to climb out of Indio. So we were pretty apprehensive but I ate a big meal of top ramen and hit the hill. A few miles out of town there was a rest stop already a ways up the hill and we got there pretty quick and were surprised at how easy it was. After a few bike malfunctions and long enough to get annoyed with night riding we called it a day and dry camped for the night. We biked to the truck stop and after breakfast and a little break set off to another rest stop. We got to the rest stop just as the thermometer topped out around 108. At the rest stop Drover and I both had knees that were hurting bad and were pretty discouraged because of the heat and distance to next water, around 50 miles. We laid around for awhile toying with the idea of hitchhiking into Mesa. It was a long way to water and if our knees started acting up we could be in a bad place. After resting for a while we finally decided just to go for it. We saddled up and threw bandanas across our faces in attempt to keep in a little moisture and peddled off. We decided to take breaks every hour to drink hot water and cool down a little. Amazingly enough at the top of every hour we came up on an overpass and were able to break in the only shade for miles. It was so hot that any breeze felt like a blow dryer and brought no relief. My mouth would get so dry I couldn't swallow until I had let water sit in my mouth long enough to lubricate things and then I could drink. Another time resting in the shade of an underpass I felt my body overheating. It felt just like an engine and I couldn't even keep my arms next to my torso because it was just to hot so I poured a little water on my chest which at first seemed to make things worse, the water was very warm, but then began to cool me down. At last we had biked the several hours across the desert and came to a rest stop which had the coldest and beat tasting water j have ever had at a rest stop. After that we climbed a little hill and stopped for the night in an empty lot next to a truck stop. The truck stop had a subway and we told our story to a few people sitting outside who were pretty impressed. One guy eating his sandwich next to his Maserati told us people told him not to ride across that section on a motorcycle. What we would have given for a motorcycle. So we downed some subway and started looking for an unattended power outlet. One of the things that I've found I take for granted are these. When your not homeless or have friends that you are staying with it is easy to charge your phone, but when you are camping it can be a little difficult. Also we rely on our iPhones a lot especially the gps/maps. So we found a store owner with an outside outlet who was happy to let us use it. While we were standing outside we see the sheriffs car pull in and a police officer steps out and asks us what we were doing. Fortunately the store owner came out and took care of things for us. The officer, after chatting with the store owner, Eddy, turned to us and told us we were awesome. The next day we got up and biked the 70+ miles into Mesa stopping at a gas station as soon as my ice melted. We pulled into our friends house just before 6.