I'm looking for something like Mexico, but maybe a bit more modern

Long story short: New Mexico was awesome. So so so so so beautiful and amazing to bike through. I can't believe we've already gotten through the entire state.

Last I left you we had just gotten into NM. Now I'm writing from Springerville, AZ.

What happened since last time we talked?

Highlights:

Portales, NM: the mayor declared July 29th, 2009, Bike & Build day! We had a great dinner at their church. We were also able to talk to a local resident who was receiving a house from Habitat and saw her finished place. She was truly touched by what Habitat has done for her. Along with a great dinner and breakfast the city also provided us a police escort out of the city the next morning. It was a solid four miles and definitely put everyone in a great mood.

That day, particularly, turned out to be great. It was a century ride into Roswell. Century rides can always sound overwhelming, but, oh man, was that ride great. For once we actually had a tail wind and could easily hit 30mph! I pace lined with Sadie and Cali for most of the day (more Cali near the end) and we seriously averaged 21mph. We flew there. We stayed at ENMU Roswell and they had a pool to offer us when we got in.

Our time in Roswell was...um.. just kind of eh. The city was pretty blando commando besides all the alien stuff which is more just tourist bs, overall. Megan's parents took us to a Mexican dinner the first night we were there. It started storming like crazy right as we were about to leave. Seriously, just from running from the front door to the car we got SOAKED. We then waited twenty minutes in the van for the storm to lighten up and when we left it was like we were fording rivers with how bad the streets were.

After an early night (still was grossly sick) I ended up waking up at 5:30. I couldn't fall back asleep, so I listened to my ipod for a half hour until I finally did.

Like I said, day off in Roswell.... thrilling. Megan's parents took us all out to IHOP, but, due to the distance and lack of shuttling, breakfast took a solid three hours. After, we went to the UFO museum which was two dollars and a joke. A local coffee shop looked kind of neat, but was disappointing. We had to get back by 3:00 to get our laundry out and it seemed like no one in Roswell had ever used their bus system. It's probably because it was more of a van that came every forty minutes and had a bunch of crazy locals on it. Andrea's shorts were wet when we got off and we're pretty confident she had sat in pee.

The rest of the day we just hung by the pool until Christina's mom (also came to visit) took us all out to a buffet dinner. The shuttling and distance also meant a long night, but it was definitely appreciated.

Oh, I did get a few packages in the mail on our mail drop day! That was exciting for me.

The next day's ride was from Roswell to Carrizozo. The day didn't start so hot. It was just dreary out and really windy. Sarah got a flat and then Christina did. At one point we passed a stick in the road, only to realize it was some kind of bone (looked human) when we got closer. Then, we saw a dead dog...in a duffel bag. Yes, not a joke. Disgusting. Finally, at mile 30 there was a huge gravel patch at the bottom of a small decline. Christina was ahead of me and I watched her fish tail until she finally fell. I grabbed my brakes, but just slid over the gravel, hit her back tire, and fell, too. My elbow and knee are scratched up, but she definitely fell harder. We were both okay and kept riding.

A guy started following us on his bike and hung out at lunch with us. His wife worked at the ENMU Roswell campus and she told him about us and he wanted to ride with us a bit. Pretty cool.

Overall, the first 50 miles sucked. It got hot and hilly really fast. But once we made a turn onto a different road things got much better. There was still some up and down, but not nearly as windy. And after second lunch we had a few miles of climbing and then the last 14 miles were pretty much all down hill. Not only that, but it opened up to the most incredible view ever. It was sunny, but there were at least three rain clouds in the distance. And pedaling was effortless. It was such a high for anyone riding that day and it really is hard to justify in words. A stunning view and a great ride into the town.

The town, itself, didn't offer much. We stayed at the middle school, had our family meeting, and slept.

The next morning we took off for Socorro. A pretty uneventful ride besides the gorgeous scenery. There were some cool descends, too. We played this bandanna game where sweep started out with a red bandanna and the goal was to get the bandanna signed by every rider and to the front of the line by the time we got to the host site. Aaron stayed at lunch waiting for sweep and, once he got it, he took off. He came upon us and we signed it and he was off again. We found out later he was three people shy when he got to the pastor's house we were staying at. But he's a trooper.

It's funny how, now that we're getting in the desert, gas stations are equivalent to a tropical oasis. They offer water, snacks, and fountain drinks. I am totally hooked on fountain Cokes. NOTHING in the world tastes better after a 30 mile stretch in hot hot heat. This gas station we stopped at offered a variety of pins that I could add to my collection. I bought two: "Fantasy Lover," and "It's Not Easy Being a Sex Symbol." Rock.

The pastor greeted us with some amazing burgers and chili cheese fries. A group of six of us needed to get bike work done, so the pastor made some calls (because the bike shop is closed on Sundays) and they opened their doors just for us at 4:00. I got my bike fixed, but... we were there until 8:00. Not the most fun time in the world. Everyone had eaten by the time we got back, but the pastor was still at the oven making us some delicious burritos.

We were going to have an AH meeting that night, but, because of the bike shop detour, we pushed it to the next night. Everyone had one thing on their mind: this mythical hardest ride ever the next day to Pie Town.

The riders last year rated Pie Town as their hardest ride. People just started joking about how bad it was going to be.

Personally, all the hype was great because it definitely didn't deliver.

Sure, I got a flat at mile six or so, but big whoop. The first ten miles we gained 1700 feet of elevation, but after that it wasn't THAT bad. We hit some bad wind at the end of the day, but I would not classify it as our worst ride. One thing that is a pain is biking at such a high elevation. I can barely drink out of my Camelbak without getting out of breath. And just imagine how difficult it is to breathe once you start laughing really hard. That has happened a couple times. Poor Andrea was having a rough time with me and Larry because we kept farting so much. Talk about head winds.

Thinking back, I do remember getting really frustrated with the wind at the end of the day. I wasn't descending fast enough on a hill, so I stopped pedaling. Andrea caught up to me and asked, "What's wrong? What are you doing?" and I snapped with "GOING DOWN A HILL, WHAT'S IT LOOK LIKE?!" I dropped from the front and then apologized when she dropped back. We laugh about it now.

Also, there was this nice gentleman at second lunch who segued his interest in the organization into how End Times might be coming soon... awk-ward.

Pie Town was very interesting. It's a community of less than 100 and we stayed at someones house. But it wasn't their house anymore. They turned it into a hikers lodge that was open to anyone who needed to use it. A lot of people hike the continental divide and end up there. The house, itself, was decorated interestingly with toasters in the front yard and random stuff all over.

The community had a nice dinner for us at their community center complete with pie for dessert! We did an AH meeting after and then walked back. I'll tell you, some of these sunsets I've seen in NM are breathtaking. Red and orange and crazy clouds. Pics soon!

People mozied around all night. Some watched a movie, some sang songs while Tess played the guitar. We ended up crashing early. I got to sleep in a bed upstairs (shared, of course) and it was so comfortable. I did wake up with a big bug on my chest, but I threw it on the floor (maybe on top of Jenna... my bad).

This morning we slept in until 5:15, had a nice breakfast at the community center (the yogurt expired two months ago; didn't realize that til after we ate it all) and took off to Springerville, AZ.

A relatively calm ride it was. The first 20 miles were pretty much all downhill and we went 21 miles in an hour. The gas station we stopped at had the cutest boxer puppy, Spot. Also, it had free Starbucks fraps because they expired in December. I was skeptical, but drank them anyway.

I jumped around from people to people during the ride. Sometimes I felt a fire under my ass, so I really booked it for reason. Some parts of the ride were worse than Pie Town's ride. There was the city of Red Hill which only had to offer a rest area.. and a large obnoxious hill (who would have thought?). We hit the AZ border, too, and, once we did, it seemed like they threw out the idea of switchbacks and just had straight up and down hills. There was a sweet descend into town and a nice McDonald's awaiting us with their fountain drinks... mmmmm.....

Okay, I have to get going now because tonight's the talent show! I'm in about four acts and still have to practice a few of them. Hopefully I place first or second. We'll see. There should be some tough competition.

Until next time, bike on, riders!