Skip to main content

Day 17- Las Cruces

 A Sunny start to the day meant our tents had a chance to dry while we had breakfast. Caballo State Park is lovely but is on a river and there was a lot of moisture. Also, they must do horse camping there because there was definitely manure on our site. Lucky for me this was not much of a problem.

The ride was pretty straightforward. Very flat today with just 755 feet of elevation over 58 miles. We are in chili growing country and there were produce production plants all along the beginning of the ride.




At 20 miles we found ourselves in Hatch which claims to be the Chili Capital of the World. It’s a very small town, just two roads really, and contain some of the best street art I’ve ever seen. They were chilies drying  at many establishments and lots of touristy things to buy. It’s a good thing I can’t carry anything more on my bike.


We stopped at Jim’s Groceries. For $1.49 I got a delicious bacon and green chili breakfast burrito. It was everything I imagined it could be and it went straight to my legs.  Around the corner was Sparky‘s restaurant. Sadly it was closed as it advertised itself as the home of the green chili cheeseburger, but it was adorned with all sorts of signs and statues that delighted  us no end.


As usual I made a new friend…

We eventually moved on and enjoyed the landscape of mountains in the distance. We had to dodge a couple dogs. This could be an early warm-up for Texas. So far a big voice has kept them at bay but Terry has let me use his dog zapper, for which I am eternally grateful.



When we weren’t gazing at mountains we were cruising through pecan groves. They smelled a little like potatoes at first. They seem to go on and on forever.


The ride ended at a KOA high on a hill with lovely tent sites. We met Matt, who is recovering from his day 4 accident, at the Icebox and enjoyed craft beer and barbecue.

 40 miles tomorrow and it’s new state day!
Things I learned today:
  • I’m still usually the caboose, but I’m a much faster caboose now.

Comments

  1. AnonymousOctober 12, 2022 at 3:13 PM

    Wow. Sounds like a really lovely day and the campsite area looked nice too. Keep on going little caboose...I think you can, I think you can. Debbie

    ReplyDelete
  2. Mary DeRomeOctober 12, 2022 at 3:41 PM

    Such an amazing and entertaining blog! You go girl!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Day 1- Ocean Beach to Alpine

 Day 1 is in the books! Great day that started at Dog  Beach and a back wheel dip in the Pacific. Tad, Kathy, and Charlotte met me down there. It was great to see them as we headed out. The ride was flat for the first 25 miles or so, but hot! Temps were in the 90s with blazing sun and clear blue skies. We separated out early into smaller groups. I found good peddling with Sue and Ann. We also crossed paths with Adam and Kelly, the tandem riders. Our route took us to through Mission Gorge regional park which was absolutely gorgeous. A nice pass that cut through the mountains and made it possible for us to miss an incredible climb. No worries; there are plenty more ahead of us. At 30 miles we made sure we were fully loaded with water and electrolytes. I’m not sure if I’ve ever consumed this much fluid in a single day. Then the climb began. On the map it looked evil, almost straight up. In reality it was less steep than it was long. It was 6 miles at about three or 4% grade. It d...
7 comments
Read more

Day 53- Perry FL

 We had a very windy night which made for a great sleeping. I set an alarm for 1:00 AM so I could see the Artemis unmanned moon rocket launch, but when I got up I found it had been pushed back and well, 70 miles, so I chose sleep over history. It was gray when we got up, and gray as we headed out. And chilly! I wished I’d opted for leggings over my shorts but was happy to have gloves. Small victories.The temp said it was almost 60 – my body threw the BS flag. I was cold all day. Not much to say about this ride. We had a 20 mile bike path that took us off route 98 for a while. We met another Bike traveler named Tony who had been on the road since June 26.  He started in Connecticut and rode to Indianapolis, then back towards Pittsburgh where he rode the trails to DC. He then went to Key West and is now on his way to New Orleans. We asked questions about his gear (there wasn’t much!) and traded a few stories and wished each other well. We got off the trail and crossed the St Mar...
3 comments
Read more

Day 45- Poplarville MS- Rest Day

 Today was our first day of rest after 12 days of riding, so of course I woke up at 1:30 AM. I was absolutely sure it was 6:30 AM and I was ready for the day. I love all these perks of getting older. As luck would have it, there was a lunar eclipse starting right around this time.  I was, of course, wide awake for it. I peeked out of the tent, took a look at the moon,  read for a while, peeked at the moon again, and decided I was hungry. I snuck out to my bike to grab a bar, there being no milk and cookies readily available like there are when this happens at home. I finally called it a night again around three. 630 finally came around for real and I was ready. The Snowflake Donut and Taco store. Beckoned and a bunch of us that off for coffee. The tacos looked pretty good but I held out for brunch back at the campground. After brunch, most of us loaded into the van and headed into New Orleans. We parked in the French quarter and headed right to café Dumond, will became im...
3 comments
Read more