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 50- Mexico Beach FL

 We worried about the cool temps predicted for this morning, but the truth was, 46° in the sunshine was pretty pleasant with the right layers. I had a chance to work out some navigation because ride with GPS gave me an old route that didn’t start at the La Quinta, but at a point 7 miles away. I would’ve done better with a paper map, but struggled enough with the phone to figure it out. Even a little win feels good. We rode the 18 mile Timpoochee trail. It went past several lakes and state parks and through some rather fancy planned neighborhoods.  Ankur made a statement yesterday about how much of what we’ve seen has been man-made or planned by men, often as a result of hurricane damage. I found this to be a great contrast to parts of the southwest where nature seems to be taking back the land, growing up over abandoned houses. When I turned onto 98 E. I noticed beach access and headed down to look at the water. There was a kiosk there about artificial fish reefs that caught m...
1 comment
Read more

Day 37- Silsbee Texas

 It’s Halloween and I’m sorry I could not pull together any sort of costume. I did take a stab at it in Austin, but Target let me down. Ann, however, managed to get her friends to take her somewhere where she got pieces to make a very patriotic character. It was fun to ride with her as the drivers honked their approval. As we prepare to leave Texas tomorrow we are beginning to see more water. This morning we crossed the Trinity river right off the bat.  We made a stop after lunch at the Honey Island General Store and met Chuck, the owner. I asked him how the town got its name, and he said “here’s the story I believe…” The people of the town did not own slaves during the Civil War, and as such, did not want to fight for slaveowners rights. The powers that be didn’t approve and decided to set fire to the area they thought the resistors were hiding in. This area was known as the big thicket, a Jungle-y type area with such thick underbrush that it still has not been developed. The...
2 comments
Read more

Day 35- New Waverly, Texas

 Today’s ride was more of the same — farm fields, horses, cattle, even some cows with floppy ears that made them look like they had been mixed with sheep. My day’s regret was not getting a picture. It’s too bad the weather was still gray when we left because the lake and the beach in Somerville would be great in the sun, but with 71 miles ahead of us we were up and out early. Our first stop was Independence, home of the original Baylor University. It started as a girls school, then Baylor Academy (coed- you go, progressive Texas!) and finally the University before it moved to Waco. Locals told us that the current dean has freshman and seniors come to the site each year; freshmen to learn the history, and seniors to say goodbye. The site also included some early Texas homes from the 1820s. One was called a dog- trot house, called that because it has a breezeway in the middle. The center area was often used as a dog kennel. They also had examples of other homes from the 1820s which i...
1 comment
Read more