Day #39: Deming, NM- Lordsburg, NM 59.0 Miles

Tailwinds!!!


Today we had steady tailwinds for the first time!  It was like we pressed the cruise control button on our Surly Long Haul Trucker bikes and flew to Lordsburg.


With the help of Mother Nature, we raced towards Lordsburg at roughly 20mph pace. We stopped after 20 miles to get ice cream when we noticed a Dairy Queen coming up at a rest stop.  Our friend Dovi Zucker would be disappointed if we passed a Dairy Queen and didn't stop, so even though it was about 10am we decided to split a large blizzard. At the rest stop, we asked a woman if there was a frontage road along the highway. She told us there was (we ended up not using it).  She asked us where we were headed and we told her we were headed to Lordsburg.   She was surprised that we were going that far considering she had passed us in her car on her way to work. After a total of 3 hours and 30 minutes of biking, we had reached Lordsburg (59 miles in 3.5 hours...you do the math)! Along our route today we passed the "Continental Divide" - the line that divides whether water runs into the Pacific Ocean, or into the Atlantic Ocean (pic below).  Its surprising that the line is so far west, but water that goes into the Gulf of Mexico ends up in the Atlantic.  We checked into the Best Western, watched a few episodes of "30 Rock" (we are trying to get through all the seasons... we really like it so far), and went swimming. We are going to watch a few more episodes of "30 Rock" before we go to sleep.  We would have preferred to keep biking today but the next lodging opportunity (even camping) was over 70 miles away in Wilcox, AZ - where we hope to get to tomorrow.


Thanks for coming along for the ride!


Here is some info on the Continental Divide:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continental_Divide_of_the_Americas


Check out our route at the link below:
Deming, NM- Lordsburg, NM

Day #38: Las Cruses, NM- Deming, NM 56.7 Miles

We left Lodge on the Desert at 8:30am after filling up our water bottles and taking some bagels for the road.  We did not anticipate seeing anything for roughly 50 miles.  We rode on the frontage road running along I- 10 for the first 20 miles of our trip to Deming. When the frontage road ended, we stopped at an Exxon station to ask if the frontage road continued on the other side of the road (it does that sometimes). The man we asked told us that it did not, but we decided to go for it anyway because our GPS told us that it did.  . As it turns out, the man and the GPS were both right (and wrong).  For about a mile the frontage road was paved, but then it turned into an unpaved road for possibly another 7 miles.   We rode on an the unpaved road for about 2 miles, then decided to turn around and head back to the Interstate. This was our 1st and last wrong turn we will make in NM (wishful thinking)!  Riding on a dirt road is rather unpleasant especially when on a road bike with about 30 pounds of gear on it.  While we thought we had been finished with "dirt biking" for the day, we were wrong.  While riding along I-10 there was construction along the shoulder and we were forced to ride on gravel for about 2 miles.  We didn't pass any more places to fill up on water, but we had plenty of extra water with us. We pulled into Deming around 3:00pm, and headed straight for the Walmart! At this point we have perfected our routine in Walmarts.  We know the store layout so well we can practically find exactly what we need while wearing a blindfold - which is pretty good since these are Super Walmarts.  When we pull in, we immediately bring our bikes to the customer service area, where there is a wall  that fits two bikes perfectly.  We then shop and tie the bags to our bikes.  Because we enter the store with such authority the people working there don't even ask us what we are doing.  At the beginning of our trip we would have a 10 minute discussion about where we could, or could not leave our bikes.  When we were in Walmart today there was an announcement on the intercom saying if anybody lost a set of keys please come to the customer service area.  Instinctively we thought about whether they could be our keys.  We then realized that we don't have any keys with us - a strange realization.  We got food for tonight and tomorrow, and checked into the Best Western hotel which was a short ride from the Walmart.


This past week we watched the movie Mersine. It was a great, 2 part movie about a French gangster. We really liked both parts despite the subtitles... we found that the subtitles didn't take away from the movie. We recommend this movie to anyone who likes a little bit of violence, suspense, and classic gangster movies.


Thanks for coming along for the ride!!


Check out our route at the link below:
Las Cruses, NM- Deming, NM

Day #37: Anthony, TX- Las Cruces, NM 33.9 Miles

NEW MEXICO - LAND OF ENCHANTMENT!!!


It took us less than 5 minutes to enter New Mexico today... our hotel was literally on the border between TX and NM.  It took us  19 days to get across Texas, the widest state in the  continental USA - not a world record, but a record for us.  We stopped at the Tourist Center, and got useful information and some maps of NM.


Based on the information we received, we decided to bike to Las Cruces on the frontage road of I- 10, then continue until we reach Phoenix, AZ. This is off the Adventure Cycling maps, but it will help us avoid hitting the southern tip of the Rockies (we can actually see some of those mountains from our B&B). We stopped at the Walmart in Las Cruces to get some frozen food for dinner, and almost bought an electric razor to shave off our beards (we decided to hold off on that for now - we also don't have a lot of room in our panniers). We got back on our bikes, and climbed out of the valley we were in - that means uphill. We reached the Lodge on the Desert B&B, and were greeted by Laverne, the inn keeper who has owned this great lodge since the 1970's.  She showed us to our room, which has a patio overlooking the valley and the Organ Mountains - called that because they look like the windpipes of an organ (see pics). Laverne told us that Anthony Texas, where we stayed last night is about as dangerous as Juarez, Mexico which is the murder capital of the world.  Yesterday when we were on our bus tour in El Paso we passed by the border crossing into Juarez.  Dinner was great, and we are hopefully going to sleep early tonight, so we can take on New Mexico tomorrow!


Thanks for coming along for the ride!


Check out our route at the link below:
Anthony, TX- Las Cruces, NM

Day #36: Fabens, TX- Anthony, TX. 50.0 Miles

A trip into the twilight zone... Un viaje en la zona crepuscular


We left the Fabens Inn Motel and rode through the town of Fabens.  After biking 25 miles, we hit the outskirts of El Paso! We were excited because we had reached the end of the last map of Texas, but this excitement soon faded. As we biked through the bustling city of El Paso, traffic increased, the shoulder totally disappeared, and drivers became less and less 'bike friendly.'  Downtown El Paso was the first big city we have been to since the beginning of the trip and by far the least bike friendly.  Several buses passed us with bike racks on the front, and we decided to try out the local bus system to get to someplace off our route. We sat at a bus stop, and waited for the bus. When one finally came, the driver didn't speak English and he slammed the doors in our faces and sped away before we could get our bikes on the rack. The next bus that came wasn't any better. Finally, we were able to get on a bus (3rd time's the charm). There was not a word of English spoken on the bus, all advertisements were in Spanish, and all announcements were in Spanish as well. The driver spoke broken English, and was able to help us figure out which stop to get off at. We had to transfer at the main terminal, and we could not find a single police officer (or any one else) who spoke any English! It was truly uncomfortable, but the buses were well air conditioned and we got to the Walmart (our intended destination). We tried to get some Kosher meat at a store near Walmart, but they were closed from 12:00pm- 4:00pm so we decided to skip it.  We got a few things at the Walmart and decided to go to Anthony Texas instead of staying in El Paso. We started off on I- 10, but decided to go on the parallel service (frontage) road because it had less traffic. We arrived at the Best Western Hotel, and found a pitcher of perfectly chilled water with a hint of strawberry in the lobby. We ate some of the food that we got from Walmart, and sipped our strawberry water.  Then we went for a swim while doing laundry in a real washing machine - first time in over two weeks.   We are excited to enter New Mexico tomorrow (we can see the "welcome" sign from our hotel)!!  We currently are being treated to a spectacular lightning storm with a lot of cloud to ground lightning - glad we're inside!


Thanks for coming along for the ride!


Check out our route at the link below:
Fabens, TX- Anthony, TX

Day #35: Sierra Blanca- Fabens, TX 58.8 Miles

We woke up at what we thought was 7:40am, but was actually 6:40am. We considered going back to sleep for an hour, but decided it would be better to get an early start. This ended up paying off, because we avoided the heat of the day. We stopped in Fort Hancock to get ice cream and to refill our water bottles.  We ran into a couple who had 3 greyhound dogs with them.  Two of them were originally racing dogs, but the third was not good enough to make the cut.  They were very well trained and did not chase after us (see pics).  The couple told us they regretted never having done a cross country bike ride, but they did go across England which they said was all hills.  They said the British build roads over mountains rather than around them.  We noticed that my front tire seemed a little low on air, but decided not to change the inner tube. We pumped the tire up, and headed towards Fabens. We made it to the Fabens Motel around 1:20pm. The rooms are clean, the AC works, and there's food not too far down the road. We had some very nice, gradual down hills (one was 3 miles long!), and some challenging uphill climbs... but we made it! Tomorrow we hope to get to El Paso (the end of Texas)... then we're off to New Mexico!!!


Thanks for coming along for the ride!


Check out our route at the link below:
Sierra Blanca, TX- Fabens, TX

Day #34: Van Horn, TX- Sierra Blanca, TX 33.6 Miles

Back to the Interstate!


The Adventure Cycling map had us going along I-10 on a service road, so we decided to give the Interstate another try (the road surface on the service road looked really bad). The shoulder was wide and well paved, and there wasn't a lot of traffic. A few miles past Van Horn, we entered Mountain Time (we gained an hour)! We flew to Sierra Blanca, and we decided to eat an early lunch there because there wasn't another place to eat for another 40 miles. We decided to stay in Sierra Blanca instead of Fort Hancock because it would have been an additional 54 miles to the next lodging opportunity. We called around to the 3 motels in the area, and we discovered that only 1 was still operational. The woman on the phone told us that there were no rooms available for tonight and that we should try again tomorrow. We called again 20 minutes later and got the same answer... it looked as if we were headed to Hancock after all! 


Despite what the woman on the phone said, my dad suggested we go to the motel and ask if they had a room (it was right down the street so why not). If they did not have a room my dad was prepared to make them "an offer they couldn't refuse" (involving cash of course).  Thankfully when we got there a room was available (the woman at the front desk didn't seem to know what we were talking about when we told her that someone had told us the motel was full). The room is clean, air conditioned, and most importantly... not 50+ miles down the road! In reality, we are just trying to hold onto Texas as long as possible... just kidding.... we figured it wouldn't be smart to push ourselves with 2 big days in a row.


If you want to read more about the Prada store yesterday you can go to the following link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prada_Marfa


Thanks for coming along for the ride!


Check out our route at the link below:
Van Horn, TX- Sierra Blonca, TX

Day #33: Fort Davis, TX- Van Horn, TX 80.7 Miles

You should probably listen to this song while you read the blog... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9LjbMVXj0F8


Today we went all out! To avoid sleeping in the tent I've been carrying since Del Rio, we biked over 80 miles  to sleep in an air conditioned Holiday Inn Express. We were lucky enough to avoid a very steep up/ down hill, and instead, we used an alternate route and had a long gradual up, and a long gradual down (much more enjoyable). We reached Valentine TX - about 40 miles from Fort Davis,  hoping to fill our water bottles and grab a snack. Luckily we had extra water with us, because there was literally NOTHING there. We passed by  closed stores and abandoned homes, but we did get to see the famous Valentine Post Office. Apparently people send Valentine cards to this post office (see pics)  to be post marked, so their valentine receives a valentine from Valentine, TX. After we biked through the ghost town  (Valentine), we proceeded about 5 miles into the desert, when we saw something that made us realize that God really does answer peoples prayers.  The problem was he was answering somebody elses prayers.  We were praying for cold water and a snack and God was evidently answering the prayers of our friend Samantha who is currently a fashion student at NYU.  Out of the blue we came across  a Prada store! (see pics and video below).   It wasn't a real Prada store - but is an exact replica.  Apparently, it is considered art and was donated by an artist from New York. I fail to see the art behind the structure in the middle of the desert, but we certainly got excited at the thought of being able to fill our water bottles (a fairly mean trick). We made it to Van Horn, and took a picture at the sign. Right after putting the camera away, the skies opened up! The rain felt like bullets, and the wind stung. We sprinted to the nearest gas station, ate a lot, and waited out the rain. The last 1.5 miles to the Holiday Inn were pretty tough given that the road wasn't paved, and we were tired from the long day. We are going to get dinner, then go to sleep.


Thanks for coming along for the ride!


Check out our route at the link below: 
Fort Davis, TX- Van Horn

Check out a video at the link below:
http://www.youtube.com/user/Elliotsloyer#p/a/u/0/Gpdvtc7OwRM

Day #32: Marathon, TX- Fort Davis, TX 54.5 Miles

Today was a tough day, but we made it!

Math Question:  You have 6 extra inner tubes and you get 3 flat tires - how many inner tubes do you have left?  In our case the answer was zero.  Last Wednesday when we got 3 flat tires in 30 minutes we believed we had 6 extra inner tubes.  After the first flat, we realized that the small bag under my dads seat was missing.  We are still not sure whether we left it someplace or if it fell off - we are trying to track it down.  That bag had 3 new inner tubes, and a lot of tools for our bike.  Luckily 3 inner tubes were in a different bag and we used them all.  We planned to stop in Alpine, the only city between Marathon and Fort Davis, to stock up on inner tubes at the bike shop.  Seven miles away from Alpine I got a flat tire. I was too far behind my dad to catch up (trust me, I tried) so I decided to try to call him on our new pay-as-you- go phone. I decided it would be smart to ride slowly while I tried to call him. That turned out to be a pretty bad idea because the inner tube came out of the tire, and wrapped itself around the gears of my bike! The back tire was completely jammed up so walking the bike wasn't an option. I got in touch with my dad, and he came back to help.  After untangling the tube from the gears, we decided to patch an old inner tube that had a small hole in it (luckily we had it, because this inner tube was shredded up and un-patchable). Thankfully the patch held out, and we made it to Alpine! The name of the bike shop was The Bikeman... and John (the owner) is literally that.... The Bikeman (he knew all the tricks for fixing bikes)! He adjusted our brakes, put a new chain on my bike, and sold us thorn resistant inner tubes (along with a few regular, less space consuming ones). He also put a new tire on my back wheel that is thorn resistant, so hopefully I'll have less flat tires! He gave us some great tips on tire changing, and he was kind enough to share some of his home grown/ home dried tomato 'chips.' They were delicious (see pics below of the drier)! He also told us in Texas "if it doesn't sting you, stick you, or bite you... its a rock!" As we rode away, we decide to stop at the next gas station to fill up our waters and get some snacks. As we were getting ready to leave the gas station, we saw storm clouds on the horizon. To our left, the skies were cloudless and blue, but to our right (the way we were going), the sky was almost black! We looked at the weather on my dad's iPhone, and saw that there was a stationary storm over Fort Davis, with frequent cloud to ground lightning. We waited for close to 2 hours before we started biking in hopes that the rain had stopped. We put on our rain gear and headed out.  Before leaving we spoke to a man who told us we were going to encounter some significant hills that we would need to walk up with all our gear (he obviously didn't realize who we were, because we were able to make it up those hills without getting off our bikes).  The rain had indeed stopped, but the head winds were the strongest we have encountered the entire trip! We were pedaling on flat ground, but it felt like we were going up very steep hills. We took off our rain gear because it was acting like a sail, pushing us in the wrong direction.  We were worried that the winds would remain this strong for the remaining 25 miles, but they died down after about an hour. We hit some tough hills just before entering Fort Davis, and we were very happy to see our motel on the horizon. Tired from a long week, we showered, ate dinner, then went to bed.

The beer of the day was Miller Highlife. This beer was very drinkable, but lacked originality (which isn't such a bad thing). As for our rating, we give it a 6.7 out of 10.


Today (Saturday) we relaxed by the pool (it wasn't really swimming weather... it was cloudy/ rainy all day) for a little while, and spoke to Randell (the motel owner) who was very nice and very informative about the area. He told us about the EFI Club (Every "Freaking" Inch Club - where some bikers insist on doing every inch of the exact route on the Adventure Cycling maps)  We assured him we are not part of that club.  He then told us about a shorter way to get to Van Horn (about 12 miles shorter) which will help us avoid having to camp in Kent (a city in between Fort Davis and Van Horn on the Adventure Cycling maps) and also will help us avoid a significant rise and fall in elevation.  Tomorrow is going to be a LONG day, but we think we can do it... especially on a day's rest.

Thanks for coming along for the ride!
Marathon, TX- Fort Davis, TX

Day #31: Sanderson, TX- Marathon, TX 55.1 Miles.

Today, as we filled up our water bottles at the convenience store next to the Outback Oasis Motel, we got closure to our Border Patrol saga. A Border Patrol officer (Agent Kelly Smiecinski) was in the store and asked us if we were the bikers that called in the report yesterday that helped nab the two infiltrators (wow - news travels fast in a small town)... we told him we were,  and he asked if we got our map back (its all about the map).  Getting the map back hadn't dawned on us (we figured that map was gone, and we didn't need it anyway). He explained that often illegal immigrants will have maps with markings for where they should deliver the drugs they are carrying (our map had A LOT of circled markings but they were places we had been... not places for people to bring drugs). He was nice enough to take pictures with us (see below), and he gave us his card so we could send him our blog.  We also wanted his hat, but we can't ride with one of those.


The roads we were on today were absolutely beautiful!! (see videos below)  We were in Sanderson Canyon almost the whole ride to Marathon. We gently gained close to 2000 feet in elevation (our highest elevation of the day was 4350 feet), which was very manageable! The mountains to our left and right were breathtaking and we are grateful that we were able to experience today's ride. We had plenty of water which was good, and we had these great chocolate muffins which gave us the extra push to make it to Marathon.  There was no place to get food or water for the full 55 miles.


After taking a picture at the Marathon sign, we thought we heard 2 people speaking Hebrew at the gas station across the street. We walked over and asked what language they were speaking, to which they replied, Spanish. They explained that it was a slang version of Spanish which doesn't usually sound like Spanish from far away. We bought cold drinks, thanked them, and headed down the road (towards the hotel). Half a mile later, we checked into the Gage Hotel! When we were in Hunt, TX, a man we spoke to told us great things about the Gage Hotel so we were looking forward to it. The hotel definitely lived up to his praises! The pool was clean and nicely chilled, the decor is rustic, the bathrooms are very nice, and the beds are incredible! We just got back from a great vegetarian dinner at the restaurant next door to the hotel. They had great animal heads hanging on the wall (see pics), and the service was great. We tried a new beer over dinner which we really enjoyed (see below). 


Last night's beer (Icehouse) wasn't anything special. We feel that very little love was put into the production of this beer, and there wasn't anything particularly enjoyable about it. We are giving it a 4 out of 10 (we rated it so highly only because the alcohol helped us sleep well).


Tonight's beer was Mirror Pond. This beer is something you gotta try...just see some of the reviews it got..
"outstanding"- Cycle of a Life Time/ "Gotta try this!"- Sloyer Co. 
On a more serious note, the beer had a nice citrus element to it and was very smooth. We give it a 9.43 out of 10. 


Thanks for coming along for the ride!


Check out our route at the link below:
Sanderson, TX- Marathon, TX