Day 15–3/17/19 —755 miles total —WE ARE IN SILVER CITY, NM!!! Whoosh! The weather is governing our lives. We have ridden through five bouts of hail, winds 25-40mph, 40 degree temperatures with black skies and heavy rain going uphill 3000ft. Paul is strong and goes through this stuff, I try to act like it is perfectly acceptable and keep up, but I had to take the van three times this week for partial rides. Character building. I’m beginning to look forward to Texas? Here’s this biker’s view of our week:
Day 10-3/12 to Toto Basin—From Usery Mountain Regional Park we ride through flowers and desert uphill over the pass and onto hwy 87. The rain starts, but we have on our Showers Pass pants/coat and continue uphill. Tom, who rode self-contained 3months through Alaska, pointed out black skies behind us and put on another jacket. We take note. The rain,winds & hail get tougher and we find five of our group at an underpass. Paul and I ride on but do not make it over the pass, before the van asks us if we want a ride. Yes, we do! We made half of the 6400 ft. Climb. We find 3 more cyclists at a bikers bar 13 miles from our “Inn” and four more ride to the “Inn.” We slept in 80 degree heat and dry everything overnight.
Day 11-3/13 to Apache Gold Casino, Cutter, AZ—Another 5115 ft of climbing and riding beside beautiful Theodore Roosevelt Lake. We hit more cold rain and wind and find everyone having hot chocolate at a visitor center. I overstressed my hip yesterday and I can’t walk very well, so I get in the van to go over the pass. We go to the Apache Casino to check out the camping area, which looks dreary in wet high wind. All of us quickly decide we can split a few rooms at the motel. Only leaders Tom and Joe camp. It is 30 degrees at night.
Day 12 - to Safford, AZ—Our breakfast and lunch fixings are set up in the lobby. We start on our 70 mile route through Indian reservations with small towns named after Chiefs Bylas and Geronimo. We are still in high desert with only cactus and small bushes. Eventually we reach Thatcher and have ice cream. We zoom into Safford and camp at the rundown Sunrise RV Park with an active duck pond nearby.
Day 13 - 3/15/19 - to Lordsburg, NM— We expect to ride 76 miles today, and start out on a newly surfaced road! Soon we hit 35mph headwinds and manage to ride 20 miles in 3 hours. Paul and I find David P and Alan sacked out on the gravel by an abandoned car. I decide to wait with them for the van. We are picked up and find most of the group hunkered down one mile further. We roll into the Lordsburg KOA with 40mph winds. We quickly sign up for 3 cabins ($17/ea) and a trailer instead of our tents. We eat at a roadside diner.
Day 14-15 - 3/16-17/19 -to Silver City,NM—We wake up to sleet and wind. The skies are black in the west. Wisely we all put our bikes on the van except for Paul and “pro” Dan Jones. We had hoped to ride over the Continental Divide today on hwy 90. We head up hwy 90 and the winds and snow get very heavy. The highway patrol follows us. Paul gets in the van at mile 10, Dan at mile 12. We turn around carefully and pass a pickup truck turned upside down. They close the highway behind us. We drive a large loop around to reach our layover town, Silver City, elev. 5400ft. We stay at the wonderful Art Deco hotel, The Murray ($30/ea). This is a town of artists and bike riders. The “Tour of the Divide” and “Southern Tier” routes both come through Silver City. The sun comes out!!
