Month: February 2013

Categories
Adventure Bicycle Travel

Day 99 – 105: Silver City, NM to Tempe, AZ

Day 99: Silver City to Buckhorn, NM (37 miles)

Quick morning picking up supplies at a supermarket in Silver City. And then ridiculously slow progress. Passed a sign that read “Continental Divide, Elev 6230 feet”. Should have been amended to “P.S. get ready for absurd gradients”. It was hard to get anywhere due to a powerful headwind and the sheer steepness of the immediate roads outside of the city. Incredibly slow, walking pace for a while, until finally the last hour provided some respite from the wind and less horrific climbing.

Ended up in Buckhorn, which, perhaps influenced by the local gas stop and getting chased by dogs, had an eerie feel that nodded to bare feet, whiskey and shotguns. Most likely it was just farmland at night.

Day 100: Buckhorn, NM to Safford, AZ (78 miles)

Steepest day so far, absolutely brutal climbing through Gila and Apache National Forests. But the great thing is that after 4 hours of painfully slow climbing, there wasn’t any more ‘up’ in sight. Instead, blazingly fast downhills that zig zagged down the hillside. Tight 180 hairpins, steep sides, amazing fun and the first relatively technical riding section. Be careful not to ride of the edge of the road, that would really suck.

It was so fast, and the adrenaline was pumping, until a point of dread pulling into the town of Three Way, which is essentially a single shack. Eyeing up the road into the distance, it clearly zig zagged up what can only be described as a flipping-huge-mountain. Turned out to be not so bad, maybe a couple of hours climbing, but again, it was worth it whilst speeding down for miles into a Safford rest stop.

As a hint to this weeks lifestyle, I’ve been doing a lot of cooking and discovered a magic ingredient: Pineapple Philadelphia. You can basically add it to anything for a decent meal.

Day 101: Safford to Ft Thomas, AZ (22 miles)

The day was cut pretty short, after the looming clouds made it clear (and various people suggested) a snow storm was coming. One positive was meeting a fellow cyclist going the other way. Jeff is a super cool guy taking a bit of time off to ride from CA to FL, and he’s keeping an active blog here. Soon after this by-chance encounter, there was a rest stop with a shelter 20 miles outside of Safford and called it a day. Good place to hide from the approaching rain.

Day 102: Ft Thomas to Globe, AZ (56 miles)

A quick 10 miles to a traditional reservation called Bylas, conveniently, just as the downpour began for the day. The reality of the day was a lot of time spent working on content in the reservation’s Laundry-mart, but I also spoke to a mother-of-three who’s family had been based on the reservation for generations. She was sad that her kids, whilst they are taught the traditional ways at home, don’t learn their heritage at school anymore, so she believes their generation is the one where the past becomes truly left behind.

After a while of weather avoidance, it occurred to me that there’s no reason to stick around in an area where there wasn’t much going on. So a quick switch to water-preparedness. Drybags, rain coat, cover up the saddle, dig out the gloves. What followed was horrific. A crazy snow storm going from San Carlos over the pass to Globe. “It’s the first time it’s snowed here in 6 years”. And it wasn’t a little bit. It was covered, and really dumping the white stuff. But it was great fun. Cold, yep, but easy to get into a cold rhythm on the deserted roads. A blizzard photo:

Unusual weather conversations always lead to rare phrases, in this case an overheard phone conversation based on a nearby town name.

“My buddy’s stuck in the snow on Top Of The World”. 

Day 103: Globe to Mesa, AZ (60 miles)

Met up with HoYoung again in Globe. It’s a different mentality cycling with another person who’s going the same way – easier to be motivated to cycle. The morning went well, some quick climbing out of Globe lead to incredible top speed downhills into Superior, immersed in the most incredible steep sandstone canyon landscapes. And then, sticking to the common cycle touring tradition of ‘it never goes smoothly’, HoYoung got a flat. Which started what will be remembered forever as ‘HoYoung’s problematic day™’.

A flat tyre isn’t usually much of a momentum-killer, they usually only take a few minutes to fix and then it’s good to go. Not in this case: A really thick wire all the way through the tyre, and through both sides of the tube. 5 (5!) repair patches later, plus a lot of glue, and the tube was still knackered. With no spare inner tube (I also had no spare) there wasn’t much HoYoung could do, so he managed to flag down a pickup and got a lift into Mesa, to Gerri and Bill’s house (below), whilst I rode the rest of the way to join them a few hours later.

Bill got in touch through the site a few weeks ago and offered a place to crash on the way through. Him and his wife Gerri were great company. Both avid cyclists with thousands of touring miles racked up – they know their stuff. Surprising to find out they lived on a resort with a swimming pool and a bunch of other good stuff. The polar opposite of tent life.

Day 104: Mesa to Tempe, AZ (22 miles)

Short ride today, but a good one nonetheless. We left Bill and Gerri’s this morning after meeting the cycling club they’re part of. Gotta be nearly 30 members of the community who ride 3 times a week. The ride was nothing complicated, very flat. The greater Phoenix area is super clean, with a lot of green space, and best of all loads of fruit trees. Oranges and grapefruits mainly. So many that people give them away for free in baskets.

HoYoung’s making some California-bound progress, whilst I’m enrolled in a webinar that’s happening over the next two days, so after pulling into Tempe, a quick search lead to a coffee shop with WiFi in the university area. To sum up the proceeding few hours – comfy sofas and screen-gazing. Left a few hours later to find a flat front tyre. Good’o.

Day 105: Tempe, AZ

Finished the seminar and compiling this blog. Nice to have an explore on the metro (Transport without pedalling?!), Tempe is a super nice university part of the greater Phoenix area, super vibrant. Got lost and was pointed in the right direction by Charlie, a college footballer at ASU who’s potentially a month away from being signed to the NFL. Good luck!

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Knowing that California is relatively close (<400m), day 106 onwards will be a bit of an experiment. The mileage up to now has been consistently inconsistent, so it’s an attempt to try some consecutive big days. We’ll see how that goes, but maybe putting the strategy up here will be a form of motivation.

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Another weekly update – they’ll become more regular again upon reaching California. During the time when the blog is a weekly thing, there is quick content (photo’s etc) being posted to the Facebook Page, if you’re into that kind of thing.

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Map of this week’s progress:

Categories
Adventure Bicycle Travel

Day 92 – 98: El Paso, TX to Silver City, NM

Not the most miles this time around, but New Mexico has been super interesting, especially the latter half of the week. Scroll down to watch this weeks video, it was a lot of fun to make.

Day 92: El Paso.

Following on from the previous post, spent the day exploring El Paso, which is an awesomely colourful town. Weirdly I haven’t had any issues with knee trouble at all whilst on the bike, but today was the first day where, off the bike, there was a bit of a niggle. Stretch stretch stretch.

Day 93: El Paso to Keystone Heritage Park (17 miles)

The bike was not in a good way this morning. Slow puncture on the back, proper puncture on the front. Urgh. It took so many hours of faff and walking around the El Paso industrial suburbs, that by the time it was fixed, it was already 4pm, so it didn’t end up being a particularly productive day. More like one of those days where you scream profanities and curse the bike (in your mind and under your breath). Stealth camp on the outskirts of El Paso in a Botanical Garden Car Park.

Day 94: Keystone Heritage Park to Vado, New Mexico (20 miles)

A lot of reading and not a lot of cycling today. Short bursts if anything. But not to worry, because – New Mexico! Let’s have some of that state line corny goodness.

Crossed the line at Anthony, NM in the evening, which felt quite exotic compared to most other places so far, as Spanish was the most prominent language used by the locals. After a quick stop in town, I ended up riding out on the 470 towards Las Cruces and camped on a road side dirt mound. Gone are the days of being ‘stealthy’. In New Mexico (and even towards the end of Texas) you aren’t really given much choice. Flat ground that’ll take pegs isn’t in abundance, so you get what you’re given.

Day 95: Vado to Hatch, via Las Cruces (56 miles)*

First time waking up to frozen water bottles. New Mexico is quite bizarre in that it’s freezing at night, and blisteringly hot during the day. Two very different extremes. State laws are also markers of change. In New Mexico’s case? Bin bags by the side of the road. Loads of them.

Through Las Cruces, where I bumped into a 78 year old retiree named Ron, who’s done a lot of climbing in his time, all over the world, but in Alaska especially. (All whilst being married to a 48 year old semi-pro skier. He was very proud of this!)  An ex-maths professor who worked for NASA, he now takes clients mountaineering and climbing to encourage and promote lifestyle change.

The riding in NM has been through dry farmland. There’s been a four year drought so it’s totally dry, crops are suffering and farmers are having a very hard time, and all are wishing for just a little bit of rain. Arrived in Hatch late, to a bivvy on a bench near to the Municipal Hall. Brr, another cold one.

Day 96: Hatch to 3 miles NW of Hatch (3 miles)

Hatch is the chile capitol of the world. You can’t go through a place with a tagline like that without sampling some chile. That’s where Sparky’s Barbeque comes in. Green Chile Burger? Ok, then. Get the pineapple slaw too. Absolutely knackered from the previous day / night so read the signs and ended up kipping here:

Day 97: Nr Hatch to 16 miles NW of Deming (61 miles)

It’s more desert than farmland now. Very similar to rural West Texas. Simple riding, generally flat. Long straight roads in the blazing sun. Quiet roads too, with lots of the day spent without a car or person in sight. Just a lot of desert, and solar panels. Lots of solar panels. Not the kind to take with you on a bike ride though.

Day 98: Nr Deming to Silver City (37 miles)

Set off this morning, from a roadside camp in the desert. Most of the ride was more-of-the-same. Think tumbleweeds and long shimmering roads that run to the horizon. Ran out of water and had to drink hot (spicy) chili water left over from a noodle breakfast. Hot chili water in the middle of a hot desert is pretty gross. Pulled in to Hurley, a tiny little town in between Deming and Silver City. Like other towns in the area, it’s a historic mining town – gold and copper from back in the day.

Joseph and Karin Wade run the Hurley Art Gallery. Spent a good few hours with these two, chatting about how they ended up here, moving from Phoenix 7 years ago on a whim. Karin (below) is the web-savvy guru of the pair, and Joseph is a painter.

Here’s a film shot in collaboration with Joseph (Karin’s a little camera shy!). Had a lot of fun filming this one and hope it comes across. I’m not big into “art” in it’s traditional sense (i.e. fine art painting) but art doesn’t have to mean picking up a paintbrush like Joe, or taking photographs, or making Tracy Island out of Papier-mâché. It’s what you do that creates a connection with another person or group of people. Your art can be entrepreneurship, swimming, juggling, being the best damn waitress imaginable, whatever.   So take a look at the film in a general sense, as Joe talks about finding his path, grit & tenacity and goal setting.

(Click here if you can’t view the video in your email browser)

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* An epic tale ensued on this night. I’ll share in the distant future (using fake names & places to protect those involved) but can’t at the moment due to confidentiality. Let’s just say that the entire project was up-in-the-air for a moment. [for reference]

Categories
Adventure Bicycle Travel

Day 83 – 91: Sanderson to El Paso, TX

Day 83: Sanderson. Rest day and blog catch up. Not much happening in Sanderson.

Day 84: Sanderson to Marathon (55 miles)

Slow morning getting the bike sorted. Had to replace tube as there was a slow puncture. Nice ride through more desert landscapes. Sanderson is actually the ‘Cactus Capital’ of Texas, and there’s definitely a lot’of’em. Awesome sunset to darkness riding. Totally empty road, and insanely clear sky, to the point where it was more fun to ride in the moonlight than turn on any bike lights. Ended up at a campsite just outside Marathon at about 8pm.

Day 85: Marathon. 

Woke up run down, knackered and chesty, so ended up just resting. It definitely seems pretty easy to get sick whilst on the road, nutrition is super important. Plus side was that it was SuperBowl Sunday. The town is pretty small, and the local hotel was where the game was being shown, in a room with a massive buffalo stuck to the wall. Despite local help, the rules are still confusing.

Day 86: Marathon to Alpine (31 miles)

Paul Kranendonk from Rotterdam was pulling into the campsite as I was leaving. He’d set off from San Diego and was heading to Jacksonville, FL. It was his 11th day on the road. 11th! Talk about fast progress. But understandable considering he needs to be back at work at the beginning of March! In 2008 he cycled the Great Divide with his wife (together they’ve clocked up a massive amount of cycle touring experience), and it was interesting to hear his perspective on the difference between solo versus team travelling. Also, a few days ago he was chased by 4 massive dogs and had to sprint for 3km to outrun them. Fair play!

After chatting with Paul, and stocking up at the Grocery store, it was getting late (recurring theme?!), so I ended up in Alpine fairly late after more night riding. Big thanks to Sam at the Highland Inn for sorting out a last minute room – nice spot to rest and see the town if you’re passing through!

Day 87: Alpine to US-90 Rest Area (5 miles)

Wasn’t feeling it again, with more chesty sickness, even after an indoor night. Cruised into the historic part of Alpine (which is super nice – all local stores that have gone unchanged for years). Spent a lot of time reading in the park, and didn’t even try leaving the town until 5.30pm. It’s always tricky to be motivated after such a late start. Ended up calling it a day at a rest stop overlooking some incredibly aesthetic hills. Location definitely has a big impact on general psyche, and this one helped to improve the day.

Day 88: US-90 Rest Area to Valentine (57 miles)

Brrr. Cold night so good to see the sun and it’s warmth. In Louisiana, Glen the cyclist had mentioned that the roads in West Texas are a nightmare when it comes to rolling resitance. For a while I’ve not had a clue what he was on about. The roads in West Texas seem exactly the same as the ones in all the other states. But for the first time what he was talking about became clear. The road was made differently, with big pebbles stuck into the surface, which definitely slowed everything down. It didn’t last long though, because literally at the sign that marked entering a new county, the road became smooth again.

It’s been quite strange cycling through the Texas desert. Many of the towns are dilapidated, but every so often a town in the middle of nowhere will be vibrant and bustling. Passing through Marfa was one of those times. Small town but with a lot of quirky people and a heavy art scene. This was on the way in to town, a lotta’ heavy Q’s (if you look carefully the artist has signed it):

Left Marfa, after a brief stop and explore, and pedalled to Valentine (once again a tiny town where almost everything is boarded up and shut down – quite spooky). I was running out of water, so stopped to attempt to scrounge some from the farmers who were in their yard. Kirkby and Maria owned the roadside farm in Valentine, and had hosted cyclists before. They offered the yard as a place to crash, and I jumped at the chance.

“You can sleep in the shipping container if you like? It’ll be warmer than outside.” After the previous night, anything to escape the cold was amazing.

Day 89: Valentine to Allamoore, via Van Horn (50 miles)

Woke up in the shipping container. (That’s probably not a sentence that gets written much.) Thankfully it was still on the farm and not out at sea. That would have been more challenging.

Day started off great, through deserty-farm land, similar to the last few days really. Got quite hot and dusty from about midday though. Ended up running out of water close to Van Horn, which even for only 15 miles wasn’t too pleasant. Usually it’s never a problem, there’s always somewhere to fill up, but this stretch is quite sparse (if you’re going to be cycling this stretch, make sure you carry more than you think you’ll need).

The railway ran next to the road for most of the day, and a regular sight was seeing the Border Patrol driving their 4×4’s on the dirt track next to the tracks, towing tyres. Anyone know what this is about?

Quite a tough section pulling in to Van Horn. Not because of hills or anything like that, but because you can see Van Horn from miles away, shimmering away in the distance. And you know there’s water and all that goodness, if you can just make it to the shimmering city. But it doesn’t seem to get any closer, no matter how hard you pedal. It was like a mirage for a while, quite bizarre. But eventually Van Horn provided an oasis.

Stayed in Van Horn until quite late, just to get out of the heat for a while. From Van Horn, the way to El Paso is via the Interstate (I10), which is the equivalent to the motorway in the UK (i.e. busy and fast). Started this section at about 9PM, after getting kitted out in everything high-vis. To be honest, the shoulder is so wide that it’s probably safer than the other roads, but nonetheless it has an air of intimidation, especially getting on from a junction.

Cycled for an hour or so, and ended up finding a spot in between the interstate and the road that runs parallel to it. Crazy clear sky, which made it a bit more bearable, as the bivvy spot was a patch of dirt in between some concrete traffic blocks, near the railway, outside a factory.

Day 90: Allamoore to El Paso (106 miles)

El Paso was a fair way off, so I thought an early start was in order to arrive on time. Didn’t quite realise how early. In the haze of last night (first time on Interstate, finding a sleeping spot etc), it slipped my mind, even after seeing the great big sign, that I’d crossed into a new time zone (MST). Alarm set for 5AM. But of course my phone was still showing Central time. It meant an unintentional 4AM start. All good really though, it wasn’t the most luxurious sleeping spot anyway. Here’s a video of late Day 89 and early 90 (I hadn’t realised the time zone mistake at this point):

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After a few very early, and very dark miles to Sierra Blanca, the sun came up and brought with it a heavy dose of amazing. The longest and fastest downhill of the trip so far. It was top gear for about an hour, full speed ahead. At points you’re going so fast that pedalling doesn’t make a difference, so you can sit back and let gravity do the work. As good as cycling gets. After the initial steepness, it flattened out a little bit but it was never slow. Never a low gear, all the way into El Paso. Without a doubt the most fun riding so far.

Ended up cycling some of this stretch with Arvid from Sweden, who’s a Navy officer that sailed into Florida and has a month off the boat. He’s travelling light, on a road bike, and between motels mainly. His month off is coming to an end in 12 days so he’s trying to make as much progress as possible and will fly back to Florida from wherever he ends up.

Got into El Paso around 3pm after taking a couple of long-ish breaks along the way. Lucky enough to be staying for the next couple of nights at the Hyatt El Paso. It’s quite a different setup to the shipping container!

Day 91: El Paso, TX

Catching up on the blog, and chilling out for the day thanks to the wonderful people at the Hyatt (thanks for your incredible hospitality!). Staying here until Sunday morning and then will head for New Mexico. It’s amazing to take a full day off the bike, and not have to worry about keeping a constant eye on kit. Even though it’s been slow, travelling through the desert and not getting much sleep in the process was definitely quite draining. Stoked to recharge. But blimey, Texas in it’s own right has been an amazing ride, full of unforgettable experiences and incredible people.

For anyone cycling the Southern Tier east to west – you can avoid the interstate for miles if you come off at Allamoore. There’s a quiet road that runs in parallel until Sierra Blanca, about 15 metres away from the I10.

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Map of this stretch:

Categories
Adventure Bicycle Travel Philosophy

Highlight: “Richard” [Video]

Every so often, a film pops up online that is striking, inspiring, a bit nuts, or all three. I’d love to share this one with anyone who’s interested in Vague Direction. I think you’ll like the content and it’s well worth taking 4 minutes out to enjoy this.

This short film tells the tale of Richard, a piano tuner from London, who voluntarily gave up his apartment to live a nomadic (and homeless) existence, just him, one bag, and a bicycle, around the English capital. He made the extreme life change after becoming fed up with his 7 year student debt, his constant work life, and material possessions.

The film was shot last summer, and Richard is now keeping a blog, called Piano-Tuning, which makes for great reading. Recent posts suggest he’s now in Argentina, so quite a stark contrast in just a few months.

Major kudos to Matt Hopkins who produced this work of art as part of the England Your England series. There are a bunch of other films on the EYE website that are well worth your time too.

Enjoy!

(Click here if the video doesn’t show in your email browser, and please share the page with anyone who may be interested)

Richard from England Your England on Vimeo.

Categories
Adventure Bicycle Travel

Day 77 – 82: Fredericksburg to Sanderson, TX

Internet connection has been very few and far between in west Texas, so it’s a bit of a catch up post. Might be a bit long. Look out for the video.

The end of Day 76: Fredericksburg.

After writing the previous blog post, I explored Fredericksburg for a bit, and found a bike shop called Hill Country Bicycle Works, where Lisa the owner was fixing some bikes before closing. I was getting pretty sick of all these punctures, so decided a tyre change was in order (back to the Schwalbe Marathon Plus’ – the tyre that was totally puncture free at the beginning of the trip). 20 years ago, Lisa cycled around the globe with her husband. It was great to pick her brains about her 30,000 mile, 3 year long trip.

After fixing the bike up, I bumped into Brett whilst undercover Wi-Fi-ing.

“You the guy on the bike?”

Turns out Brett was a Couchsurfing host. A couchsurfing host who owned his own hotel and offered a room for the night. What are the chances!? He’d quit the army in 2009, and ever since enrolling had a niggling thought in the back of his mind telling him he should hike the Appalachian Trail, so when he quit, it was the first thing on his to-do list.

Day 77: Fredericksburg to a very remote gas station on Jct 41W/83S (64 miles)

Relaxed (late) start enjoying the delights of the German bakery in Fredericksburg. The roads soon seemed very remote, even though the town still wasn’t very far away. They were deserted roads with, through landscapes that would look at home on a David Attenborough documentary. Tons of deer jumping around too.

Eventually ended up at a tiny gas station at a junction in the middle of nowhere, where the owner pointed out a shelter with a lovely floor (click on image to open full panorama).

Day 78: Gas station on Jct 41W/83S to Del Rio (112 miles)

Early start today. You can generally tell at the start of the day whether it’ll be a ‘big day’, and this was one of them. I could see from the GPS that Del Rio was 110 miles away, so thought that would be a good target.

Had some shockingly dreadful breakfast / energy bars and set off. More of the same Attenborough / Safari / Jurassic Park scenery, more deer. There’s a lot of deer in Texas. Soon passed a border patrol car, which was the first one so far. Been expecting them, as this section of the route is now a traverse above the US – Mexico border, and security’s tight, and from here on out, ever-increasing.

Got to Rocksprings and was knackered, hungry and thirsty. So to take care of all three, I picked up some food and drink from the store, and had a nap in the park for an hour. Not very hardcore, taking a nap, is it? Post-nap, the ride went through some mega landscapes, and with the sun dropping and the horizon becoming bright red, it was intensified.

Great riding, up long, but not very steep, hills. And down them. Always nice. Getting closer to Del Rio, it seemed like a 6 mile or so downhill. Really easy pedalling to finish the day. And then there were some bikelights, just a few miles outside of the town. John Counsell was a local, who’s been stationed in Del Rio as a pilot for the last several years. His job is to fly politicians, celebrities, billionaires etc to wherever they want to go, in this beast. The Bahamas is a popular one. He’s clocked up a lot of international cycling miles, as his bike goes with him wherever he flies.

Got into Del Rio very late, around 11.30. Refillable Pepsi please.  Ended up at a park, where there was a shelter and picnic tables. Slept in an instant after the biggest day so far.

Day 79: Del Rio to just west of Del Rio (6 miles)

The plan today was to get to Comstock. Wake up, have a bit of breakfast, and get on the road. The waking up, and having a bit of breakfast part worked well. But then I saw that Zero Dark Thirty was playing at the cinema at 2pm. So, I didn’t get very far, but it’s a good movie. Cycled for half an hour and set up camp near a firework shop on the outskirts of town.

Day 80: Outskirts of Del Rio to Comstock (26 miles)

When mother nature doesn’t want you to get very far, the headwinds begin. Windiest day so far, no question. And unfortunately it was coming from the West. The exact direction to make progress as slow as possible. It’s quite a bizarre experience, cycling down a relatively steep hill, stopping pedalling, and coming to a quick halt. Not even gravity helps when the winds are strong. Today was a lot of ‘deal with it for an hour’ then break. Repeat, and so on.

Bumped into HoYoung going over the Amistad reservoir, who’s on a break from studying business, and is cycling the Southern Tier before heading to South Korea to begin work. Super friendly guy who is travelling super light. Cycled together for the rest of the day, both of us getting battered by headwinds. Slow progress.

Day 81: Comstock to Langtry (30 miles)

Cycled with HoYoung again today. More brutal headwinds, so more slow progress. It was really interesting getting an insight into the South Korean way of life. He mentioned that there’s a strong ‘workaholic’ tradition (minimal vacation) and he sees this as his last opportunity to take an extended trip. He’d like to take the bike back home as a reminder of his adventure, and maybe one day pass it on to his children to embark on something similar.

Some mega landscapes today. Especially the Pecos river bridge. A limestone canyon with an amazingly green river and huge caves (click on image to open full panorama).

A driver called Dan pulled up and mentioned he worked at a farm that’s hosted bike travellers before, and gave the directions. Another worker, Tom Ethen had been stationed on the farm, fixing up windows, making shutters etc, in return for free accommodation in a mobile home. Originally from Minnesota, he’s recently retired, and is on a cross country motorcycle adventure. I’ve been interested to talk to a ‘biker’ for a while, and what an aesthetic place to do so. After seeing the sights, including the amazing river and canyon that is the natural US-Mexico border, and being taken off roading in a 4×4, I must admit it was highly amusing when he suggested watching Mr Bean. Just not something you expect a hardcore motorcyclist to be into. HoYoung loved it too. Bean’s a global hit! Check out the video – a profile of a biker:

(Click here if the video doesn’t show in your email browser)

Day 82: Langtry to Sanderson (61 miles)

Late start after filming the above video, but the winds had died down so it was a joy to travel at a decent speed again. HoYoung is taking a different route to pick up some essentials that he left in Mississippi, but will rejoin the route in a few days. It was once again really hilly. The steepest so far and it looks like the coming days will be steeper too. It’s really not that much of a PITA though, if anything, getting to the top of a big steep hill is a fun challenge. For now anyway, maybe not in a couple of days.

After the hills, the 20 miles prior to Sanderson became fairly flat so it was an easy coast into town, arriving at about 7.30pm, as the sky was glowing red. Stayed at Canyons R.V. Park (it’s really good), just off the main road.

Quick (and very rough) map of the last few days: