Sunday, June 14, 2009

Great Divide Mountain Bike Route Update #1




Hi. Sitting in an internet cafe in the quaint town of Silver City in southern NM. Here is a brief update of my life since flying out of Portland on Thursday morning.

I flew into Tucson. The southwestern desert landscape is amazing from above. Flying over Arizona and landing in Tucson seems to me like how a fly would feel landing on a starving man's belly. The topography of every rib exposed, every joint detailed. Parched and undernourished, this land has nothing to hide. A the plane approached the tarmac, I noticed a small green pool. Fetid. Yucky. Probably not so different than any tarmac, just better visibility. Next I spied a huge sajuero cactus standing upright, proud. Like it could be posted at an arid 10 Downing Street.

Pulled my bike from it's box and reassembled it no problem. Rode to my hotel, then to get some stove fuel (in a strip mall camping store). Then for some Mexican food (strip mall). Then a grocery store (uh huh). Weird.

Cought a shuttle to the border of Mexico/New Mexico in a van that brings immigrants back and forth from Chiuhuahua visiting family. Me and 15 others packed into a van going 85 down the interstate. Not too scared until the driver started texting. Hmmm.

At the border, I did my last few odds and ends, had the customs agent take a ceremonial photo of me, and started to peddle North. Landed up riding 47 miles that afternoon to the "town" of Hatchita. Not much to speak of, but killer sunsets.

That was Friday. Yesterday I rode 62 miles through the arid desert landscape of NM. Got lost, Saw my 1st snake, pulled water from a windmill meant for cows. You know, the usual. Did I mention I'm tired?

Today will be a short day. Rode 23 miles into Silver City, will screw around here for a few hours, and ride 20 or so to camp.....up hill. So far I've been blessed with highly unusually cool weather for this time of year in NM. Hope the good fortune continues.
peace


4 comments:

  1. Great to hear things are going well Daniel. Did you pass up a rare White Castle hamburger in Hachita or has the store closed there like everything else?

    "Camper" Dave

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  2. 62 miles in one day? Damn. Good to hear from you. Bring me home a cactus, a really big one! It shouldn't be hard to carry with you, right? Stay safe homeboy, and have fun. Orie

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  3. Wow that is some serious riding! Make what I am doing look like nothing. I am doing my first 27.7 mile bike a thon in Portland OR for a really great cause. Read below and it would be awesome if you could post this on you blogs or send it to all your biking buddies? We need 3,000 riders by September 27th, 2009! Thank you for yor efforts and BIKE ON!

    Hey everyone!

    "Guess what city came in second in the nation in numbers of child prostitutes apprehened? PORTLAND, OR" The Oregonian

    On September 27th, 2009 a 27.7-mile ride through East PDX, available to single riders or teams of three that would prefer to tackle 9.3 legs. Bike the Columbia and Willamette Rivers and take in the view from the top of Mt. Tabor.

    This event will fund Oregon's first and desperately needed shelter for underage victims of domestic sex trafficking.

    If you were like me and you thought there was nothing you could do to help such an important issue...think again! A simple 27$ registration fee or $10 fee for students will help in a huge way. If we can get 3,000 riders to join the cause on September 27th and each of them make an effort to raise only $270 from their friends and family we will be able to open a shelter as early as this FALL!

    The Sherriffs department says that out of the 300,000,000 people in the US 27,000,000 are trafficked in our country every year with another million to be added to that number every year! This is not okay. We can not just sit be a let this happen. It is taking over the number one crime in America, over drugs and over guns. Why? Because once you sell a drug or gun the item is gone, but you can sell and re-sell and re-sell a human until there is nothing left.

    Transitions Global's shelter will be here to restore the lives and voices to these underaged girls who have been deamed by the court as human trafficking victims. They will offer them recovery, counceling, holistic therapy, education, protection and most importantly a future, a hope and dreams.

    To learn more: www.bikeforshelter.org

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  4. is what I love most of bicycling are the landscapes and the outdoors can have direct contact with the elements of nature to face the wind field graved I love riding my bike, not like they only have contact collector baseball cards dust and one cardboard

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