We are happy that today didn’t go to plan. Very happy.
While we went to bed reasonably early it took a while before sleep was possible. As we lay in our sleeping bags trying to ignore the noise of the distant road one of the guy ropes on the tent pinged as if someone had tripped over it. As the tent was pitched on gravel it wouldn’t be possible for anyone to approach it without being heard, so I put it down to my imagination. There it was again. This time I quickly opened this zip, but there was nothing, just an empty tent area basked in moonlight. Puzzled, I lay down again, leaving the inner tent zip open. Through the open inner tent door I could see a shadow approaching the tent, but no noise on the ground. I was just about to leap out of bed again when the head of a cat appeared under the flysheet.
Mystery solved, but the cat clearly was wanting to play with the tent. As tight flysheet and cat claws are not a good combination I attempted to frighten it off but to no effect. What did work was the ultra-sonic dog dazzers, only for all hell to break loose for a few minutes when it jumped over the fence and I assume into another cat’s territory, or maybe onto its head.
At about 5 am the first train passed through. Either somebody was sleeping on the line or the driver just wanted to wake the town of Grant up, as he liked to blow the horn, a lot. If the latter, it worked for us at least.
Out of the tent and over for breakfast we ended up in a multi-table exchange of plans for the day and the week. It appeared this RV park was a stop off for everyone at the RV park as they crisscrossed the country, visiting friend and family, working, moving home or on vacation. State name and cities were thrown around like confetti.
Fueled up on sugared cereal and doughnuts we packed and headed down the road toward El Morro, via the continental divide. We had messaged Erec, a Warmshowers host next to the El Morro National Monument and had received a positive response, so had a confirmed bed for the night.
For the first time in the tour so far we had a tailwind and were going down a slight incline. It was a little cold, but the sky was blue and we were flying along. If only every day of cycling could be like this.
Unfortunately, or should I say predictably, the euphoria didn’t last long. As our direction shifted slightly, the wind direction shifted significantly until it was straight on our nose again, just in time to start the long climb up to the continental divide. As we climbed, the scenery was stunning but the wind intensified.
The road was quite quiet, so wobbling around the with every rogue blast from the wind wasn’t too dangerous. Any busier and we would have needed to pull over.
As we passed through the spectacular El Malpais National Monument we took a short detour off to an area where a volcanic cave network can be found. If the cycling hadn’t been so hard due to the wind our intention was to explore more, but time was not on our side. After a 15 min stop and walk through a single cave, we pushed on to the next stop, the Ice Caves and the Bandera Volcano.
By the time we made it to the Ice Caves turnoff, just a few hundred metres from the top, it was proving difficult to control the bike in the wind. We made a foolhardy attempt to cycle up the trail to the visitor centre, but we’re blown back in a dust storm of volcanic ash.
As if things weren’t already challenging enough, Deborah noticed one of the bolts holding her on front pannier had fallen off, resulting in her mudguard rubbing against her tyre. The bolt was nowhere to be found, so in 35+ mph wind blowing up volcanic dust in our direction, we cobbled to get a fix with a length of cord, a zip tie and half a roll of Gorilla Tape.
By the time we reach the continental divide road sign, it was hard to stand up let alone cycle, so we took a few photos and headed down the other side.
On any other day, we would now have an easy 18 mile downhill to the El Morro National Monument, just enough time to visit the monument before heading to Erec’s home. The gradient of the road should have allowed so to freewheel down, so with a little pedalling in top gear we should have been able to do the distance in less than an hour. Unfortunately, the wind had other ideas.
In a little tester, the wind was so strong that without pedalling it actually pushed me up the hill, so going down was going to be tough. Very occasionally we managed a speed in excess of 10 mph on the descent when the road was sheltered from the wind by trees by cycling hard, but we were lucky to be making 7 mph most of the way down.
By the time we cycled up to the sign pointing off the road to the El Morro Visitor Centre, we were exhausted. It was also too late in the day to visit El Morro, so frustration was added to the exhaustion in buckets.
While standing at the sign we could see what looked like another cycle bike heading the same direction as us, but due to the distance away, we couldn’t be sure. The only problem was whatever it was it was on the other side of the road for the direction it was travelling.
As we rode on we could see that it wasn’t a fellow cyclist, but a chap pushing a buggy of some description. Deborah cycled passed in order not to lose the momentum to tackle the next incline, while I cycled across the road, pulled up behind him and dismounted.
He introduced himself as Michael, explaining he was walking across the US in aid of a veterans charity. He had left Portland Maine in June and was heading to California, hoping to get there before the end of November.
We walked and talked for a while, but as Deborah was now out of sight and the turn into our Warmshowers host’s property was close I was forced to say my goodbyes and head off.
Just as I was catching up to Deborah, I could see the clear and indistinguishable sight (this time) of a fully-loaded touring cyclist coming in the opposite direction. I again crossed the road and dismounted.
Yoshi was from Japan, cycling from Los Angeles to Houston Texas. While his English was better than my Japanese, it was difficult to communicate, but he seemed interested in my age, possibly because he wanted to tell me his. With great enthusiasm, Yoshi took pride in declaring that he was 72 years ago.
At this time, another chap turned up on a mountain bikes, although this guy looked too fresh to have been cycling all day, so it was obvious this was our Warmshower host, Erec.
We introduced ourselves and spoke a little more to Yoshi before he pushed off in the direction of the El Morro campsite for the evening. By this time Michael had caught up pushing his buggy.
After a day of not seeing anybody other than car and truck drivers shooting by, it was all turning into a bit of a party by the roadside.
Michael was heading to camp at Ramah for the night, another 10 miles along the road, but was talked into cutting the day a little shorter with an offer from Erec of a bed indoors for the night.
Those of us on two wheels cycled up to Erec’s, while Michael pushed his car the third of a mile up the gravel track from the road. Erec’s house was situated in a huge plot of land with 360 degrees of spectacular scenery.
We received a guided tour of the main house, which he shares with his wife Megan, although Megan was away visiting family. We were then shown to a cosy hut with a bed a few metres from the house for us to use.
By the time we were back in the main house, Michael had made it up the driveway. We were just sitting down in the lounge with a beer, chips and dips, with Erec rustling something else up in the kitchen when Steve and Cheryl turned up. Steve and Cheryl had bought adjacent land and were in the process of building their house.
We all talked for sometime before Steve and Cheryl headed off, at which point the four of us headed to an upstairs deck to watch the sun go down and the stars come out. The night sky, with zero light pollution, could only be described as spectacular.
As it was getting a little cold, we headed back inside for a little more food and talking before calling it a nigh.
Before heading to bed Erec invited us to stay another night so that we could go see El Morro National Monument and have a day out of the saddle, which we accepted without too much any hesitation.