Friday, 10 June. Up at 4am this morning. June dropped me at the Myrtle Beach airport at 5am. I checked two bags with all the stuff I’ll be loading on my bike when I get to Jeffery Sharp’s place in Hachita. I shipped my bike there last week and he verified it arrived on Monday. Walking around the airports with no roller bag or backpack in tow is making me feel like I’m forgetting something. Have a 3 hour layover in Atlanta.
The grand depart for everyone racing the tour divide is happening this morning. They’re starting in Banff and heading south. I’m starting in Antelope Wells and going north, so should be seeing a lot of them in a couple weeks.
Landed in El Paso at noon. Current temp is 98 going up to 103 today.
Got to Jeffery’s place in Hachita and put my bike together and loaded it up. There were two other riders there from Australia—Stewart and Will. Jeffery took them to the border last night and they started back to his place at midnight to avoid the heat. They had bad headwinds and a flat—took them about 6 hours to get the 47 miles back to his place. They’ve been sleeping/resting all day and plan to head out again tonight.
I decided to go ahead and knock out that part as well this evening, so Jeffery dropped me at the border at 8pm. I got back to his place at 11:30 but was dragging. I woke up at 4am to get to the airport this morning so had been going for about 22 hours by the time I called it a night. Tired is an understatement.
Up at 7:45 to get in some miles before the heat hits. It’s 83 with a high projected at 103 today. Going to head for Solver City, but that’s going to be a stretch in this heat.
8:20 stopped to take a couple pics. Getting hotter but a nice breeze coming out of the NW…a little in my face, but that’s ok. Helps keep me from overheating too much.
Traveled north to I10 then turned west on a gravel access road paralleling the beach interstate. Had 7.5 miles on washboard with wind coming out of the west directly in my face. Took me an hour and a half to do that stretch…brutal. The temp was up to 96 degrees and climbing by the minute. Had just enough water and Gatorade to make it to the one and only Market in Separ and thankfully it was open. Got there just before noon. Having a cold Diet Coke, unsweetened tea, and ice cream and thinking about what to do next.
2:15 and still in separ. The temp is 101 and I’m not going to head to silver city in this. It’s another 50 miles, 30 of it hard riding on gravel, with nothing between here and there. I would probably die out there. Been drinking water getting hydrated. The owner of the market said it’s no problem for me to camp here, so that’s what I’m going to do. Hate wasting a half-day doing nothing, but better than having a heat stroke.
Met a guy sitting outside the store here and he is trying to get to Lordsburg, a town about 20 miles west. It’s too hot for him to walk and he has no money. The shop owner gave him a gallon of water. He has been asking people who have pickup trucks for a ride in the back, but no one will give him a ride. He said it’s because he is Mexican and everyone things he is an illegal. I have him $40 to get some food. He seemed like a nice guy, just stuck here in the middle of nowhere. He left about 4 in the 102 heat to walk down i10 and see if he could catch a ride.
I’ll catch up on some sleep here tonight and get up early, maybe 3am and head out while it’s still cool. There are some picnic tables here I can sleep on so won’t even need to set up my tent. Get to silver city early in the day, spend the day there then plan my next move. I’m going to have to be strategic about planning my rides early in the morning late evening and into the night while in NM. Just need to get a couple hundred miles north to get out of this heat. Haven’t been able to eat anything….just too hot for food. Maybe I can get something down tonight other than just liquids.
6:30pm. Was able to eat and feeling good but just sleepy. I need to get some sleep then up and going to get into silver city before the heat sets in.
Pics:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/i78pp3yzrta47ag/AADnSQNu_2oHQePjx4HIMx-3a?dl=0
