Day 14: Friday 03/18/16, Rodeo, NM to Douglas, NM

Day 14 distance: 95 miles

Total miles:  791 miles

Elevation gain: 1951 feet

Map of today's ride:

Yesterday was another beautiful riding day with blue skies and light tail wind at the start of the day. As the day progressed, the wind speed increased, and the 95 mile ride, the longest of this C2C, flew by. It was a day for not too many pictures as the scenery varied little.

We observed several working windmills that were pumping water for livestock.

 

 

Another working windmill and the only cattle we observed the entire 95 miles.

Two buzzards flew away from a dead rabbit they were self-serve eating on the highway. I believe we saw more animal road kills and buzzards on this ride rather than anything else.

These two riders are Treus and Jan from the Netherlands. They ride much heavier bicycles than most US riders but are among the fastest riders in our group. This photo was taken at a community center in Hachita, NM. The community center is about all that is left of the town, but they are kind enough each year to let Bubba use the center for a SAG stop. Since there are no stores along the route, each coaster prepared a sandwich at breakfast and placed it in a cooler. The SAG staff then brings it and other snacks and beverages to Hachita, the half way point on today's ride. The people from the community center had also prepared a cold pasta salad for everyone. I think most everyone was generous in leaving a donation behind for the center.

 

This picture gives you an idea of how poor the area is around Hachita. I mean if you look close, you can even see there was no water connected to the toilet!

This border patrol station was located about ten miles outside of Columbus, NM. This patrol station, Hachita, and one ranch, was all I recall seeing along the road for the 95 miles until right outside Columbus. There were more border patrol vehicles on the road than any other vehicles.

 

 

If you look very close at the sky, you can see a white blimp in the upper left side.  The border control uses these blimps for aerial observation of the border between the US and Mexico.

Close to Columbus I observed the only agricultural operation for the entire ride. This appears to have been a cotton field as if you look closely at the field, you can see white tufts of cotton on the furrows.

A historical museum greets you as you enter Columbus.

The school we are spending the next two nights changed the time that we could enter from 3 pm to 4:15 pm. This is a picture of some riders and Wolf Pack members killing time waiting to get inside for showers and rest.

Tomorrow is our second day off of this C2C.

 LINK to Day 14 of my 2015 C2C blog.