Day 16 distance: 78 miles
Total miles: 869 miles
Elevation gain: 1024 feet
Map of today's ride:
The dreaded headwind arrived today and we were punished for the past few days of good tailwind! I left Columbus, NM at 7:30 am this morning with an outside temperature of 39 degrees and no wind. I wanted an early start to try to get some miles in before the 20 mph headwinds that were forecast arrived. I had only ridden 15 miles before the wind hit. At the first SAG, 20 miles into the ride, four other riders and I joined up and rode in a line to make the ride more bearable. It worked well. We each took our turn at the lead, changing about every half mile to mile and averaged around 10 to 13.5 mph for the remainder of the ride. It was still a slow ride, taking 6 hours and 8 minutes to complete the 78 miles. When we arrived in El Paso, it was 65 degrees and as I am typing this, the wind is now down to 7 mph. The last of the riders just arrived and everyone is tired from the strenuous day.
At mile 74 of today's ride, we crossed the border into our fourth state, Texas, some 865 miles from the ocean in San Diego. All five of us who were riding together had planned on stopping at the state entry sign for a photograph; however, on the route we took into El Paso there was no sign. Hopefully when we leave Texas we can put our backs to the state we just crossed and get the photo we all want!
When riding in a line for a wind advantage, one does not stop and take pictures, so my ride picture offering today is limited.
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| The view as I left the Columbus, NM, school this morning at 7:30 am. It was actually lighter than this picture appears so was safe to be on the road. Plus I ride with both front and rear high bright flashing lights. (And that is not snow on the ground!) |
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| About 8 miles out of Columbus this morning immediately before the headwinds hit. |
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| The first SAG stop after the wind had arrived. Note the bending flag pole and flag. It was 39 degrees at this point and with the wind, it was cold! Everyone was dressed appropriately for the conditions. |
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| The four other riders I rode with today to combat the wind: L to R - Gerald Allard, Gene Ice, John Ilenin, and Kurt Frederick. |
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| The view from our second SAG stop today. |
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| View from a stop close to the outskirts of El Paso, Texas. |
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| The desert near El Paso is what most northern people think all deserts look like...a lot of sand and not much else. |
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| Chandler Otis and Dave Moss, our two traveling C2C mechanics hamming it up for the camera. |
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| This evening's view of the mountains north of El Paso from tonight's motel. |
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| Another great dinner tonight! Since most of the riders arrived late tonight, the Quesadillas became part of tonight's dinner. |
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| Tonight's dinner plate ready to eat! Seconds are always available if still hungry after your first pass. BTW, this was not my plate so no comments on my eating habits! |
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| This dairy along AZ-84E is simply amazing in size. The cattle continued for over 2 miles and I believe these Holsteins ranged in age from milking cow to heifers. They were in separate fenced areas by age. It would be interesting to know the number of the gallons of milk produced each day from this operation. |
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| I don't know how far it was to the back of the pens, but like stated in the preceding picture, this continued for over two miles! |
1) There are 30,000 cows at this dairy.
2) 11,000 cows are being used for milking.
3) There are 350 employees.
4) The dairy produces 100,000 gallons of milk each day.
5) The dairy is on 12,000 acres of land.
6) There are 35 new calves born every day.
That is a simply amazingly large dairy! Thank you so much for sharing that information!
LINK to Day 16 of my 2015 C2C blog.
I guess you bypassed Las Cruces (where I grew up) but a lot of the scenery looks familiar. We went to El Paso as kids for special occasions. It has really gotten big now.
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