Paul and Siona's travels

• DAY 32: Thursday 31st March 2022 – El Paso TX to Las Cruces NM
• Distance: 72km
• Elevation gain: 160m
• Accomodation: Siesta RV Park

A not too pleasant start to the day as we had our final dealings with the busy roads of El Paso, leaving the city to the North. We quickly crossed the state line into New Mexico and took our usual state line photo (the first one has been a long time coming on this trip!) After a steady uphill, we got a good long downhill into the Rio Grande valley, again crossing Interstate 10, where thankfully most of the traffic disappeared leaving some lovely cycling along quiet roads through farming country for the rest of the day. The weather was perfect, the landscape was green with trees coming into leaf, birds were tweeting – New Mexico so far you are living up to your “Land of Enchantment” tagline and we were very happy! The pleasant roads continued through miles of pecan farms (with their usual warnings of being prosecuted for stealing anyone’s nuts) and lovely countryside. We expected Las Crucas to be the usual rundown town that we have seen in farming country but it was lovely with lots of Spanish-style buildings. The guy at the RV park was very friendly and welcoming and we have a nice campsite for the night – all is well with the world!

• DAY 33: Friday 1st April 2022 – Las Cruces NM to Arrey NM
• Distance: 92km
• Elevation gain: 290m
• Accomodation: Arrey RV Park

A long day today following the Rio Grande valley North. It took a while to get clear of Las Cruces on some busy roads, but we eventually ended up on a nice quiet road up the valley. The going was certainly a little tougher than we had expected as the gradual uphill, a slight headwind and tired legs from yesterday’s ride made it a bit of an effort. We passed through the small town of Hatch (the “Chilli capital of New Mexico” apparently) after 60km or so. We had hoped to stop here but the only accomodation in town was an RV park which didn’t allow tents because their liability insurance didn’t allow it – not even sure what that means? Hatch was a slightly strange town – lots of shops selling chillies and/or various chilli related tourist tat, but nothing actually useful. We pushed on to the first place that we could actually camp in Arrey which made it a very long day. We were happy to find that the bar across from the RV park was also effectively an off license, so got a few beers for the evening on the campsite. Today was notable as pretty much being our halfway point with 1300km done and 1300km to go, give or take a few kilometres.

• DAY 34: Saturday 2nd April 2022 – Arrey NM to Hillsboro NM
• Distance: 37km
• Elevation gain: 520m
• Accomodation: City park in Hillsboro

A much shorter day today. Just as we were leaving the RV park, the lady running the place told us that she had made us a pot of coffee and would have cooked us breakfast – if only we had known. She still insisted on giving us some energy bars before we left. We continued North along the Rio Grande valley for 10km with nice views of Caballo lake and Caballo mountain to our right. After that we turned onto NM152 which will take us up and over Emory Pass, the highest point of the ride.The road was pleasant cycling with little traffic and a gentle uphill gradient for a while, although the landscape was fairly featureless. Later in the day the mountain scenery got more spectacular but the road correspondingly hillier. We were grateful for a short downhill to finish into the town of Hillsboro. We knew that the only cafe in town closed at 3pm, so headed straight there for burger and chips which was fantastic – the first decent food that we have had since El Paso. Hillsboro is a slightly strange place – various antique and arty shops, but nowhere to buy groceries or anything actually useful. Even these shops seem to only open on weekends, but on Saturday the place was dead. We weren’t impressed with the town RV site, but luckily a couple of guys running a small shop (which only opened on Saturdays from 10am – 2pm, so lucky they were there!) told us that we could camp on the land at tge edge of the city park just behind their place, so a free campsite for the night!

• DAY 35: Sunday 3rd April 2022 – Hillsboro NM to San Lorenzo NM
• Distance: 58km
• Elevation gain: 1150m
• Accomodation: Mountain Spirits RV Park

Today was certainly our toughest day so far as we did the long climb up to Emory Pass, at a little over 2400m, the highest that we have ever been on a bike. Several cyclists that we had met going the other way over the last few days who had already crossed the pass had smugly told us how our ride was about to get very hilly, and they were not wrong! The road was relatively quiet and started off at a moderate gradient as we headed up into Gila National Forest and some spectacular mountain scenery. As always happens on these mountain pass roads, the nearer to the top that we got, the steeper and twistier the road got. By the time that we were 10km from the summit, we were struggling a bit and resorted to taking a few minutes break every kilometre, counting down every metre on the GPS. We have to admit to getting of and pushing at one point, but not for too long! Emory Pass came as a relief, but it was cold and windy so we didn’t linger for long. There was a viewpoint 200m up the ridge, but seeing as this involved extra unnecessary uphill and the view was spectacular from where we were anyway, we gave it a miss. Next came what the GPS elevation profile promised would be a 30km downhill to tonight’s campground. It started promisingly enough with a great downhill, but then in a cruel twist the road started going uphill again. It took 10km of ups and downs before we finally got the downhill that we were waiting for. We were exhausted when we reached the RV park. The owner informed us that the only grocery store nearby had closed 15 minutes earlier, so we had our emergency noodles for dinner, put up the tent and went to bed!

• DAY 36: Monday 4th April 2022 – San Lorenzo NM to Silver City NM
• Distance: 34km
• Elevation gain: 620m
• Accomodation: Lulu Motel

A short but very hilly day today that was hard work on tired legs from a tough day yesterday. The morning on the campsite was freezing cold (presumably due to the high altitude) and was not a great time for our usually trusty stove to pack in after we had made only one cup of morning coffee – two cups is a minimum requirement before getting out of the tent! A long steep climb was followed by lots of ups and downs as we headed further out of the mountains. We passed through the old mining towns of Santa Rita and Santa Clara which were presumably busy places in their day but now are very small and quiet with no shops or services. Whole hillsides had been mined away and there is still a big working copper mine. At Santa Clara we joined the much busier US180 for the last 10km into Silver City. Seeing our first Dollar General in days we stopped for snacks and cold drinks to help us through the last few kilometres. Coming into Silver City, the road turned into something of a rollercoaster with constant ups and downs – we were relieved to finally see our motel for the night and felt that we barely had another turn of the pedals in us! The Lulu motel was lovely and a real bargain. A few beers and a huge pizza from Walmart and we started to recover nicely.

• DAY 37: Tuesday 5th April 2022 – Rest Day in Silver City NM
• Distance: 0
• Elevation gain: 0
• Accomodation: Lulu Motel

Today was a much needed rest day at the Lulu Motel. They did a nice breakfast and we did the usual rest day jobs of (much needed) laundry, charging electronics, a shop at the nearby Walmart and generally lounging around. We also planned the next few days cycling that will see us heading from New Mexico into state number 3, Arizona.

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