Douglas AZ to Rodeo NM

Thursday March 24th

 Started the day with a late but otherwise excellent breakfast at the Gadsden Hotel.  Slept well last night in a real bed and real towels instead of our typical “camping paper towels” which actually do work well. Another sunny bright and chilly morning, once the sun gets up a bit everything warms up quickly.  So trying to dress properly for the first two hours of riding can be a challenge.  At the first Sag stop we can unload excess clothing which we recover at the end of the days ride. 

After dinner last night at the Gadsden, the owners mother (she was in charge of food service) took us on a tour of the basement. Down there were a “speak easy”, and perhaps a half dozen rooms used to provide “social entertainment”  for the lonely travelers.  But the really cool features were tunnels that led across the street, somewheres out back and a mile long tunnel since collapsed that went to Mexico.   I think she said it was functional until some time in the 1980’s. This picture is the screened off filled in tunnel to Mexico. 

Today we enter New Mexico.  So far it closely resembles the scenery of the past several days in Arizona. We are noticing a lot of Goat Heads, a tiny durable seed I guess, that looks like a goats head with lethal tire puncturing prickers on every one. As long as you catch them quickly before riding you can usually remove the prickers before they flat you.  

Tonight we are staying in a campground located at the Chiricahua Desert Museum in Rodeo NM. They have an interesting collection of local artifacts and maybe 25+ different native rattlesnakes, all alive in cages. We had a tour of the museum, which is miles from any civilization, not sure how they stay in business. Rodeo was just a few buildings along the roadside, no stoplights, no intersections.  Our tents are spread out across a field that is of course full of goat-head plants.  But they have excellent bathroom and shower facilities. Off to bed immediately after dinner, tomorrow is a 90+ mile day.  Todays ride was 53.6 miles, climbing 1,227 feet at an average speed of 13.3 mph. Calories burned were 2134.