Day 8
May 22nd 2004
They say that it is always very windy in Arizona. They also say that this is because New Mexico sucks and California blows. I'm not so sure about that last part, but they sure got the "windy in Arizona" right. Headwinds today were so strong that at one point going up a hill with the wind in my face, the bike was maxing out at 120 km / h in sixth gear. It was that bad.
If we forget about the wind though, today was a magnificent day. I left Roswell at the crack of dawn after a full nights sleep. Lately I had only been getting to bed around 10:30 or 11:00 and getting up at 5:00 am. Last night I was able to hit the sack at around 9:30 and this morning getting up was that much easier. Humidity was much lower in Roswell than what I had become accustomed to, so it was nice and fresh this morning and the desert freshness lasted well until noon.
One of the more difficult decisions of the day was to decide what I stop to see and what I pass by. A few hours into the ride I came across the "White Sands National Monument". I stopped to see what it was all about. The entrance fee was $ 10 but my National Parks Pass that I purchased at the Blue Ridge Mountains let me in for free. I asked the lady at the office if there was a lookout not too far away, but she said no, no lookouts, only a 16 mile loop. I told her that I probably wouldn't have time to do it all, as I had a pretty tall order on my plate today, but she told me "you really should". Turns out she was right.
This must be where they go to film movies to get the real Hollywood version of the desert. Miles and miles of white sand. The road was unpaved, but the dirt surface was very hard, hard enough to put the bike up on the centerstand without any problem.
They plow the sand like we would the snow to keep the roads clear. Almost looks like snow, doesn't it ? This was one wild place...
I had to do some interstate because all the secondary highways seemed to run North to South instead of East to West. On the interstate, I got to watch a bunch of dust devils, which are sort of like mini-tornadoes. We have some in New Brunswick, little twirlers maybe 10 - 20 feet tall that last for a few seconds. These over here were maybe 100 feet high and maybe 10 to 20 feet across and would last for minutes. At one point I thought I would get to ride through one, but it was off to the side of the highway by the time I got there. I hear it's neat to ride through them.
By the time I reached Tucson, I started seeing some "Organ Pipe" cacti. During the last 2 trips out west with Hélène, we were hoping to see some, but we never did. I wouldn't come here a third time and not see them. The southern loop I took from Tucson was full of them.
They are fleshy to touch and they have hard spines maybe 2 inches long. I kept imagining Wile E. Coyote being thrust into one and yelping in pain. The scenery around there was definitely straight out of The Roadrunner Show, jagged mountains and rocks along with the cacti.
All along that 330 km scenic loop there were dozens of "Border Patrol" trucks seeking illegal immigrants. I imagine that this is a pretty popular illicit crossing point. The other bizarre thing about this road was that about every mile or so there was a cross or a small shrine in the memory of someone who presumably died in that area. The roads were relatively flat and not too curvy so I was wondering if these were people shot by the Border Patrol or what. Sadly, the events of the day will likely result in another cross being erected. I was the third person to arrive at the scene of a single car accident where 3 native Americans were in a car that was now on its roof. The man had been ejected from the car and was dead, but the two women were still in the car and only suffered bumps and scratches. As there was nothing to be done for the man, I turned around and went to alert the Border Patrol, as I had passed a little station about 15 km back. Cell phones don't work in these parts.
This certainly put a damper on my spirits, and I guess all those crosses along the road were traffic accidents. Strange how such a beautiful place can also be a very deadly one.
The rest of the ride included visiting the actual "Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument" which was a big letdown. It is more of a Nature Preserve, there is no information booth, just a sign that says "Visitor information tune to 1510 AM". It was basically just a ride through what was very similar to the other 330 km in the loop. Oh well, the loop was certainly worth it though.
When I got back on the Interstate I had roughly 200 km to go to make it to Yuma. It's really around 4:00 PM or so that you really get into the major heat of the day around here. It ended like most days have been ending for me lately, sweaty and stinky. Tonight was another one of those "shower upon arrival to the hotel" kind of evenings.
I am ahead of schedule again, and I plan on getting the second checkpoint tomorrow and maybe making it to Las Vegas after that. If all works well, I think I'll take that "Flex Day" in Las Vegas to give a break to my body. Some parts are doing better, such as my bum, which is hardly not hurting anymore, but some other parts are starting to complain. It is a fairly physically demanding thing to spend as much time in the saddle and I still have a long way to go, so I don't want to burn out prematurely. I've also developed a little infection in my left ear from my earplugs. A bit of Polysporin (or Neosporin as it's called here) should take care of that. I don't want this to get worse, because I don't want to have to go without the earplugs.
Well, that's all I have for today.
Day Stats:
Total Distance: 1 283 km (Roswell, NM to Yuma, Az)
Total Time: 11 h 37 minutes
Overall Average: 108.3 km / h