Silver City, NM

Just finished ~5 days of fantastic riding from Grants to Silver City (route mile 2587). New Mexico is the favorite state of the trip for both of us.

The roads continue to be rougher and the scenery more dramatic than in the states further north.

Pie Town has a terrific little municipal campground, right next to the two cafes that serve pie. It was a nice break in an otherwise long stretch without services.

We've overlapped for a couple days with another GDR couple - Christine and Eric (Erik?) from Corvalis. It's been nice to visit with other riders. They ate 12 pieces of pie in a 36 hour break in Pie Town!!

Two or three days ago we had more rain, and we encountered true New Mexico mud. We were on a stretch of dirt road which was essentially made of clay, and the stuff just sticks. Our bikes became completely solidified in mud - not just the tires, but every gap just filled with mud. Quite an experience. We pulled and scraped the mud off, and waited a few hours for the road to dry a bit. We had to push the bikes through the grassy fields beside the road for a couple miles, until we were past the worst of the mud road section. When the map says "roads impassable when wet" that is not an empty threat. Christine and Eric put their bikes on the back of a passing pickup truck and got a ride to Beaverhead Ranger Station, where they used the wonderful hose to de-mud their bikes.

Yesterday and this morning we rode through a section of the Gila National Forest that is not grazed. Holy wow what a difference it makes. There is topsoil, grass, forbs, flowers - it all looks so healthy. I believe that is the first long section of ungrazed habitat we've been in since Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks many weeks ago.

We have 2-3 days from here to the Mexican border. The next couple days will be the first real desert of the trip, and I'm excited to change to a new habitat. From there, we've decided to ride east toward (or maybe to) Tucson. We're trying to find some good maps so we can figure out a good dirt road route east. We'll probably be riding for another week or so. From Tucson, we'll either rent a car, catch a commercial flight, or possibly arrange a ride from a friend with a private plane.

All continues to go well. Amy & Jim