Day 16 - Hillsboro to Las Cruces

Sometimes it's just hard to decide. How do we process these things? For example: sour cream enchiladas, tamales, or just regular bacon and eggs? I struggled, but ended up having green chile tamales with eggs over medium and hash browns. I think I made the right choice. So delicious in fact that I completely forgot to snap a picture to post. Oh well, you'll have to use your imagination.

After a breakfast like that I was looking forward to a good day. Flat, easy, scenic.

After a quick 400' climb to loosen up the legs we rolled east along flattish roads, with the occasional roller, to the Rio Grande, the second of the great American rivers we'll cross. I don't know why, but I was expecting a little more green, there was some, but not much.

We ran into a couple traveling by horseback. Michele struck up a conversation and it turns out they roam the west on horseback from Texas, New Mexico, Arizona in the south to Wyoming, Montana, the Dakotas in the north, stopping to work odd jobs when necessary. I find it comforting that folks can still live like that, if they choose, in 2012.

We followed the river south the rest of the day to Las Cruces. Except for the occasional chile farm, chile drying facility and pecan orchard there wasn't much to see. I know I have a bias, but to me Arizona is the more beautiful State. New Mexico has been pretty blah. I'm sure it's more scenic further north.

We stopped in Arrey for a coke and a snack, and in Hatch for lunch. Lunch was almost as tasty as breakfast: tacos de barbacoa. Yum. Two delicious meals in one day.

After lunch, just headwinds. I really don't mind working hard to summit a pass, but fighting a headwind is just demoralizing. I eventually gave up, let J&M go down the road without me and just let brother wind set my pace. If the wind won't let me go faster than 10 mph, then I'll just go 10 mph. I'll get there eventually.

Traffic was light all day until Las Cruces, then it was a little frantic, but we made it to the hotel without major incident. Jerry did see his camera hop out of his handlebar bag and crash to the pavement after I led him over a nasty little speed bump (sorry Jerry). Thankfully it still seems to function properly.

Dinner at Appleby's, a disappointing end to the day.