Day Forty-six 090415 - Las Cruces, NM

Day Forty-six, Date Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Time in Saddle: 6:06
Distance for the Day: 67.34 miles: From Deming, NM To Las Cruces, NM
Accumulated Trip Distance: 1937.2 miles
Altitudes: Starting/Ending 4392’/4009’, Highest: 4520’, Accumulated: 1257’
Speeds: Avg: 11 mph, Max: 35.2 mph
Weather: 46° partly cloudy, high strato-cumulus, clear to the south, but cloudy to the east
Expenditures: $67

Got up at 5:30am while the sky was *just* getting the first hint of daylight. The stars were still out, and the slightly gibbous waning moon were up when I took my sponge bath and changed my clothes. You know you need to clean up when your spandex pants start sticking to you! Had an apple and trailmix for breakfast before taking off from Deming to Las Cruces, a fairly easy 53 miles away. I would make my Wednesday target date – how nice. Today, I finally did something about the Sun shining into my eyes whenever it gets low to the horizon (usually during the morning). I used a strip of masking tape to extend my helmet visor. Looks a bit hokey, but what a relief! I pulled into Las Cruces at 11am, and stopped in at Burger King to use my BK credit card (thanks, Yolanda!) for a Whopper, fries, and soda. I’d been dreaming of Burger King for the last three cities, and none of them had one. I then went in search of the Outdoor Adventures store, where I arranged to have my Panoptx goggles sent.


At 1928.8 miles, I got my 6th and 7th flats on the starboard-front tire. I was heading toward Outdoor Adventures to pick up my goggles when it happened. I stopped to fix it, found and removed a short but very sturdy thorn (it had to be to penetrate Mr. Tuffy), put everything back together, and before I could get going, again, it went flat, again. Hmmm, I inspected the outside tire, again, and found *another* thorn. Then I looked even more carefully, and could see the ends of several other smaller thorns stuck in that tire. I then inspected all three tires, and found tiny thorns stuck in each one. I had to use my knife to extract them, but I cleaned all three tires of these thorns. The small ones probably wouldn’t have ever penetrated, but I thought, “better safe…” etc. I finally made it to Outdoor Adventures, who I arranged to have my goggles delivered to, only to find that they hadn’t arrived yet. Oops, small error: the owner’s name is Don, too, so the guy who received that day’s FedX deliveries thought it was for him, and put it on his desk. I got my goggles (yay!) and if I lose them, I will spit until I die of dehydration!! I also picked up some more energy bars and spare CO2 cartridges ($50), and went out in search of free wi-fi. I tried the local college, but they required a username and password. I then fumbled around a bit and found the local library, and worked there until closing (9pm). I *then* looked up and found the nearest Denny’s – no wi-fi, but a pleasant place to eat and work on writing the blog all night (it’s now almost 5am!) I’m such a night owl…