On our way Don't know where we're going

Tuesday Feb 19th We're finally heading to the Southwest

To get our tan on ...

Decently warm temperatures got us through Missouri and half of Oklahoma before we stopped at a rest stop for the night- It's so nice to be able to comfortably sleep in a vehicle.

The next morning we finished up Oklahoma, went through a bit of Texas, and got to New Mexico- yay!

Managing to stay mostly in front of the storm. We stayed just outside of Albuquerque in the National Forest. We fired up the stove and cooked ourselves a can of corn- but as we watched in horror, our functioning stove dimmed and extinguished. This was the first time we had used it, and the propane tank had been full!

We woke up to snow and rolled down the hill to Albuquerque.

After getting some bike trail advice from a local bike shop, we wandered around the city for the rest of the day and stayed next to the trail head for the foothills, which we would ride in the morning.


The riding was good- The trails were mostly on weathered granite with sharpened cactus that lined the single track nicely, not allowing much room for error. On the first climb my rear tire spun on the loose gravelly sand and down I went right into a cactus. My glove is now held onto my hand by this pointy plant. I pounced up as I saw Emilie coming my way, and spent the next 10 minutes pulling the cactus from my hand and glove. I shamefully walked my bike the rest of the way up the hill. As we rounded the corner we ran into the guy from the bike shop (Dave). Dave then offered to show us around the area. We were happy that we ran into him as the trail was a maze with tons of different technical levels.

I only had one major crash, man some of that trail was loose, but don't worry mom and dad, I'm fine. I swear the only reason that I fell over was that I was so focused on Mike flailing around, with one foot in his pedal, and some how He stayed on his bike (sigh). Another problem with riding so close to cacti is that my bike tires seem to attract them. Thank goodness that we are both riding tubeless- it's already saved us about 5 flats, and I'm sure they're will be many more to come.



That night we decided to try to find some National Forest land closer to town, So we drove up to the Sandia Crest Tramway, thinking that there had to be something along there. We ended up sleeping in the tramways parking lot, but it did have a very nice view of the city. At about 3 am, we were rudely awakened by a security guard, who I convinced that we had permission to stay there- we actually did too.

The next morning there was snow...again...

The poor bikes

The rest of the day was spent driving back to a gas station that had propane (we had already driven all over the city looking for a place that sells it- when we finally found a gas station that had it, they closed there propane at 5 pm- this had been the night before) only to find out that the person certified to do it was on lunch- so we went to a uhaul instead. We're becoming quite familiar with Albuquerque. And it's absolutely amazing how bike friendly it is here. There are bike routes, lanes, and trails everywhere! But anyway...we finally got a gallon of propane, and were off to find the White Mesa bike trail.