Tour Day 100 I Love The Smell Of Radioation In The Morning Oct 3 2010

10 hours of sleep sure does wonders to the body. Because I am so used to 8 hours of sleep a night for the last two hours I was left tossing and turning. Since the first few weeks of the tour my dreams have settled down, but for the last few nights they have been acting up again. I think it might be because my mind is starting to race again with thoughts of hitting the Pacific Ocean. Last nights dream was one that I want to go back to. Now I have never ridden a motorcycle before but this dream gave me the most vivid experience of ripping a triumph thruxton through the mountains I had climbed the day before. The feeling of having such a vivid dream is a strange one. You can feel you body lean into the corners, you can feel your fingers wrapped around the clutch.

When my alarm went off I raced to get ready and out the door. I went to fill my pot with 3cm’s or water to cook my oatmeal. When I turned the tap on it came out slowly, but no worries I got my water and was set. While the water was boiling I went to take my morning poo. When I went to flush nothing happened. Great no water. It’s no problem for me but I feel sorry for the maid… if there is one for this seedy motel.

Now because I had no water, and no water in my water bottles so I was forced to buy water for the first time of the trip. When I went to the gas station I found out from a drunk man (at 6am) that the water main broke and the entire town had no water. I took that as my cue to get the heck out of dodge.

Now I was made aware by a local that I was going to encounter one small climb before I hit the plains to make my way to my first big city in New Mexico. Well that small hill turned out to be 2 extended 7-mile climbs. Luckily I was feeling good and had no wind, which meant good things for my moral. After 35 miles I hit the flats. It was amazing I had a tailwind and never once got below 30km/h. I watched the miles tick by. I passed the white sands missile range at roughly the speed of a missile. I would have to say the speed was caused by the smell of radiation in the morning.

Now I had planned to stop at this homestead to pick up some water but this town of 50 people only had one shop and oddly enough it sold rocks. Now in the land of rocks and sand a rock shop seems an odd thing to have.

I hit Socorro (120km down the road) by 11am. I was over the moon, but needed some food and water to top up the tanks. I was lucky because I ran into the first grocery store I have seen in New Mexico so it was a good time to top up the stocks. I missed one crucial thing… water. I was making my way out of town and the last building in eyesight was the goodwill centre. I walked in the doors expecting a receptionist of some sort; instead I was greeted by a group of women in wheelchairs. It was an old folks home. Now I wanted to ask permission to get some water but no one was around to ask so I just had to stroll in and use the resident’s washroom. The washroom was something else fully decked out with rails, lifts and everything else you could imagine. When I left I almost felt bad to walk out the doors on two legs. It gave me one of those profound moments. I felt lucky to have my health and to have lasted 100 days of hard riding on the road.

When I left the adult community I had a gradual climb ahead for roughly the next 20km. That would not be a problem if I did not have a 15-mile an hour wind in my face the entire time. That 20km took 2 hours of hard pedaling.

Luckily I made it to Magdalene in one piece. But tomorrow is going to be rough. I have 140mile gap with 2 small homesteads in between that apparently have nothing. So I have to go into the day knowing that I am going to run out of water, and know that I am going to get stranded in the middle of nowhere. If all goes well I will be staying in Springerville Arizona tomorrow.

I must say the best thing about touring is the people you meet. Today I got the privilege to meet mike the owner of the motel here in Magdalena. When I walk in I have a sensor overload. I am not sure to be in aww of this mans awesome beard or start a conversation about the campy hat he had on. Mike is one of the most welcoming men I have met on this trip. We saw that I was bagged and immediately offered me a cool glass of ice tea, then proceeded to ask if I needed anything else. This is really the last thing I expected from a local motel because usually the people are just happy to take your money and could care less about the adventure.
Trip Distance: 142km
Ride Time: 6:35hr
Avg. Speed: 21.67km/h
Total Distance: 15050km
Total Ride Time: 697hr
Destination: Magdalena, New Mexico

I achieved a major goal today 15000km in 100 days.