Monday, March 24, 2008

El Paso, TX to La Mesilla, NM. 63 miles, 2234 miles total.

I haven't said this in a while, so I'll do it now. Welcome to all the new visitors to my blog. I hope you are enjoying my journey as much as I'm enjoying the experience. Please know that everyone is welcome to come to my celebration party in Sisters, Oregon during the Christmas Holiday, roughly Dec. 20, 2008 to Jan. 3, 2009. I'm planning on renting a big house near Sisters, and it will be a great time of sharing and laughing and celebrating.

There are a couple of options for getting there ... fly into Redmond, Oregon (it's about 30 minutes from there to Redmond, and I'll run a shuttle for anyone that needs it), fly into Portland, Oregon (PDX) and rent a car (I'd say that it would take about 4 hours depending on road conditions to drive from Portland to Sisters), or if you prefer, just drive to Oregon and come experience great skiing, hiking, mountain viewing, eating, shopping, and anything else that you may like to do. The housing is free and so is the food and beverages, so start making plans now!

Now about Monday ... I spent the night at Jesus's house in El Paso. He slept in, so we skipped breakfast. I got a nice early start at 7:30 am. It was an easy ride through El Paso, even though it's a big city. I had a bike lane most of the way. At about 10:00 am, I stopped for a Mexican breakfast, and it was good. The tempature is cool, but it's sunny, and I know it will be warm by this afternoon.

I had a flat tire just as I entered New Mexico. Seems to be my standard greeting to a new state. Same thing happened as I entered Texas. I can't really believe that I finally made it to "The Other Side of Texas" (if I do write a book about this adventure, I think that's the title I'll use ... on a bike, you are always trying to get to the other side of Texas!) A pair of bike riders were out for an afternoon ride, Fred and Sandy, so they stopped and helped me to fix my flat tire. Thanks for the help and the CO2. The tire is still doing just fine!

There was a large nursery with tons of beautiful flowers and shrubs. I enjoyed talking to one of the employes for a while. It was a nice break in the middle of the afternoon.

I made it to a little town of Mesilla and camped in a very nice RV Park. It gave me a chance to do my laundry and take a nice shower. I was getting low on socks, so I knew it was time to do some washing.