Looking for cool air

Day 3-4 May 28 & 29     Junction - VanHorn - Silver City NM

Ride Mileage : 625

Total Mileage : 975

The planned ride for today was to get to El Paso and be done with the heat for a while hoping that New Mexico would  offer a nice break. Well it didn’t work out that way, right after Fort Stockton the temperature started to increase dramatically to top at 106F (41 celsius). I had to stop every 50 miles to rehydrate and cool off, the heat reflected by the asphalt was unbearable and I was also concerned by the rear tire that was running really hot. So I decided to shorten a bit the trip and stop in VanHorn for the night. 

6:30AM in Junction, going for breakfast 

I booked at the Days Inn for the night and had a decent diner at El Capitan, a historical VanHorn hotel and restaurant from the 1920s. 

I Setup the alarm clock for 5:30AM to ensure a cool morning ride but when the alarm went off in the morning, my phone was showing 4:30 and my IPad 5:30. Weird but I soon realized that the city was close to a time zone change. Anyway I left the motel around 6:30AM and it was still dark. The ride to El Paso was uneventful and I stopped for a coffee at a Starbucks before continuing the ride toward Columbus and Silver  City. I like that road that goes from El Paso to Columbus, it follows the Mexican border  and beside few border patrol vehicles you barely see any cars.

The Mexican border is few hundred yards from the left side of the road

From Columbus, the route goes straight north to Silver City. Around Deming I got a bit of wind and sand, this is very common in this area and potentially very dangerous. I did experience last year a more serious sand storm and had to exit the main road as the bike was hard to control and visibility was reduced. 

The plan for the night was to find a campground north of Silver City in the Gila national forest. I stopped first in Silver City to grab some food for dinner and then rode the very scenic road 15 where there are several campgrounds. I stopped at the first one, Cherry Creek, and was lucky enough to find one spot.

The ride to Show Low AZ tomorrow should be really nice, only small roads in forests and no more heat. Stay tune!