New Mexico is proving to be a pretty unforgiving place. There is a reason Walter White decided to cook his “product” out here. There is nothing here. Like previous days the old highway runs alongside the interstate. I counted 8 cars in 4 hours of running on the old road this morning. Weeds and grass are taking over, it won’t be long before the old 66 is nothing but a grass track. I would usually list all the towns we have been through during the day, civilisation here is near non existent. Running through Tucumcari this morning you got a real sense of the desperation of these smaller towns. We set out from the campsite early, running through the town at what might be called rush hour. Everything was still, no horns tooting or people rushing to work, no suits bustling along the pavements, just lifeless. This would be the last town we saw in 50 miles of running.
The landscape here is spectacular and if for no other reason you should come just to see it. Endless mountains and burnt red cliff faces, cactai and dry arid dirt. It goes on as far as the eye can see. Any life does well to survive, the trees and plants are all fighting for those few trickles of moisture. If you are struggling to picture it, think of the surface of Mars just without any plants. At home most places are never more than 10 or 20 miles from something man-made. Whether it’s a house or even just a telegraph pole. Out here it feels like you could walk for days and see nothing.
How to Travel in New Mexico Photo Gallery
Every member of the team has run with me today. It makes a great break from the silence. We talk about anything and everything, politics to fridge magnets.
There is every insect in the world you can think of out here and I’m pretty sure they all decided to congregate for a chat on the old highway today. Every step was met with bugs scattering to avoid my trainer. All I could think of was Indiana Jones Temple of Doom when the girl has to put here hand into a dark cave filled with bugs to save Indy’s life. That dark cave was my road today.
The heat here is dry, my sweat dries and turns to salt on my skin. Unlike previously where I would be saturated with sweat, my clothes stay dry. It’s quite a strange feeling, and very difficult to tell when you have worked hard.
I have added the picture of my sun burn from yesterday. Today was different, factor 10,000 lathered all over. The run is painful enough without sun burn added to it.
One thing I had not taken into account when heading out here was altitude. People talk about the plains of America and the vastness of the land. Today we are in Santa Rosa. This is 5000 feet above sea level. I knew I felt like I had gone up hill more than down. Not only have we got the heat, 50 miles to run its now even harder to breath. I know at its highest it gets to 6000 feet, the optimist in me thinks, that’s a lot of downhill to go. The pessimist says, the next 10 days are going to be tough.
Tomorrow night we stop in Albuquerque. Going to be a tough slog on the bike with the head wind. #epic #150 #bike #50 #run
A great day on the bike, feel like I haven’t said that since we have been here but today was a good day. Miles passed by, helped by the breathtaking scenery. Today was all about team work. What a support team these guys have become. I drafted off the RV again today, the head wind made pedalling almost impossible. I sit about 6 inches off the back bumper, anymore and the wind hits me like a punch in the chest. At the back of the RV I’m invisible to the driver so we need clear communications between me at the back and the driver. We averaged 28mph today. For the couple of hours after dinner we stayed at an average of 30mph.
The route today has taken us through some of the most amazing places I have ever seen. What I have loved about being out here is that the landscape changes everyday. Today was green and mountainous. No red dirt or burnt rock, instead, green forest, canyons, mountains and salt flats.
We have climbed again today, up to 6300 feet, from the 5000 yesterday. All this climbing is done at 30 degree heat.
We are back to civilisation today, pushing out of Santa Rosa this morning we have passed Willard, Vaughn, Chillini, Tijeras and finally into Albuquerque. We have twice been pulled over by the police today. That takes us to a total of 11 run ins with the law. I was fearful of the law when heading here but every time they have been great. Today they were interested in what we were doing and just wanted to make sure we stayed safe. They always leave with good wishes and a handshake.
I have started to have problems with my feet, well they have been a problem for a couple of weeks but last night was the end of the line for toe nails, the pliers came out. I have attached videos and photos. You can see how my toes are actually rotting, I think it’s from the rain a couple of days ago. I have taped them again to try and help them Albuquerque is not what I expected. After such a stunning ride into the city, through mountains and amazing forests you arrive to quite a run down edgy city. I feel slightly on edge but I can’t understand why?! Just don’t seem to feel quite comfortable here. The best thing about this adventure is that everyday we are somewhere different, somewhere new.
One of the best things to see today was a sign saying “high bear activity, be bear aware”. We unfortunately didn’t see one, or fortunately depending on whether you were on or off the RV!
Thanks again for all the likes and donations. If you are new to the page, Hello! I’m Sam and I’m very very warm You can donate at samboatwright.com
To my friends Ella and Adam who got engaged while on holiday in America, congratulations. #greatnews #beawesome #beepic #adventure
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