Carrizozo, New Mexico

No day can start off with a more spectacular bang than hearing we are riding to a restaurant where we can order anything we want. This lady Rita knows everyone in the state it seems like and once again used her connections to hook us up. Most sampled the taste of the southwest an indulges in local favorites such as Huevos Rancheros which I got in addition to French toast, green tea, and everyone elses food that I helped them eat. I immediately regetted the decision of ordering spicy food with the inevitability of a ride sneaking closer by the minute. However, once again my iron stomach prevailed and I felt no negative effects. Along the route today was a historic western town and smokey the bear national park and museum. More importantly, the scenary was out of this world. Today was the best 92 miles I have ever cycled in my life. We have been gradually climbing for the whole state of New Mexico and reached an elevation of 6500 feet. Even the potato chip bags in our trailer were aware of this change as they puffed huge with pressure. The gradual climbing is only slightly noticable and a small price to pay for the slice of heaven we got later in the day. A steady 12 mile coast brought us into town and up close with mountain ranges so pristine they looked like a Hollywood CGI creation. Sierra Blanca was the name the mountains went by, but I like to refer to them as "Whoa." it's amazing just how quick and enjoyable a ride can seem to go by when te coversation is rich. As Sara and I chatted about all the super interesting things we call our lives, muscle memory took over and our legs effortlessly spun round and round. Before we knew it the day was over as we had pulled into town. Well almost over, because I never like to call a day over until swimming has been involved. I didn't get the chance to swim in the rain that caught a lot of cyclists behind me, but I did find a pretty sweet pool a couple miles away from our host site. Sara and I did rock paper scissors to decide who would give the bike and build donation magic talk. I won, but I wish I hadn't because words were mixed up and the girl working the pool ended up thinking we were going to town hall to set up a monetary donation from us to the pool. Good thing this girl wasn't any older than us and therefore didn't care about letting us swim for free. There were about 10 unsupervised kids ages 8-17 playing in the pool. There were no rules as they did dives on eachothers backs and set up a bench as a platform to run and jump off of. Horseplay was not stopped by the lifegard...my kind of place. Because of the mentality I have from the region I grew up in, I was a little bit shocked to see no parents here. But then I watched how the kids interacted. Everyone was well behaved and polit to eachother. They horsed around, but it was all innocent fun as part of their true commraderie. Instead of being out causing trouble or doing drugs, they were at the pool just having fun playing aquatic games that they all invited us to join in on. I did the first ever dive of my life at this pool. It was pretty awful so I attempted another one that turned into a flop. I called it quits and decided I would try again in 23 years. I was challenged to swim to the bottomw of the pool to pick up a ring. Being the idiot that I am who never turns down a challenge, especially an easy one like this, I went for it. This is the only time in my life I thought I was going to pass out. The long ride combined with 10 feet of pressure from water above my head was a bad combination. I came to the top as dizzy as I've ever been with blurred vision and impaired hearing. My head felt like it was going to explode. My ears are still full of water and my hearing is shot. But I'm not going to let that stop me from having fun. Star gazing was in full effect again as most of the group climbed the fieldhouse to watch the sunset, stars come out, and a cloud spew lighting over a cloud in the distance. Why spend life cooped up inside when you can sleep under stars? A lot of people had this thought, but pitched our tents to sleep in. That kind of defeats the purpose because then nylon fabric is blocking the view of the stars. I opted instead for sleeping right out on the track with the stars all visible the whole night. The night air chilled me superficially as I was half out of my sleeping bag and wearing short sleeves and shorts. It wasn't too cold, but just enough to hit me on the surface and make sleeping slightly difficult. I still stand by my decision because the beauty I was surrounded by that night is what dreams are made out of. Sure I didn't get so much sleep, but I'll hold on to the night for as long as memory serves me.