8. One of the most boring rides ever
Day 9. Today wasn’t that excited. I have about 460 km ahead of me. The weather forecast is brutally hot. The plan is leave early again and be done by or before noon to beat the heat. Early departure didn’t workout too well when the receptionist who has my safety deposit I need to pick up, was 1 hr late for fork. You just have to go with the flow, I guess.
I hit the morning rush hour traffic perfectly. But I stayed on the freeways, so it didn’t take long to get out of Albuquerque. Riding east on I-40 and the sun is straight into my eyes. My tinted shield is not dark enough so I had to put on my sunglasses as well. Temperature was quite pleasant in low 20s. But I knew it won’t last too long.
After about 45 minutes I turned south and the real boredom started. Flat, featureless terrain and the 4 lane highway was straight as an arrow. Thank goodness for cruise control. I dialled in 120 km/h and settled in. There were only two small villages on the way, both were way past their prime. Everybody moved out and the nature was taking over again. And that was it, for 3 hrs! Only bigger town today was Roswell. This is famous for its claim that aliens landed there with their UFO. Well, there were not the smartest aliens ever otherwise they wouldn’t pick Roswell. But they obviously realized their mistake and left without a trace. I didn’t make the same mistake and I didn’t even slow down.
It was getting really hot and the temp got to 35˚C before 11 in the morning. I have a 3 litre camelback with water but it was all gone after 3 hrs. Just like yesterday, the last 1.5 hrs was pretty dry. I just wanted to get to some air conditioned room and get rid of my goretex riding gear.
I finally reached today’s destination - Carlsbad, NM right at noon. I wouldn’t want to be riding one minute longer. The heat really sucks the life out of you. I already book my room last night so there was no searching. And even though check-in is normally after 1500, my room was ready. Cold shower was a nice reward. It doesn’t take much to make me happy on the road.
I went for a bite to eat late afternoon but the temps outside was now 42˚C. My bike was so hot, I couldn’t touch anything. The riding was like being in a oven turn to max temp. Absolutely brutal.
That was the day. I am staying here one more day as I am going to see some caverns. They are 40 km away so it will be pretty hot coming back. But they say it is 13˚ in the cavern year around. Can’t wait.
This was one on the houses on the way today. A fixer upper needs some TLC
and this was my view all day 🙄