Aug 28, Day 64

High Lonesome Bull campsite – Hachita (Sam Hughes’ house)

Distance - 49 miles, Av speed - 9 mph

We wake up to find the bikes lying on a flooded tarp, but thankfully our tents have held good, and other than being absolutely filthy, have kept us and our gear dry. We don’t expect to see any traffic on the dirt road following all the rain, but lo and behold, a truck pulls up just as we are packing up and the lady tells us we are lucky not to have been flooded last night.

Further down the road, we encounter large pools of water and the bikes quickly become all caked in mud.  Numb Stuff’s de railleur becomes stuck in first gear.   We spot a couple of snakes on the road, and also a group of horses who come galloping down to greet us.

Finally, the dirt road hits the interstate 10 and we make our first encounter with Border Patrol – a large truck with infra red cameras. We have a lunch stop at the world famous Separ trading post, which has a odd selection of merchandise – a huge firework selection and some hideous trashy gifts, such as a cowboy fountain. Afterwards, we have our final 7 miles of dirt, running parallel to the interstate, before turning off on the 146 pavement to Hachita.

This must be one of the quietest roads in the entire USA, as the guide book says, you could probably lay down in the middle of the road and take a nap, there is so little traffic. There is just us and our new friends, the numerous Border Patrols, which seem to appear every 15-20 minutes. Oh, and a million grasshoppers. We have given up trying to avoid riding over them, and just get used to the splat sound you make when your tire runs over them. There are also some suicidal ones which like to jump in your spokes.

Soon, we arrive in Hachita, a small town of 40 inhabitants. Sam is waiting for us at the newly opened convenience store. Jim and Nancy have been waiting with him for us, but alas, have just left 10 minutes before we arrived. We are so disappointed to have missed them, as we wanted to congratulate Jim on making the border. But we are super-excited to find they have left a great bottle of red wine with Sam for us – Jim and Nancy – you both rock!

Sam is a true Continental Divide trail angel, both for hikers and cyclists. He lets them camp in his yard and also drives hikers to the start of the trail. Not only that, but he is really interesting to talk to and has a great sense of humor – we just love his business card! And we have to give a special mention to Bear, his dog, who makes us very welcome. Sam points out the border patrol spy balloon on the horizon, which is set up to detect any heat motion in the desert. You get the feeling you couldn’t even fart around here without the border patrol finding out about it.

It feels a fitting way to be spending the last night of our ride camped here, sitting on Sam’s swing and listening to his stories about his life, watching the sun set and the moon rise. We both feel so grateful for having the opportunity to do this ride and meeting so many amazing people.