more fun in the sun

So, now it is my turn. It seems that we don't often find time to update the blog, but when we do, we update a lot all in one day.

First, here are a couple pictures that Stacy promised of us jumping at Chase Field (home of the Arizona Diamondbacks) where we watched a game with my cousin Tucker and his wife Tauni. They are shown exhibiting theirleaping prowess with us (Tucker is jumping with me and Tauni with Stacy in case the photos are too dark to pick that out).

































And now on to the updates...

Day #10, April 15: Thatcher, AZ to Buckhorn, NM 83 miles

This day was a low point for me. We knew it would be long, so we got up early and started while it was still chilly. We were making pretty good time until the climbing started. We had one pretty hefty climb of nearly 2000 ft. before dropping to start another climb. Before the first climb I got to replace 3 broken spokes on Stacy's rear wheel (they all seemed to break at nearly the same time...I think it is due to my stellar truing talents as Stacy is not large enough to cause such damage), so things were not off to a perfect start. We went through a small town call Three Way, AZ and then started the second climb of the day (over 2500 ft...and much steeper than the first, not to mention the weather had warmed up considerably in the meantime).
The climb went well with the exception of one broken spoke on each of our rear wheels. We had also not expected to be climbing for so long or in such heat, so we were tearing through the water we had with blazing speed. There is a 45 mile stretch without water, and I began to worry that we may run out of our nearly 2 gallons before camping for the night. My worries were needless as we crossed into NM (check out the air Stacy is catching) and made it to Buckhorn, NM (a small town with an RV park, convenience store, and WATER) before dark.


Day #11, April 16 (today...so far) Buckhorn, NM to Silver City, NM 37 miles

Today we awoke early, and it was quite chilly outside. We started our ride with more clothes on than we have worn on this trip to date. We rode without event and reached Silver City, NM by a little after 1 in the afternoon. Since we have been here, Stacy updated our blog one time while I spent considerable time at the bike shop pictured (Gila Hike and Bike). The folks there were awesome. They helped repair both of our rear wheels and let me use some of their tools. We hung out in the park for a bit and then went to Western New Mexico University campus and used their computers. We had dinner and are now at Tsama's (pronounced Chama) house. Tsama is hosting us through www.warmshowers.org ...a website for bike travelers. Today was nice, we really enjoyed meeting the friendly people in Silver City, and we are getting excited for our climb tomorrow (over our high point at just over 8000 ft.).

Thanks for reading, thanks for your thoughts and prayers, and I hope this finds you all well.

later,