On-Ward to Wagon Mound

Day 2, Wagon Mound. It was rough night at the Highlands University football field. Sleep was elusive between barking dogs and revved up motorcycles and other vehicles that seemed to circle the field into the late hours. It was cross between the Hounds of Baskerville and Mad Maxx. At 5:30 am we awoke to the drills of the Highland Cowboy Football team; their morning workout. It seemed that the coach wasn’t pleased with outcome of the recent game against arch-rival New Mexico Lowlands University (Actually I’m not quite sure of the opponent, but the coach was really mad.)

 

The day, however, was gorgeous. We gladly rode on Interstate 25, which was largely devoid of traffic. The pesky hills of yesterday were replaced by a vast plain of rangeland, bordered by sunflowers. According to Steve, the wagon train wheels picked up seeds from Kansas sunflowers and spread them along the trail. We cruised along with a headwind. We split off the Interstate and took an 8 mile side trip to Fort Union, our lunch stop. A herd of antelope grazed in the distance. The ruts of the old Santa Fe Trail were clearly visible from several points along the road. I could almost see the old wagons lumbering across the vast prairie, each loaded with thousands of pounds of trade goods bound for Santa Fe.

While we were stopped examining the rutted old trail, Russ noticed that one of the spokes on his tire was broken. This is a potentially very serious problem. Another rider had a spoke wrench and he managed to true the tire, but it was clear that Russ could not ride for more than a day without risking serious damage to his rim. He has one of these carbon-fiber light-weight bikes that are ideal for this kind of trip, but getting parts for them is a problem especially in the middle of nowhere.

We lunched at Fort Union, an important army supply depot during the heyday of the wagon trains, but abandoned a few years after the railroad was completed to Santa Fe in 1888.

After lunch we battled fierce headwinds back to the Interstate, then we picked up a tremendous headwind. At times we didn’t even have to pedal, still achieving spends over 20 mph. Shortly before the Wagon Mound exit I got a puncture in my front tire. I had only another few hundred feet to the exit so I decided to try and ride off the Interstate. That was a mistake. I lost control of the bike and took a bit of a tumble, but except for a few scrapes and bruises I am still good to go.

Camp is at the Wagon Mound School. Dinner was prepared by the Wagon Mound High School senior class, which appeared to have 6 students. After dinner, Steve took the opportunity to present the class with a gift donation of $220, which had been provided by Russ Hallsted, who so wanted to be on this trip. Russ, the donation was deeply appreciated. Meanwhile, the other Russ, the one with the broke spoke, had called a bike shop in Santa Fe. He called Sherri who was still in Santa Fe. The plan was for Russ to return to Santa Fe with Sherri, then get the spoke repaired in the morning. He would re-join us tomorrow evening.

 

 

At the baseball field where we were camped, a reporter for the local newspaper came around and interviewed a bunch of us for an article she is working on. I asked her what paper she worked for. She quickly corrected me and said she didn’t work for the paper as an employee, but was a volunteer. “We need something to fill the paper with!”  she told me.

As for the town itself, it’s pretty tiny. Besides the school, there is a gas station and a few houses. The most famous landmark is the butte that rises up against the town. It apparently resembles a Wagon. I think this is a stretch, but I will let it go. Steve tried mightily to get us an internet connection. I found him in the school kitchen challenging each of the senior students with this important task. They really tried, but we again are out of contact tonight.

We did see our first road kill of the trip. In this order:  An armadillo, coyote, and tortoise.

A major storm is reported to be moving into the area tomorrow. This would be most unwelcome.

And yes I am tired.

Stats for the Day: 62 miles. Top speed 30.5 mph. Ave Speed, 13.6 mph. Best moment: Seeing the herd of antelope roam.