From Deming we cycled 62 miles to Lordsburg through a reasonably strong headwind. All the way across America and our first headwind worth mentioning.

I’ve moaned about the heat, the rain and the cold but I’m not going to moan about the wind. Not yet anyway. A headwind is worse than everything else put together but its not been bad enough yet to create an issue for us.

Still the cycle to Lordsburg was pretty tiring and it didn’t help that we got another puncture 6 miles from our destination.

To date that’s 18 punctures. Probably 5 caused by degraded rim tape, 6 by wire from truck tyres and the rest cause unknown. Tyre choice is important when touring and the Schwalbe Big Apple tyres we started with was a mistake. Great tyres for the tandem but not for American roads which are ridiculously covered in crap.

After Lordsburg we headed 77 miles to Safford. Along the way we passed into Arizona. That’s right – time for another border picture.

Now I suppose at this point I should clarify a little bit of fake news. We’re in America after all and I hear there’s a lot of fake news about and well I kind of added to it.

I know you would have been disappointed if we had crossed into New Mexico and I hadn’t posted a picture of the border with a sign. So I did a couple of posts ago.

Actually, when we crossed into New Mexico along the Rio Grande cycle path there wasn’t a ‘New Mexico’ sign. A couple of days later, when we left ‘New Mexico’ into Arizona we crossed the road and pretended we were arriving. Susan made me do it.

Now most of the people reading the blog won’t know the difference but in the interests of blog integrity I must confess the arriving in New Mexico picture is a fake! We were actually leaving!

Thankfully, most of us are old people and will forget that detail and in a month I will erase the last few paragraphs of this post and nobody will be wiser and my conscience will be clear.

However, we really are in Arizona and what a place of outstanding beauty it is.

So where are we now?

Honestly, this is where we are! No more fake news.

3 days cycling to Phoenix.

2,250 miles done and dusted.

Leaving Las Cruces we headed directly west towards Deming (66 miles).

We followed ‘frontage’ roads alongside the main Interstate and initially made good progress when we left Las Cruces. Then Google Maps told us to use an overpass to cross over to the north side of the Interstate to continue. We decided to stay on the road we were on. Oh I know but you had to be there! Everything was looking fine and Google Maps said the route we were currently on was an option.

Two miles later the road went from paved highway to this:

Well what would you do? Turn around and go back to the overpass? Now I’m the kind of person that is always going to go forward and I rely on Susan to add a bit of sense when sense is required.

“What do you think?” I asked. I was sounding reasonably positive and so Susan said to her ‘idiot at the front’ of the bicycle ‘I think we should give it a try‘.

Off we set down the sandy limestone road. ‘How is it?’ Susan asked the ‘idiot at the front’ whose steering was weaving. It was clear I was having difficultly balancing. ‘It’s fine‘ said the ‘idiot at the front’.

I mean, that’s the kind of thing the ‘idiot at the front’ would say and Susan should know that. What I’m saying here is that really all what was about to happen was now Susan’s fault – she was listening to the ‘idiot at the front’. This is actually a lesson if you are ever faced with an ‘idiot at the front’ – please do something to change the course of your destiny.

So the road changed to this:

Instead of heading west towards Deming we were now heading due south into the desert. We were eight miles from the overpass and the sand was getting deeper in patches.

Now the last thing you ask the ‘idiot at the front’ is ‘is it still okay for you?‘ By this time I was getting used to cycling in the frequent sand pits and as long as I shouted ‘pedal hard‘ we could force our way through.

I was just congratulating myself on the skill I was displaying when the bike went over into a sand pit. I managed to jump off as I get a millisecond warning as the front wheel goes from my hands. Unfortunately, Susan hits the sand with the bike. It’s okay though I’m fine and I still haven’t even got sand in my shoes!

We cycle on as we know there is a right turn 10 miles into the desert that will turn us west and back towards civilisation. ‘Turn right’ says Google Maps and continue on this road for 13 miles. This track was actually called ‘The Robert Larson Boulevard’. Well Robert you’re having a laugh!

So would you turn back now? Of course you wouldn’t!

So ‘idiot at the front’ and Susan headed onwards. We couldn’t cycle at this section so we pushed for 15 minutes until the desert sand firmed up and we cycled again. We stopped for lunch but we couldn’t eat much because we weren’t carrying enough water. Have you ever tried eating a sandwich when your mouth is like the desert you’re cycling through? I suppose I should also mention it was now midday.

Now at the time it was all very difficult but after two months on the road we are reasonably fit and hardy so everything was calm. It’s hard not to be calm when you have an ‘idiot at the front’ who is entirely confident he can cycle through endless miles of desert.

After another five miles this road came to a junction. That’s right a bloody junction in the desert! Google Maps said go straight ahead westwards but there was another option to turn right and head north eight miles towards the Interstate.

Now the route westwards was reasonably appealing to the ‘idiot at the front’ as it headed in the right direction. He even walked a bit and scoped it out.

Unfortunately, there actually wasn’t even a track. Maybe there was at one time. Maybe there will be in the future but right now it was desert and, in these circumstances, even the ‘idiot at the front’ had to admit defeat and head north.

All went well as we headed north and we even safely negotiated a mud pit in the desert. Yes a red mud pit and we’re still scraping the mud off the bike and our shoes.

Then, as we approached the highway Susan said ‘if there’s a fence between us and the highway you can cut it and we’ll get through. You can use your multi tool’.

Now the pliers on my multi tool would be lucky to cut through a paper bag but that’s exactly the kind of never give up attitude the ‘idiot at the front’ likes. What a partnership!

Thankfully, we found another frontage paved road and the day was saved. After another 25 miles of cycling and next to no water we were pretty dehydrated and stopped at a gas station just before the motel.

We will dream about the large ‘fountain’ of cola we each had in the setting sun for many years to come

The day ended at the Grand Motor Inn with fried chicken, mashed potatoes, macaroni cheese and beer. What a lovely end to our cycle in the New Mexico desert.

We left El Paso, Texas, and headed north to the town of Las Cruces, New Mexico. It was a short 48 miles with only 1,000 ft ascent and everything went smoothly.

I’ve now replaced the rim tape on both wheels and the rear wheel now has a self sealing inner tube. I wonder how well that will work? All the spokes seem strong and apart from a difficult to trace squeak from behind Susan’s seat all appears well with the bike. Incidentally, there’s never been a squeak from my seat but I really don’t know if you can read anything into that 🙄.

Part of our route to Las Cruces went along a cycle path beside the Rio Grande river and on that path we passed into New Mexico. As everyone likes to see Susan and I standing beside a sign here is a photo at a New Mexico sign.

Las Cruces is a nice enough town and was established by the US Army in 1849. It was built near a stand of crosses marking the graves of travellers and soldiers and this landmark of crosses gave the town its name.

Las Cruces, nearby Mesilla and southern New Mexico was the area where the infamous Billy the Kid marauded. He stole, murdered, was arrested and jailed (in Mesilla) only to escape, murder and subsequently be hunted down by Pat Garrett, an American old west lawman. One day, Billy the Kid was holed up in Pete Maxwell’s (local land owner) house and suspecting someone was in the bedroom he walked in and asked “quien es?” (“who’s there?’). Garrett answered by shooting Billy the Kid twice in the chest. Frontier justice.