Awaken early to a little frost. Denise drove the guys back to Black Jack Canyon and the bottom of the Big Hue Mtns so they could start their 6 mile climb. Roughly started at 2000' to go to 6000' elevation. Got smart today - lower gears and when the legs need a rest they stopped. 6 miles, 4000' feet of switch backs & curves. The scenery was spectacular! The rock formations, the valleys and distant mountain ranges beautiful. The west side of the climb was in the Apache Nat'l Park when they reach the peak and past Black Jack Campground they crossed into New Mexico and the Gila Nat'l Park. Riding down the back side of the pass the trees disappear and it becomes a grassy plain through Mule Creek (only a post office) and on to Buckhorn, pop. 50, where we had spent the night the night before. They had a packed lunch, but stopped at the only store in Buckhorn - The Last Chance Liquor Store. The sign outside read: "If your wife drives you to drink, have her drive you here". They visited w/the owner. He had not left the area except to serve in VietNam/US Army, so he was glad to share his history. They continued on through Cliff, pop. 400 and Riverside, then Mangas...only a sign. Mike doesn't even remember seeing a house. Rode 60 miles - ended somewhere in the Mangas Valley.
When they start up again they will cross the Continental Divide - 4 mile outside of Silver City where we are spending a couple of nights. After I picked up Mike and Russ we went to a couple of bike shops in Old Town Silver City and the car started, but would die if I idled. It was Saturday evening so nothing was open. Mike found a mechanic that was open on Sunday, but said he couldn't find anything without doing a diagnostic test - $250+. When Mike & Russ took the car to him it was running fine. The mechanic said it could have swollowed a bug in the air filter, or something like that.
Today is Monday the 15th of March and we awoke to snow! Popcorn type snow in the campground. We had decided to go to the Gila Cliff Dwellings about a 2 hour drive fron the campground. We drove toward the cliffs for about 30 minutes and were soon in over 2" and we started to slide a little so we turned around and went to town for breakfast. The sun soon came out, we called the Nat'l Park Service and they said "What snow?" and told us to use a different route. We drove for over 2 hours and reached the place where we had to park the car. The bridge had washed out so we had to walk 1.5 miles to the dwellings and another mile back out. What an amazing place! I'll post pictures separately. These dwellings date from the lat 1270's and 1300's.
Last night's B&J was Strawberry Cheesecake and tonight's was Chocolate Macadamia.
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