Today was both disappointing and great. We started out early in effort to beat the wind which was forecasted to start at 10am in Tinnie and later as we moved west. The wind was expected to be 25-35mph NNW with gusts. It was sunny and in the low 60s. The wind hit us immediately even though it was only 8am. Katye and I struggled forward and we quickly lost the shoulder on the road but the traffic was light in both directions and those that passed gave us wide berth. The scenery was beautiful with mountains and rock formations (including a few rock slides) on either side and then flattened to beautiful farms with green fields planted. There were also some horse ranches and adobe homes to look at. At about mile 4, there was a sign to watch for wildlife. Within a minute, Katye pointed out a herd of deer on our right. In about another mile, there was a sole deer about 20 yards from me. She soon jumped in front of me and crossed the street to Katye’s and my delight. I don’t know what made me happier: seeing the deer right in front of me or hearing Katye’s delighted laugh. Then the gusts started which were up to 50mph. They either stopped us or pushed us towards the road. I actually got off and walked a quarter mile to take a break. Katye kept biking and was putting her upper body as close to the bike as she could to reduce the impact of the wind. At one point she had to stop to pull a ball of goat head spines that had blown up and imbedded itself into her leg. We had plans to meet Marie in 10 plus miles and it was the longest 10 miles I have ridden yet. She had just started to come back and look for us when we reached 10.5 miles. Knowing that the wind was supposed to continue, we packed up the bikes to go to Smokey Bear National Park in Capitan, skipping ahead 10 miles. On the drive there, the scenery continued to be amazing and we could see beautiful snow capped mountains ahead glistening in the sun. We toured the Smokey Bear museum and it brought back a flood of memories - “only YOU can prevent forest fires”. We learned that Smokey Bear after surviving a forest fire as a cub, lived at the National Zoo in DC for 26 years and they even provided him a wife although they never had cubs. When he died, they brought his remains back to Capitan and buried him.

After a nice tour of the museum, we decided to give the bikes another try. In town, the wind was quieter given the windbreak of the buildings. We hopped on and within minutes we were being blasted by the wind again. We made it about two miles and called it quits again. As we waited for Marie to pick us up, our calves which were exposed were getting pelted with gravel. Always happy to see Marie. Given obligations to be at the airport on Thursday evening for Katye to fly home and Dale to fly in, we decided to drive ahead to Carrizozo, NM and start out there tomorrow. The bulk of the ride from Capitan to Carrizozo is a descent of over 1000 feet. Marie did not have to brake on the hill as the wind was naturally providing resistance - crazy! We only rode 13 miles of the 40 mile trip today but Mother Nature was working against us. On the outskirts of Carrizozo, we pulled into a state park and had lunch. We sat on the East side of the truck which provided a decent windbreak. We then checked into our motel which is nothing like yesterday’s lodging 😳 and all three of us had an hour nap. I guess the wind zapped us of energy.