Left Duncan at 6:24 am. It ranged between flat to gentle uphill all the way to Lordsburg.
New state! I need to set my cyclometer clock an hour later to Mountain Time. The phones adjust automatically.I saw this fat thing scoot into the grass, so went back to see what it was. Lots of rabbits this morning, too. And I saw a roadrunner, but couldn’t get a picture.A lot of these on the side of the road. People seem to prefer the big (maybe 24 oz) brown bottles. I’ll bet New Mexico doesn’t pay a bounty on bottles.At the junction of highways 70 and 90, one can decide to go 2 miles to the right to Lordsburg, or stay on route and continue to Silver City. Without hesitation, I turned right. Although it was only 10:30 (MDT), I was done, and convinced it was absolutely the right decision not to add this segment onto yesterday’s ride. It might have been straightforward in the cool of the morning, but the heat of the afternoon would be another thing, altogether.I looked to the left to see what I would have to face tomorrow. 3700 feet of climbing.Lordsburg is often dusty with all the trucks and trains passing through. I saw a train that looked like clouds of dust were coming off of every car. Hauling coal?
I rather enjoy getting into a town early, as I have a chance to explore. My thoughts turned to the 5 cyclists I met the previous day. Where did they stay? Did they get a chance to tour the town?
I considered camping, just to be able to say I didn’t spend all my time in motels. Here is the KOA campground. Tent site on sand, mostly in the sun.KOA did have some Kabins, and I note that there are air conditioners on them. But then it would basically be a motel room.Saucedo’s was the only supermarket in town. They didn’t do cash back from debit cards. I’m running low on cash. I had $12 this morning, and left $1 for the room cleaner in Duncan.Outside the market, I met John and Sandy. They have a ranch outside town, raising horses. When I mentioned that I wanted to take the train back, they shared that they had met on a train 10 years ago. John was going back from a job, and Sandy was traveling from Minnesota with her daughter. They have been together ever since.Motels are highly competitive in this town. There’s even a street called Motel Road. I found that the signs are not quite accurate. The one that said $29.99 said $32 cash, $34 credit inside. But with these prices, it made no sense to camp in the sun.
I selected the Budget Motel (not shown in the picture above). $35 including tax. It required some ingenuity to power my laptop, as I discovered that the light, TV, microwave, and refrigerator were all plugged in to a single 6-gang outlet, and that outlet was switched by the entry switch. I also discovered that there was no cold water, possibly because the pipes run through the hot attic. The cold water was hot. After running it for 30 seconds, I thought that perhaps the hot and cold were reversed on the sink, and tried the hot knob. The hot water was scalding – you could make tea from it.
At Dollar General, I got my usual Jumex 1-liter, but also found Zuko powdered Agua Fresca. Makes 1 liter of Jamaica, and 3/$1.The ants here are big. Leafcutters?The nearest restaurant was closed, so I had to walk a mile back to the Pilot truck stop. Hot dogs, 2/$3, and 32 oz Gatorade 99 cents. Breakfast sandwich for tomorrow, $3.99
