We had a full day in El Paso yesterday. We rode to a great Mexican breakfast place, then to a sporting goods store for stove fuel and a coffee shop to relax. The city isn’t the best for cycling but we had no problems.
We packed in the afternoon then ubered to a restaurant nearby where we met my local friends Chelsea and Victor. It was a long relaxed dinner and so great to learn more about their city, the culture and the area from locals. We all had Margaritas and dinner was great.
After a good sleep the rest of the team rode out in the morning for coffee while I had breakfast and cleaned up. Our ace shuttle driver, Philip, arrived at 9:45 in his big van. We loaded up and he pointed out sights as we drove through El Paso, right by the border. He told us about 10 people had already started cycling this year, more than usual because the snowpack is low in Colorado.
The road took us along the border for 90 minutes, passing a couple of tethered observation blimps and other border patrol installations. We saw a giant AI data center under construction too. Philip identified each section of wall by president. The Obama wall was 18′ high, the Bush wall 15-18′ and Trump wall was visibly taller at 30′. We didn’t see any of the Clinton wall.
We arrived at Columbus, New Mexico, a town of 1800, right by the border. The Los Milagros hotel seems nice and we arranged for an early shuttle to Antelope Wells for tomorrow. Philip had forgotten he was taking us onward but was at our disposal at any time.
We had lunch at a friendly drive-in next door, beer and pizza for me. Then we walked to the Dollar General market. It’s big, maybe 40% food. We bought supplies for a couple of days. We plan to camp indoors at Hachita tomorrow then somewhere along the 125 km from Hachita to the next town, Silver City.
In the evening we were invited to join a meet and greet event at the hotel for a local candidate for Sheriff. They had lots of food and drink and the people were very friendly. We met a couple who are also starting the ride to Banff tomorrow, on a gravel tandem. They had to think a lot about how to pack and especially to carry enough water. Breakfast is at 5:30 tomorrow, then we drive 90 minutes to the famous starting border crossing at Antelope Wells. Exciting!
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