Antelope Wells border station to Hachita
Strava: 74.4 km, 108m, 3:29, 19 shifts, 29.6 kph max
Finally, the big day! My sleep last night was almost comically bad, it was too hot and I was glad when the alarm went off at 5am. We had a big breakfast from our supplies plus the hotel food, packed up and took off about 6.
The 90 minute drive passed quickly, chatting with Philip who turns out to be the past and present Mayor of Columbus. He stopped in Hachita to show us the Community Center and the store, then we headed south for the last leg. He dropped us off where Brad and Kristen were assembling their gravel tandem. We said good bye, loaded up, posed at the famous border sign, looked at the wall a bit, then headed north. Just 4962 km to go.
It was just after 8am so the temperature was fine, we were all feeling good. Andrew and I led for the first hour then Daniel and Wytze took a turn. We stopped maybe around halfway for a peanut butter and honey sandwich break and met a solo rider, Philip, a Brit living in California.
Then back at it. The angle was really gentle, sometimes a little up or down. Sometimes a tiny headwind or tailwind. As we got closer to Hachita the heat was making itself known, about 36°C. Andrew was suffering a little so we cruised the last 10 km slower. We went right to the store and inhaled cold drinks and ice cream etc.
The Community Center was locked with no number to call but I called a local, the owner of the Hachita bike ranch, who gave me the number. A few texts later and we were good. 6 of us at the Community Center and Philip at the Bike Ranch (small place). The Center is great, spacious and much cooler than outside. Showers, toilets, a full kitchen with some food, and even cots and pads to sleep on.
Wytze went first in the shower then cooked us up some soup. Just like Bike Dreams! We all relaxed and figured a new route plan that avoids wild camping in this heat, we’ll see if that works.
We found an amazing thing: an old laptop that worked! It took a couple of hours but we successfully used it to load the western US and Canada detailed maps onto Wytze’s and Daniel’s Garmin bike computers. Amazing luck.
We went back to the shop later and bought more food for dinner. There was also quite a bit available in our kitchen that others had left. Wytze cooked found hamburgers and hotdogs while I made our pasta, served mixed with a can of tomato soup, grated cheese and dried basel. I had mine with sardines on top. And found pickles. Dessert was canned fruit and there were jokes about the cheese plates and wine that we didn’t have.
So that is day one out of many, accomplished pretty well. We’re sure there will be many higher and lower points in our future. I successfully avoided a nap and hope to sleep well tonight.
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