Another Crossing

Today we rode our last 11 miles on the interstate, we did the other 53 miles along beautiful frontage roads complete with wildlife crossings! We had eight flat tires, several were caused by goatheads, the seed of what's otherwise known as puncturevine. The long sharp thorn easily punctures normal bike tires and they are everywhere.

We passed a loaded cyclist named Melvin halfway to Las Cruces. He spent 50 years in the Navy as a fighter pilot and he's now crossing the country on his bike. He started in Seattle and is on his way to Key West, FL. After taking a month off he plans on looping back to Alaska.

We've got some hills to climb over the next couple days, a big climb into Alamogordo and a very long climb into Mayhill the day after that. I'll keep you posted. I'm actually not too worried about the hills (this might change over the next few days), my training has been very adequate for this adventure so far making it very enjoyable and easy to encourage others. I do get some soreness in my shoulders from leaning on the bars but it goes away quickly as I change positions or get off the bike for a stretch. Soreness on the backside is an issue too but standing on the pedals for a few minutes gets you down the road another 30 minutes easy. I would break up the monotony by seeing how long I could stand on my trainer back home, it has turned out to be excellent preparation for this trip!

Thanks so much for your prayers. May God's Kingdom come through our lives and our efforts.

Pictures. 1) Doug crossing the Rio Grande at Las Cruces. 2) Wildlife crossing! 3) Melvin on his way to Key West.