We did it!

March 14, Day 11.  Alpine to Ocotillo, 65 miles or 100 km.

Several people on the fb Southern Tier Support group wrote that today's route would be brutal. Brutal is the right term to describe our ride. 4956 ft of climbing spread out over 3 hours. It sucked the power out of our batteries and it sucked our energy as well. However, we got treated to some awesome scenery. 

Yesterday I wrote that the mountains were more rugged in appearance. Well that was an understatement. Today's mountains were rugged with huge rocks piled on top of each other. The colors were also amazing ranging from pale green with grey intermingled and then changing to a deep red. I couldn't get enough of it. Pictures just don't do it justice. You have to see it yourself.

We stopped in Live Oak Springs for lunch. I expected a fair size town but it really was a hole in the wall place. However, there was a great corner store that carried a little bit of everything. The store reminded me of Francis' store when we first immigrated to Canada. A place where you collect your mail, buy some groceries, and most importantly, a place for socializing. A great place to eat our lunch and rest a while.

I believe it was just outside of Live Oak Springs where we encountered the first Border Patrol officers. The Mexican border is very close. As a bright yellow sports car raced passed me I felt a great sense of injustice. We have so much while others have so little. And an ugly brown wall with barbwire on top separates a dream from becoming reality. 

Both Vicki and I felt really good today so we decided to cycle on. But after 65 miles a place for the night became very attractive. So we stopped in Ocotillo. A very small town of 320 people but with a camping. When I asked inside the only restaurant in town for directions, the waitress said that it was right here. She showed us a concrete pad right beside the restaurant. Peeing only allowed between 730 am and 430 pm. No bushes either but it is for free! Not bad at all. And we ordered the best burger in town, well maybe the only burger place in town. It tasted so good!

The tent is set up, tied to rocks, trees and picnic table because it is difficult to get the pegs into concrete 😅. Goodnight to all.


They advertise it as the Best Burger in the valley. Was it? (Cliff).  Yes it was! (Hendrika)


Comments

  1. Cliff15 March 2023 at 18:56

    They advertise it as the Best Burger in the valley. Was it?

    ReplyDelete

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