Caballo to Las Cruces, NM

Chili Fields forever

They looked so tasty I just wanted to reach out and eat one

Chilies must be the biggest economic driver is south eastern New Mexico

The grand river. What is so grand about this?

Hot chili peppers drying on the roof in Hatch, NM

Don't even try you dirty rotten pecan thieves

Nice looking mountains down in this area. Surprising

Caballo to Las Cruces New Mexico
Day 67
67 miles
1/10/10

This morning we started off right with eggs and pancakes. Surprisingly good pancakes for being made from a little package called “Pan-Kit.” We left the RV park just before 11AM. It was a little later than expected, but we wanted to wait til the temperature was above freezing. The riding today was almost entirely flat and slightly downhill with a small tailwind. This is a good thing because we had over 60 miles to ride.

Not long after we left Caballo, we started seeing fields completely full of chillies. This part of New Mexico is known world wide for growing chili peppers. If you have ever been in the grocery store and seen the little yellow “Hatch” brand chillies, those are from the area around Hatch, New Mexico. It was pretty cool to see all of the chillies still attached to the plants in the field, just left to dry out, and then they are harvested. The roadsides were scattered with chillies for the majority of the day, probably due to them blowing out of the truck after harvest.

We continued riding on, the road paralleling the Rio Grande. I always had thought that the Rio Grande was a river of good size, probably because the name has grande in it, but this thing is not much more than a trickle. Maybe my river vision is skewed after living in Western Montana, but this thing is not much more than a Montana sized creek. The road along this part was exceptionally nice, We were able to ride along on the roadway instead of on the shoulder because of how little traffic there was. The road was relatively smooth with just enough turns and hills to make it all interesting. We really cruised along though. We were averaging between 13-15 mph all day long. We only stopped for bathroom breaks and a short stop for lunch. We were able to get into camp before the sun set with some light to spare despite our late start.

We are glad to be back on the road again in nicer weather after a few really cold days. The rest days were great, but Texas is out there just calling to us. Keep reading to find out what Texas holds in store for us.

Dani and Greg


By the way, we were forced to shop at Wal-Mart today due to a lack of other choices. It was a super Wal-Mart so it had the grocery section. I (Greg) have never really gone into one of these stores for grocery shopping, and I haven't been into one in recent history. I have to say, this place was overwhelming. They are so busy and they have so many different items it is mind boggling. I walked in and I think I went into a trance. I was buying things I usually wouldn't buy, and I came out of the store with three bags full of groceries...and we are on bikes. That is one helluva lot of groceries for bikes. There prices were undoubtedly cheaper, but buy the time I made my third impulse buy (grocery shopping at Wal-Mart while hungry should be strictly forbidden) I think I spent more than I normally would have anyway. Wal-Mart shoppers of America, How do you do it?