Old friends, New friends

So good day to all. We had an interesting night. We stayed at a Fairfield Inn. It had two double beds and a boatload of furniture, which meant we piled up furniture and squeezed in Dan's cot. Hard night for Dan as he was next to the air vent and every time it kicked on, it sent a shiver up under his cot. I guess we will go to plan B next time the room is too small. The 120+ miles did Wynn in and he was exhausted, but the road goes on and so does the peddling. Later on I will let Colleen tell you about our new military friend. He left a gift for us at the front desk. Maybe someone out there will recognize what this is. Dan's son had given one to him earlier so we all know...

The riders got on the road at 8:05 am MT. I finished up a load of wash, grilled Italian chicken for supper tonight, made a Walmart run of course and got on the road at 11:00 am. Roswell had alien stuff all over the place, even the McDonalds had one on the sign.

Notice the lamp pole
The scenery changed so much from yesterday. It was a very hilly day and the team made it to our first stop in four hours.

It was the town of Picacho and consisted of a little post office. We had to go another 9 miles for lunch and bathroom. I found a cool wood and metal place on the roadside.

And I finally saw my longhorn cow!

We ate lunch. Dan wanted to show off his Silver Wheels Jersey and Wynn is wearing GOBA today. I don't know what Colleen was wearing, she was too busy spilling her camelback on herself to get a photo taken. ha!

We entered historic Lincoln and I got a few shots of the buildings along the way.

The scenery seemed to change every few miles. And of course we had to show off sights in Smokey the Bear's hometown.

After meeting up in Capitan, the riders went on to finish their day to Carrizozo. We are staying at the Rainbow Inn.

Today's ride was arduous to say the least, especially after combining it on top of yesterday's 122 mile ride. Today the ponies rode 90.3 miles, at 12.1 mph. And the riders were in the saddle for 7 hours and 30 minutes. Thank goodness the last 10 miles we were treated to a nice long downhill. The team went up from 3500 feet to 7000 feet before starting their descent.

Looking forward to a quiet night....
Riding on,
Brenda and the ponies

As promised, here is Colleen with the story from breakfast.

This morning at breakfast I met a gentleman named Bruce Salisbury and his wife of 61 years, Dorothy or "Blondie" as he affectionately refers to her. I had seen a sign in the hotel lobby that a reunion of 24th Bomb Squadron was taking place and noting his Air Force hat, I shook his hand and thanked him for his service. This led to an invitation to eat breakfast and get to know more about Bruce and Blondie. Blondie is also a veteran of the Air Force and that is where the story began many years ago.
Blondie mentioned to Bruce that a certain mountain in Colorado should be named for those KIA and MIA. In fact it should be named Mount KIA/MIA. Bruce agreed and set about convincing local bureaucrats of the same. Now there is a mountain in Colorado memorializing brave heroes, called Mount Kia/Mia.

Bruce shared about his and Blondie's history of competing in triathlon.
Bruce is active in Veteran's affairs and does a lot of writing for veterans' magazines and newspapers.
It was great to meet such a terrific couple, my only regret is we had only a short time to visit.
We riders had a great day on the bike. My rest day yesterday did me a world of good. We are all looking toward the finish now with a lot of great riding still to come.
I would make one suggestion to any women out there considering doing cyclo-touring. Bib shorts are great for the club rides but do yourself a favor and stick to shorts for touring. Bibs make everything more complicated when nature calls and you have to improvise when services aren't available. 'Nuff said on that subject.