Counting down the days….and the bag of gorp….

Day 61. 0 miles. In Reserve, NM. Waiting out the weather today. Before breakfast we deliberated to go or not to go. To ride or not to ride. To risk the weather and ride in the rain or to lounge in a hotel room all day. Started with a normal” trail “ breakfast in the room. Then walked to town for a coffee for Tara. Well, we were in a restaurant so I felt compelled to give them business and I had a second breakfast. Great biscuit with lots of butter. We stopped into a small store and the town was redeemed. The shop had everything a hiker, biker, or Hunter would need: Even slime for tires, dehydrated refried beans (doesn’t everyone need those!!), elk call whistles, jewelry, ice cream and anything you could want! Catering to the clientele. When we left there was a huge black sky overhead and the crows were watching the storm arrive. We walked to the post office to buy a stamp and realized it was Sunday. Then the rains and hail came down!!!!! Wow! We were then at the ATM and stayed under its shelter, with just our feet getting wet as the streams ran down the roadside. When it let up a bit, we ran across the road to another grocery. We got junk food and cocoa. Walked back to the Mountaineer motel and had cocoa (with marshmallows) in bed (and were glad We didn’t ride today) and made phone calls. Rain day chores include washing mold out of water bottles, drying shoes, cleaning shorts and socks, studying the map, repairing the bikes, trimming eyebrows (If you know me, that was not on my to do’s list). Trimming the beard (that could be on my list!) and connecting with friends and family.
And eating and using a flush toilet. We lounged early afternoon and worked on the bikes. Then we walked in the rain to Bill’s Bar. An experience. We were the only nonlocal, non-hunters and not in camouflage. One bar tender and one fryer so each order was one-at-a-time. We decided to go back to the hotel and make trail dinner food- beans and rice. On the topic of food, my bag of gorp morphs everyday with additions and deletions. The peanut butter pretzels are great. Raisins, peanuts, bridge mix, cinnamon dog biscuits, m&m’s, peanut m&m’s, fruit chews, junior mints, I want circus peanuts, and really those are cinnamon cookies that just look like dog biscuits.
We had a good day off. Heading to Glenwood in the morning.