Here's how it happened.....
When I was in Santa Rosa, I had looked at my map and saw there was no path from Hwy 84 through to Villanueva State Park, but when I did my Verizon Wireless Navigator (with setting of “Bicycle”), it showed a path....I didn't realize how appropriate the word "path" was at the time...
So I did MapQuest and it showed the path down I40W to Hwy 3 North…. So did Google Earth…. So I called Villanueva State Park and talked to Ranger Ramon and asked him if there was a path from 84 westward to VSP. He said No and told me the same route as MapQuest and Google….
So I went back and checked my VZW Navigator again and it showed the same path: I40W to 84N to 119 to Anton Chico and then some county road west to VSP ….. it was a shorter route by like 8 miles or so…. But that wasn’t it…. There was something else…. I think at some subconscious level I wanted to do something STUPID…. or adventurous…. Yeah that’s it – we’ll throw another label on stupidity – we’ll say it was the spirit of exploration….
I mean come on – I had 4 pieces of data from 4 independent sources that said “Hey William – you big dummy – DON’T GO THAT WAY!”
So there’s no question in my mind …. Now…. That there are only 2 possibilities to explain what I did…
I was either INSANE….. or I WANTED TO GET LOST!
I mean I’d done everything else on this trip…. Rode through Rain…. Through Snow….through 25 mph headwinds…..35 mph crosswinds….dodged 18 wheelers …. Been hit by 5’ high tumbleweeds… woke up with my clothes hung out the night before looking like sheets of ice….2 states….1100 miles on a bicycle… 100 miles hiking… but I hadn’t been lost …. Yet…
So I took a right on 84N off I40W and rode off toward the mountains… and my density….uhhhh I mean destiny.
Oh man I was having a great time… talking about how beautiful it was … doing a couple of short videos…. Marveling at how lucky I was… what’s that saying - “Pride comes before a fall…. Or doing something really stupid” - yeah that’s the one.
So I’m pedaling up this long incline and I come over the top of the hill and there’s a long downhill and a white house w/ several buildings down at the bottom and I see a river…. Must be the Pecos River… I’d remembered that my VZW Navigator route paralleled the Pecos River…now remember I’m already 20 miles up 84 from I40W at this point… so I’m kinda like the pig in the ham and egg breakfast… I’m committed or I probably should have been….committed.
I pull out my cell phone to check where I was relative to where I was supposed to turn off 84 and…. I got no signal… yep I’m “No Service” – dead as a doornail… the plot thickens or something thickens…. Like the freakin’ quicksand I’m pedaling myself off into….
So there’s the next ICE link… you know the Incredible Chain of Events…. The thing they put together at the end of plane crashes and entire refineries blowing up…. Yep I’ve ignored 4 pieces of data telling me not to go somewhere…. Go with the 5th “line of communication” and then I lose that one…. I got no service…. I got no VZW Navigator… so what do I do?
I take a break….to think…. Oh that’s great…. Now you wanna think…. Well I wanted to eat too…. Cause I was really hungry…. Hmmm making bad decisions….. hungry…. Kinda goes together.
Well first I pedal back up to the top of the hill I just came over and I still can't get a signal.... you know that feeling you get when you're walking along in some remote area or along some dark street in the high crime district and you feel like you're being watched.... stalked by something unseen..... well that was the way I felt about then..... so.... I ignored the feeling.... yup.... just blew it off and rode back down the hill to the ranch layout with the white house.
I decided I'm gonna stop and eat and consider my options..... so I break out some beef jerky and a blueberry bagel w/ cream cheese I nabbed at the SR Super 8 breakfast that morning.... so I lean my bike up against the locked 2" pipe gate of this complex and I start munching....
....let me divert here for a minute and talk about dogs - not just any dogs - but dogs in New Mexico - dogs in rural New Mexico.... like where I'm at right now.... eating my cream cheese and bagel.
I'm gonna do a whole post on dogs and dealing with dogs while you're riding.... it's serious stuff.... dogs can be the biggest hazard you face...
But for now....let me just say I was eating my cream cheese and bagel and out comes this typical rural New Mexico dog...
Here's the difference between rural New Mexico dogs and dogs from where I live - Texas Gulf Coast.... these dogs out here are lean and mean and shaggy and built to handle it out here in the wild and open spaces... they are surviving.... living off the land.... just like most of the people out here.... they don't have anything to prove.... they are a part of the features of the land.... they work for a living.... they don't just sit around and wait for the next bowl of Eukanuba or Purina HiPro....
So yeah.... New Mexico dogs bark at you and run out to the edge of the road to defend their territory and let you know they're doing their job and they may even run along beside you for the length of the property they patrol.... but that's it.... they don't come running out with malicious intent to eat you or submarine your bike....
They're just doing their job.... hell they have to conserve energy.... it's not like they got 3 lbs of belly fat to live off of while they're chasing down and eating some stupid bicyclist.... and besides they're smart.... they figure if they back off and sit down and look hungry you just might feed 'em......
Which is what happened with the dog I met at the ranch complex where 84N crosses the Pecos River 'bout a mile from the tiny village of Dihlia....
So I break off a piece of jerky and extend my hand to the dog (remember I told you I had learned to trust out here - even the dogs) and the dog gently pulls the jerky from my fingers and eats it....and I mean gently... but let me tell you...this dog had some sharp teeth....as gentle as he was he almost scraped the skin off the end of my fingers.... you could tell this dog had been sharpening his teeth on something besides Alpo....
So I sat there and ate with the dog sharing jerky and bagel and cream cheese and talking to him about my trip and how I thought I was getting lost and could he help me with some directions.... the dog just listened patiently and ate my offerings.... no info from the dog....
I finish eating and evaluate the situation and realize I got to get going.... it's like after noon - I gotta get going - I've got to find this VZW Navigator path on an unnamed road and get on it for 15 miles and get to VSP... but I got no cell phone signal so I'm going from memory of what the path was when I looked at it on my cell phone before.... when I had a cell phone signal.
I remembered it ran along the Pecos River.... and I was at the Pecos River and there across 84 from this little ranch complex was a road "Palo Amarillo Road" aka County Road 4L..... that must be it.... that must be the single ribbon tieing together 84 and VSP..... so I take it...
It's a caliche road and it's up and down and I'm thinking... Man by the time I get through with this my ass is gonna be as raw as a piece of flank steak.... so I'm about a half mile down the road and I hear someone driving up the road behind me.... a local.... always a good source of information.... when you listen to 'em...
This guy pulls up in a beat up old compact pickup - I couldn't even tell what model it was.... it was so beat up... the hood was crinkled up from some past collision and was held down with a good piece of wire... I mean like I said these people out here are poor... they have to use what they have and repair it the best they can...
So's anyway this guy stops and I introduce myself and ask him if this is the road to VSP.... he says No that road is about 3 miles further down and you have to go into Anton Chico and he doesn't think I can get through on that road cause it's private land now along the road and there are a lot of locked gates....
Hmmmm.... so now I've got another piece of data.... there is a path but there really isn't a path because the road goes through private property and locked gates.... so what do I do?
I thank the guy reverse course, ride back down Palo Amarillo Road to 84, wave at the dog still sitting there at the gate (probably thinking I wonder if that old fool has any more food) and turn left and head further north on 84....further away from a strong cell phone signal.... and towards a road that connects 84 and VSP ..... that runs through private land and locked gates....
You can't make this s&*! up.... I was actually doing this!
So I'm getting low on water and I see some buildings approaching.... well the buildings aren't approaching.... there sitting there like the inanimate objects they are.... I'm approaching the buildings.... it's that whole relativity thing again.... if I'm walking backwards on a train that's moving forward, am I really going anywhere?
Anyway - I'll leave that stuff to Einstein or whoever.... I'm coming up on this building on the left:
One thing I've noticed about these little New Mexico towns.... most of 'em have got a bar and a liquor store attached to it.... so I pull up, unsaddle and unbackpack....
I know what you're probably thinking 'bout now.... What the hell is this guy doing? He's some stupid old white guy riding a bicycle stepping into some rural New Mexico bar.... he's probably gonna get robbed and get his throat cut or vice versa (what difference does it make which order it's in?) .... but it's like I said I was just going from Point A to Point B and this was one of the features along the route and I was gonna go in and check it out....
you know we get to the point that we're so worried about EVERYTHING that we don't do ANYTHING....
well by this time I was on the opposite end of the spectrum.... I wasn't worried about ANYTHING and I was doing EVERYTHING.... well not EVERYTHING... but you get my drift....
so I open the door and step into Maesta's....
Now you're thinking - yeah I was right - this stupid fool is about to get his ass kicked and throat cut.... I mean this place was rough looking... and you know what - I loved it... it had a real bar... you know the old mahogany bars that had been there since God knows when... the kind of bar that coined the expression "Belly up to the Bar".... and they had pool tables and an old stove sitting in the corner....
and then I meet the owner.... he didn't give his name when I introduced myself and I didn't ask for it... that's the way it is out West.... people want you to know they tell you... they don't want you to know they don't tell you.... and you don't ask.....
Anyway, this old fella looked like someone who'd lived a life or two or three... he was crippled in one hand and kinda hobbled and shuffled behind the bar but I could tell he was a good as gold.... he'd had the bar about 30 years.... didn't serve food just drinks and other beverages....
And I'm thinking 'bout now....it's about 3 o'clock.... I got all my sleeping stuff with me.... I know if I ask this guy he'll let me throw down my mat and bag out back or probably even over by the stove in the corner... I got food ..... he's got liquor.... it's nice and warm in here.... I'm about half ass lost already....
I'm torn here.... I know I'm going off down a trail to nowhere and it ain't gonna end up good and here I am at another little check point where I can "Stop.... Drop..... Roll" (cause I'm on fire - not literally but I'm messing up)....
So what do I do? I ask the old Mexican gentleman about this mythical road - you know the one between Anton Chico and VSP....
He says "Yeah - there's a road but I don't think you can get through on it cause a lot of the gates are locked."
Hmmm.... now where have I heard that before?
I ask him if I can fill up my water bottles and go out to my bike and get them and come back in and I get the feeling the old man has made a phone call or something while I'm outside cause he says "Well, it's about 15 miles on that road and since you're on a bike you can probably make it cause you can get over the gates....."
Damn - this guy is giving me an out.... kinda like the carrot in front of the mule.... I was just about ready to ask him if I could stay and could he get me a drink.... and he gives me a hint of encouragement to go on....
So I fill up my water bottles - all 3 of them - even my spare one - the one I normally don't fill up.... I drink my fill of water and then some and then I buy a Dr. Pepper and drink all of it.... you see where this is going don't you...
I knew I was about to step off into it and I was loading myself up with water / liquids cause I might not be back for a while.... my smart subconscious mind was already preparing for what my stupid conscious mind was doing...
So I get some more directions to this road (which I'm calling Joe's Rd by now - I guess I should have called it Jose's Rd since I was in New Mexico) but anyway I leave Maesta's and take a left on 119 off 84N....
Yep... I'm getting deeper into it....
and about a mile down 119 I have a flat....that quicksand is getting deeper.....
..... to be continued.....
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