I made it to Mexico! The border crossing was so easy that I found myself in the border town of Tecate before anyone had looked at my passport so I had to go back from the Mexican side and ask for a stamp. Right away I noticed how friendly all the people are. Almost everyone I pass waves at me and if I don't see them they will whistle so that I look and then they wave at me. The cars slow and give me lots of room whenever they can. The roads have been in good shape the whole time. Camping feels safe. Partly because I am so remote and also because there are no large animals around except for a few wandering cows.
Most of the time I have been in a desert. Sometimes it is rather stark but usually a beautiful cactus forest surrounds me. All the plants are so unusual to me. I feel like I am on an alien world. Of course I've been hanging my hammock in those cacti when they are big enough. When they aren't big enough I sleep between them on the sandy soil, usually waking up soaked from dew.
The dew is about the only moisture out here. I haven't crossed a flowing river for weeks, not since I got to the Mojave in California. The small towns that pop up every 25 to 100 miles have water delivered to them and for a small price that is where I fill up. I did get a little rain one day. Just enough to cool me off and light up a rainbow. I've also spent an evening on the Pacific Coast and now just today I made it to the Gulf of California!
I've met a few other cyclists out here. A German who I camped with 2 nights and biked around for 4 days as well as a couple of guys traveling together from France and Belgium. They were all too fast for me and are somewhere down the road. I've seen very few cyclists since getting to the desert, and really there is an argument to be made that there are other, more comfortable, places to be riding a bike in the summer. I like it though.
A friend to bike with.
No comments:
Post a Comment