Run For The Border. Day 20, CDT

The last Leg.

The trail from Silver City to the Mexican border is about 30 miles of good dirt road and 100 miles of pavement.

We left Silver City around 9:00 and headed south on 90.

Eventually we turn off the highway onto Separ Rd., a good dirt road.

We followed Separ for several miles through lush green desert.

 
With some great views along the way.

As we were driving south Patti, Bob and I were keeping an eye out for a camp spot for the trip back north.
There weren’t many good spots but we did see a coral with a broken windmill a short distance off the road so we kept that in mind.

Separ Road tees into Gage Rd, here we took a right and continued toward Mexico.

Interesting Trees.

I think these are Yucca’s. They are so big they look like Joshua Trees or maybe they are Joshua Trees.

After checking out the tree we continued down the road.

Eventually we came to I-10 where we drove under the freeway and onto a frontage road.

 

Just a little ways on the frontage road we came to…

They didn’t have any Continental Divide Memorabilia so we didn’t stay long.

Lets Get to the Border.

We left the trading post and followed the frontage road east until we got to Highway 146 to Hachita and Antelope Wells.

When you look at these pictures of the roads before us, you have to remember that this is The Continental Divide Mountain Bike Trail.
People actually ride bicycles the whole way. Amazing!!

The last Crossing.

We stopped for pictures of the last time we will cross the Divide on the trail. We won’t count the crossings we make on the way home.
Therefore this is our 46th crossing of the Continental Divide.

Hachita.

We drove through the little town of Hachita. There ain’t much there.

Even the churches are in disrepair.

At Hachita we got on Highway 81 and made our last dash for the border.

A Coming Storm.

As we were driving south we could see these ominous clouds forming.

It looks like we might get some weather today.

At the Border.

When we arrived at the border there were some bikers there just finishing their adventure. It took them two months to make the trip. We did it in our vans and jeep in 20 days.
Bikers We Salute You!!!

We took the required snap shots for the end of any expedition of any worth…

Congratulated ourselves on a job well done and headed north.

Not too far from the border the Thunderstorms caught up with us and it rained real hard for a while.

We drove out from under the storm and things were nice and dry back in Hachita.

Parting Ways.

We parted with Dennis and Cheryl after getting gas at the Hachita store. They were heading west toward Yuma, AZ and we were heading north
We said our goodbye's with hugs and hearty handshakes and promises to meet in AZ in the fall.

Heading North.

We retraced our route back to the camp spot we saw by the coral.  It was nice and level inside the corral, all the cow droppings were dried out and there were very few flies so we figured that the cows weren’t using this corral at this time. We setup camp (opened the side doors and set out the chairs.)

Lightening storms.

We sat in the shade of the van facing east and watched storms forming to the north, east and south of us.

Interesting Plants.

There were some strange plants growing in the area and most had stickers.

Another interesting plant was a Gord or Squash or maybe a Mellon growing along the fence and spread along the ground in several spots.

Here is a picture of the flower and a small fruit forming.

The storms keep building.

The first act of the real show starts at sunset. This time the western sky has very few clouds but the setting sun paints the storm clouds with vibrant color.

Here is a shot of the tank and broken windmill with a fisheye setting on the camera.

Of course the real show happened after dark when the lightening flashes lit up the sky. Unfortunately with our camera’s, catching a picture of a lightening strike is next to impossible.

Even though the lightening flashed all round us and the thunder rolled we didn’t get a drop of rain out of these storms.

CDT Trip Facts.

Okay, It has been called to my attention that I should give you some stats from out Continental Divide trip.

From the Canadian border to the Mexican border we traveled
2,586.5 Miles.
We crossed the Continental Divide, 46 times.
Off road we covered 1,298.4 Miles.
On Pavement we went, 1,288.0.

We traveled 85 to 90 % of the actual Continental Divide Bike Trail.

What a trip! Now we have to get home.