New Mexico

We entered New Mexico with a climb into the Rocky Mountains. We went to a Diner and got a massive burger followed by the biggest brownie I've ever seen. The waitress didn't think we'd eat it, we proved her wrong, obviously.

We met a couple of guys at a petrol station. They were really interested in our trip, we chatted to them for a while and the conversation turned to war. They assured us that if it wasn't for America, we'd be speaking German!

We continued climbing and reached Pie Town, a little village in the middle of nowhere. We were told about The Toaster House, a fantastic house owned by a lady called Nita. She's moved out to a nearby town but leaves her house open for passing travellers. It's such a nice thing to do. She has loads of her possessions in there, including a sound system with a great music collection. The house is kept stocked with food and bathroom stuff. We lit a fire and listened to Bruce Springstien, the Eagles and Pink Floyd. Unbelievable place!

We left the Toaster House after leaving a donation in the donation box and writing in the guest book. We had an amazing tailwind that day and a big descent to Soccorro, where we met Mrs Burliegh in a supermarket. She asked us straight away if we needed a place to stay then went back around the supermarket to double the amount of food she'd bought! We had a great night with the family. The eldest daughter, Erika had just been cycle touring herself, along the Pacific Coast so we shared stories. David, the Dad, told us the history of New Mexico, it used to be Mexican, then owned by Texas when Texas was a country. Texas gave New Mexico to the USA and it became a state.

Erika guided us out of the town the next morning and we started climbing over the final mountain range of the trip. The Burlieghs were a great family, bright, very sociable. They didn't have a TV, maybe this made them more outgoing, none of the family were in the slightest bit surprised by having 2 strangers sleeping in their living room.

The climb up was fantastic and very remote. We had lunch on the side of the road. There was a headwind up the rest of the climb and it was tough until we reached the top at 6,700 feet. The descent at sunset was amazing.

Next day we climbed the last big climb of the trip. No more mountains! It was a big moment, downhill and flat from now on. We descended to Lincoln and saw the courthouse where Billy the Kid had been captured, imprisoned, then escaped after killing a load of policemen. There is a hole in the wall still where his shotgun shell exploded.

We made fantastic progress that evening and did 111 miles. We reached Roswell, a city famous for the supposed crash landing of a USA just after WWII. As we entered Roswell, we noticed people giving out free pizza so went to get some. They turned out to be the Salvation Army and put us up in a Motel for the night! We went to a pub to try and meet Alien/UFO fanatics and were told to go to the UFO Museum tomorrow.
We did, and went into their library, where we talked to someone about Aliens. She believed that there were 5 different types of Alien and that one had lived in Roswell after crash landing in 1947. They can apparently communicate through telepathy with humans! More realstically, most people think what happened was that a US Army weather balloon was being tested and crash landed. There was a big cover up because they didnt want the new technology to get out.

We left Roswell and camped in a guy called Dallas' garden that night. I pitched my tent underneath his massive RV! The next day we reached Texas after about an hour.

New Mexico was brilliant. It's a big state with population of about 2 million so it's really remote. The desert mountain scenery is awesome and there's loads of interesting history of gangsters and corrupt policemen. The best thing were the people though. Everyone was so friendly. Really looking forward to Texas now.

Arizona

We arrived in Arizona and had to change our clocks forward an hour. We were straight into the desert, climbing up from the Colorado river. We got to a fantastic viewpoint and stopped for some food. A crazy guy from Chicago came to speak to us, he had Sicilean relatives who'd been in Chicago for years. Wonder if they knew Al Capone! He was driving an old dodge car from San Francisco to Chicago to sell it for a profit.
We had a tailwind all afternoon and whizzed 70 miles through the desert. We got to Kingman and joined Route 66, there were loads of awesome looking Diners and Motels with the Route 66 logo, touristy but cool. We got through the town and slept in a tunnel under the road. 101 miles today.

Route 66 was amazing the next day. We cycled north through some really isolated towns in the Indian Reservations. We got a delicious lunch in a Route 66 Diner with unlimited amounts of coffee. I left on a caffeine high! I remember as we cycled up a hill seeing an Indian guy with long hair standing on a cliff with the sun behind him. Was like a scene straight out of a Western film (minus the touring bikes). We went to a bar that night. Got a beer, then another on the house before going to sleep in an aircraft hanger!

The next day we rode the rest of the Route 66 loop to Seligman before we joined the Interstate 40. We saw the first American Civilian carrying a gun. He had a pistol attached to his belt and was wearing camo gear. We nailed a few miles in the dark. I really went for it that night, pounding the pedals! We climbed 2,000 ft pretty quickly and arrived at Williams, the town 40 miles south of the Grand Canyon. We had a roast chicken at Safeway then did another 10 miles and camped under a bridge where we ate an entire caramel tart.

We got going by sunrise the next day and did the 30 miles to Flagstaff by half 10. We went to a car hire shop to get a vehicle to drive to the Grand Canyon with because we didn't have time to cycle the detour. The smallest vehicle they had was a Cheverolet Silverado pick-up truck. It's without a doubt the most pointless, stupid and useless vehicle I've had the misfortune to drive.

For a start it's massive, far bigger than any car in the UK. It has a HUGE bonnet which makes the driver very safe but would crush any normal sized car or person it hits. To counter this most Americans buy a car the same size so they are also safer. It's like a country having nuclear weapons to defend from another country's nuclear weapons.

It's also terrible to drive. It only has 4 gears but a massive V8 engine. It crashes through the gear changes revving ridiculously loudly. This goes someway to explaining how we managed to get an incredible 12 miles to the gallon out of it. There are loads of other reasons why it is so utterly awful but I won't bore you with them. It's just a shame that so many people in America drive these vehicles as a family car or to commute in. It kind of makes the efforts other people are putting in to save energy pointless!

Anyway, the drive to the Grand Canyon was great. We drove through the desert, and stopped of at another smaller canyon on the way. We got to the visitor centre at about 3 so we had a chance to see a few different views by cycling around and then watched the sunset. It's amazing, it's impossible to describe it here so your better off looking at my photos.

We slept in the pick up that night then watched the sunrise in the morning. We took a different route back to Flagstaff and got over 8,000 ft. The road went through snowy forests, very nice. We said am emotional farewell to our fantastic pick-up and went to Safeway. I spoke to family on Skype and found out that England had beaten Spain 1-0. Amazing!

We left Flagstaff on the I-40 and made up some good mileage with a tailwind going downhill. Harry got 2 punctures but we still did over 50 miles and got to Winslow (from the Eagles song "Take it Easy"). We did another 20 miles in the dark and cooked spaghetti in a road tunnel.

The next day we got to Petrified Forest national park. The fossilised trees were amazing but were outshone by the cat on a lead, going for a walk around the national park trail. It was hilarious. The owner boasted how it was a trained cat that loved walking. It could also sit and roll over. He tried to make it do these things but it just stared at him looking annoyed. It wouldn't walk either! It stood still until the owner dragged it along! Crazy people!

The next day we saw a old guy with a long walking stick walking the 20+ miles between two towns backwards. Harry shouted at him "why are you walking backwards", "something different" he replied, and left it at that!

That night we saw some amazing shooting stars. The next day we cycled into New Mexico and the Rocky Mountains. Arizona had been amazing, stunning scenery, crazy but friendly people and good cycling. I've never been to New Mexico before so excited and not sure what to expect.