6/10/00
Las Cruces
124.6 Miles
Max Speed 39 mph
Avg 17.36 mph

Long day! Knowing I had over a hundred miles and needed to complete the first 60 to Deming before noon, I was on the road by daybreak. The post office there had a package waiting, supposedly. I figured I could make it with short breaks and minimal lapses in pace. Halfway there I learned the package was not in Deming, but kept the pace anyway. I still needed to reach Las Cruces in good time.

Jack rabbits were out in force in the cool morning. Six of them raced away from the shoulder as I passed by.

As I mentioned before, I10 is the Pearl Harbor Memorial Highway. At one rest stop I learned that it also is the Jefferson Davis Highway in New Mexico so named by the United Daughters of the Confederacy in 1955. I don't see how the two memorials are compatible.

Coming into Las Cruces, I stopped at a Cafe and met the owner, Brent Houser, wife Ida and daughter Patricia who taught kindergarten in the public schools. He described a bus accident when four of their children were small. According to him, stress related to the accident caused cancer that the traditional medical establishment could not treat. He turned to juicing and drank only carrot juice for six months even turned orange,then visited a physician in Mexico who treated him successfully with herbal teas.

Throughout the day I enjoyed a mild tailwind that helped move me along. By 4:30 I had arrived at the motel. I felt strong even to the end of the day. Evening was spent patching tubes punctured by the thin wire strands from radial tires that are strewn everywhere on the shoulder. I'll toss out the tires and tubes as soon as soon as I can.