We heart freeways

How to get into shape without losing weight:

It´s all very simple, really. First, get yourself a bike and four panniers and load it all down with about 25 - 30 kilos of random stuff. I mean, you could use practical things, but where would you be without that hardback copy of War and Peace or that full-sized towel? Anyway, the next thing to do is to find some hills, and I mean HILLS. Think Queen Anne Avenue or James Street - anything that you couldn´t possibly go up without zigzagging. But don´t stop there. Make sure that the pavement is really terrible, visibility around curves is nil, and that cows, horses and donkeys create nice obstacle courses for you (Seattleites, you´ll have to be creative here). Basically you know you´ve got it right when spending a day on the bike feels like a StairMaster marathon (except, of course, when you have to get off and push, which should be often). Here is where you have to be careful. In order to continue on without losing any weight it is imperative to exploit all bread and cookie resources available to you. Typically an entire loaf per day as well as donuts, empanadas, a pack of tortillas and the ocasional half dozen of bolillos will do. So far this well-kept secret formula has worked wonders for us and, with a bit of dilligence, it can work for you too!

So where are we now? Resting in Cuauhtemoc. We are finally out of the mountains for a while, but we were surprised to see a sign telling us that we are still at 2200 meters. We have no idea how high we were at the tippy-toppest points, but it was probably in the vicinity of 10,000 feet. The mountains were certainly beautiful, but the ride in yesterday on a shouldered, graded, 4 lane highway was a heavenly contrast. We´ll be spending more time on the big freeways for about a week before heading back into some higher elevation. We don´t know how gradual or sharp the climb will be, but if it´s killer you all will surely be in the know ;c)

Since our last post we had the good fortune of not only finding a bread shop in Tomochi, but the owners of the shop took us in for the night! We stayed at their ranchito outside of the pueblo and had a very laid-back, vaquero-style evening complete with cows, a bonfire and a rustic cabin. In the morning we used the wood stove inside to heat a bunch of water in order to do some cleaning as a way to say thanks. Later that day we arrived at the the edge of the mountains. We literally came around a curve and saw the plains sprawling out in front of us! We stayed in a small pueblo that evening with Abdias and Maria Ester in their lovely home. We initially asked if there were a place in town where we could set up our tent for the night, but we wound up being asked in for dinner and then were offered a warm bed to sleep in. I must say that the enchilladas that Maria Ester prepared for us were absolutely delicious - very simple, very irresistable!

So now we are here in Cuauhtemoc living the high life. We have a hotel room, cable TV, and instant access to real supermarkets, internet, and street food. We are absolutely gorging ourselves on food that we can´t typically find, but I think it is finally catching up to us - we are both complaining of gurgly tummies!

*Side note: At the beginning of this trip I would literally get bruises on my hips from sleeping on the ground - getting comfy was quite the challenge. Now, sleeping on a concrete floor with my pad is more comfortable than in virtually any bed because I´m so accustomed to being on the ground. Who knew?


M

Bacanora, Not just a Drink

Well we have been stuggling. Up mountains, through the sun, extreme amounts of gaseous discomfort, and well down mountains (the roads are so torn up going down even becomes difficult because we must avoid potholes)just to name a few. We have decided it will be best for our bodies and to actually make it somewhere into southern Mexico before 2011 to travel federal highways instead of the backroads. Sadly this means we will forgo some of the easy going kindness of rural Mexico like we found in Bacanora.

Bacanora, a town of about 400 and the name of a popular Sonoran drink made from the Maguey plant (or Agave), was a beautiful stop where we met a nice family. Arturo, Sulema, Angela, and Brian found us a nice place to sleep and for two nights we rested on cots in the Ayuntamiento. We enjoyed plenty of good meals and conversation while resting for 2 days in Bacanora. We even learned some of the art of creating this drink from a local Brewer Julian. Ahhhh fresh homemade Bacanora!

It is becoming hard to decided how much to ride versus stopping and meeting people. On one hand we want to ride south, but one of our main goals is also to learn about the culture and language here. It is a hard balance. (Isn´t our life tough?)

Here is a common question we have. What do we eat? Usually our day starts out with us rolling out of the sleeping bag at about 7:00 grunting ¨where is the bread, I am hungary.¨
BREAKFAST: We eat usually oatmeal or some sort of hot cereal with powdered milk and brown sugar. Some more bread and jam a banana or two and a few tortillas.

FIRST SNACK: After maybe an hour we stop and eat more Bimbo bread(our fav!!) with jam or plain and some cookies. ( we eat at least one bag of cookies a day)

LUNCH: Tuna or PB and J sandwich. Often both. Supplemented by tortillas with jam or quemada. An apple and orange, more cookies, more slices of bread. One more cookie before we leave

SNACK: Cookies, tortillas, bread

DINNER: Rice, vegetables, fruit, cookies, most anything we haven´t eaten yet in our bags.

Conclusion...we are riding to eat! Wherever we end up, we are trying new food. We eat at least a loaf of bread and a pack of tortillas a day. We try not to be greedy. Second conclusion, digestion system overloads and the tent smells most nights.

Fussy computer :( No pics or video this time, but next time...prepare to have your mind blown!!!

La fiesta!

Seriously, could people be any nicer?

Well, where to begin... We were following the Ruta Rio Sonora for several days and stayed in some pueblitos along the way. The last one we arrived in was called La Aurora. We headed down a sandy road to the town and asked a couple of people where to stay. We were planning to camp by the river, but ultimately we ended up being invited to stay the night in a local family´s backyard. But that was just the beginning...The person who had offered us the place to stay, Jesús, also invited us to his son Derek´s third birthday party which happened to be the following day. Everyone was gathering at his wife Isabel´s childhood home for the weekend and the party, and I mean everyone. Isabel has 6 sisters, 5 brothers and about 25 nieces and nephews! So, it was going to be a BIG fiesta with a piñata, food, music, dancing and laughter - how could we refuse?!

After we got our stuff settled a bit we were ushered inside for a bite to eat - what a bite! Isabel generously prepared us frijoles, queso fresco (fresh cheese), homemade flour tortillas and juice. After eating we just took it easy for a while, had a shower, washed clothes, and chatted with Jesús. Later in the evening we ate dinner with the family and Eric brought his ukulele inside for a bit of late night music and singing. The kids got a kick out of the whole thing and, after getting over being a bit shy, started dancing around the kitchen!

In the morning we ate more delicious Mexican food - eggs with chorizo, beans, tortillas and coffee - and then helped with the preparations for the fiesta. First we husked a whole bunch of corn, and I mean a whole bunch - two large burlap sacks of them. Then we watched fresh tortillas being cooked on an open air wood-fired stove. I use the verb ´watch´ here because I tried to help, but I was terrible at it! But they were absolutely heavenly. There are few things as amazingly delicious as a crispy, soft, warm tortilla fresh off of the griddle. Delish! Later we also cut up lots of vegetables and grated carrots for a giant salad.

In the afternoon the fiesta began with people arriving from all over the village and from other cities. Derek was thrilled to be the guest of honor, and he carried the piñata stick with him everywhere making sure no one touched it until the party started. Everyone found a seat outside the house where the piñata, in the shape of the car from the movie Cars, was eventually hung. All the children lined up waiting to take a swing at it in hopes of spilling out the candy inside. When it finally broke open everyone, including the adults, rushed in to scoop up the sweets! Afterword dinner was served - duros (a kind of big cracker) with salad on top, coctel del elote (corn soup with sour cream, lime and chile), cake and juice. The fiesta continued on into the night with lots of boot-scootin´ music and dusty dancing, and Eric and I did our best to learn how to dance to Mexican country music. We even got to try some locally made bacanora, an elixer made from agave nectar that burns all the way down. Ay!

All in all it was an amazing way to spend two days. Jesús, Isabel and their family were incredibly open and generous with us, and we feel very fortunate to have been able to have the opportunity to get to know them.

Y ya un poquito en español - a Jesús y Isabel y su familia mil gracias. La experiencia que tuvimos con ustedes fue fenomenál. Nos sentimos muy agradecidos haberles conocidos a ustedes y estar en su casa como familia. La bondad de la gente nos lleva y nos apoya cada día en este viaje. ¡Realmente estamos encantados haber estado con ustedes esos días!

We included a couple of photos of the fiesta for you to see and we are also adding in a random video taken on a ride a couple of days ago...

Mexico...at Last!!!

Last Tuesday, springing wide awake at 6:30 in the morning we rush to the border of Naco Arizona. Powered by donuts we head into Mexico. We dodge one cartel, evade a firefight of another and shoot our way down to highway 2....ummm not really.

Really we enjoy a nice crossing (with donuts) and procede very very slowly to Cananea which is the start of the Ruta Rio Sonora. The wind was amazingly stong probably could have used wind turbines to generate electricity for all of mexico! Exhausted from a long tiresome day of riding in a headwind we crash at Hotel El Messon and eat dinner there. Grateful to have finally reached Mexico.

The Ruta Rio Sonora is a quiet backcountry highway through the Sonoran desert and mountains. It is rather difficult riding! But there are nice small towns villages, people riding horses, burros, hot dog carts, cacti (which I had an unfortunate encounter while changing a tube... bending over into cactus hurts!) The people are uber uber friendly most cars give us a hello beep or wave and occasionally a thumbs up. (perhaps an american)

In Arizpe we managed to find some camping! Horray for saving money!! But while we were checking out the town a dude came up to us and struck up a conversation about what we were doing. Carlos generously offered his house as a spot for us to stay, we readily accpeted! We sat around and talked about Sonora, Mexico, kids, food in both English and Spanish. And in the morning Laura (Sister in-law of Carlos) made us chorizo with eggs, mexican hashbrowns and frijoles. DELISH!!! MUCHAS GRACIAS A CARLOS Y ARIZPE!

The people of Mexico thus far are sooo gracious in allowing us to camp in town stadiums, they have gone to great lengths to make us feel welcome and feel secure in wherever we sleep. We just have to be careful of loud burros and vultures. Packs of them seem to loom in the sky hoping one of us will fall off the bike.

As usual some pictures, Merilee coming up the Mountain. Eric, Carlos, y Jose. Orange House! for Andy And the final video (if it uploads) of Merilees intense crossing of the Sonora River, (watch for the stylish leg kick!)

Another random act of kindness

Well here we are in the old copper mining town turned hippie/art/old west mecca called Bisbee, AZ. We've been holed up here for the last couple of days while waiting for a package to arrive from Mom. The advice: never send anything through the Mexican postal service. So we decided to wait, if impatiently (we can SEE the border!!), to avoid testing los servicios postales Mexicanos. Anyway, our first day in town was last Friday. I went into the local post office to inquire about receiving a package there, and later asked the clerk if he knew of a place to camp. Although this is one of the more desolate places in the US there are very few campgrounds, parks, or land that is not fenced off and labeled 'No Trespassing.' He couldn't think of any, but the man waiting in line behind me, Terry, offered us a place to pitch our tent behind the Church of the Nazarene. I thanked him and went to tell Eric. Because of the weekend and our rural location, however, we realized we'd need a place to stay for several nights while we waited. We asked Terry if that would be alright, and he said it wouldn't be a problem. In the end he took us to the church, showed us in, and told us to make ourselves at home. All in all we wound up with a warm, dry place to stay for free for 4 nights complete with a kitchen, bathroom and carpeted floor to crash on. Unbelievable. We thanked him profusely for his generosity, although it seemed that there was nothing we could say that would properly express our gratitude. So we made cookies! Classic chocolate chip and oatmeal flaxmeal chocolate chip (the cereal made much better cookies than it did breakfast ;c)

Bisbee is a pretty cool old and new town. In some ways it's kind of like Capitol Hill and Fremont squished together. For example, we are in a food co-op right now eating a butternut squash brownie and drinking Mexican chile Yogi tea. On Saturday night we went out to see the town, and the first thing we came across was the opening of a new bike shop. They were streaming video entries from the Dead Baby Bike Porn festival, completely visible to the street (cars kept stopping!) and serving beer out of a keg. Yeah, watching porn with your sibling...there's nothing quite like it, let me tell you. After that we went to Hot Licks saloon (seriously), and listened to Tumbledown House play some great old school jazz and blues. I don't know if they have a website, but they are worth a listen if you can find them.
And now for a vignette: Wal*Mart (excerpted from my journal)

Contrary to my 'normal' life, one of the highlights of any given day of riding is the sighting of one of these corporate retail and produce giants looming off the highway. It means access to virtually anything we could possibly need at that moment including cheap food, water for our bottles, and no-questions-asked trips to the bathroom. That is the beauty of Wal*Mart.
It has often been a site for lunch with us sprawled along the sidewalk on my sleeping pads and eating tubs, not cups, of yogurt, cutting and peeling various fruits, and providing gawkable entertainment for young kids - adults try to avert their eyes or ask us how far we're going. Our most recent Wal*Mart experience involved .58 personal pies (peach for me, pumpkin for Eric) and good people watching. In Coolidge, AZ everyone goes to Wal*Mart - blacks, whites, Mexicans, natives, old, young. My favorite moment was concerning a very well-to-do looking woman in heels and an expensive skirt clicking into the store. I commented, flippantly, to Eric that she looked too fancy for Wal*Mart. When she came back out she caught both of our attention - we looked at her, looked at each other and burst into laughter. The sight of this well-dressed white woman pushing an enormous shopping cart with one mostly empty plastic bag sitting diminutively in the front corner was too ridiculous for us to handle!

OK, enough text for today. Before I take off I'll add in some photos of Pat and John and Sassy from Sierra Vista and a few unique things from Old Bisbee. Next post will be from Mexico - sweet!

Goodwill

Last time we blogged I knew I was forgetting something important, but I didn't remember it until after we were already a few miles down the road - my best friend since 2nd grade, Bre, is engaged!!! Her now-fiance proposed last weekend while they were snowshoeing in Sunriver. I am so happy for them - they are one of those couples that you just know have it in them to make it last and with aplomb.

Two days ago we set out on our second pilgrimage of the trip - In and Out Burger. We travelled through the burbs of Tucson and the U of A to hit up this fast food mecca. It didn't disappoint. It was so delicious that I even pixed Dave, a serious foodie if there ever were one, a photo of me with my cheeseburger :c)

Yesterday was definitely one of the most difficult, but beautiful, days of riding for me. We ascended out of the Tucson desert and into the grasslands. The difference in terrain was striking as reddish dirt and sand turned to sweeping hills of golden grasslands ringed with snowy mountains. We ended up just outside Sonoita at about 5000 feet, and it was cold. We camped in a 72,000 acre working land trust ranch, made dinner, and went to bed without brushing our teeth because the allure of the warmth of our sleeping bags was just too much. We woke up to frost covering the landscape and our tent and proceeded to make the first meal blunder of the trip. For anyone who was wondering, if you add flax meal to oatmeal you will end up with a bowl of cereal that looks and feels like snot. Eric kept laughing, and I had to sternly warn him several times that if he made ANY reference to the viscosity of the food that I wouldn't be able to continue eating it. Yeah, it was that bad!

So tonight we are lucky enough to be indoors. We made it to Sierra Vista, had a great experience at Sun n' Spokes bike shop, ate lunch, and continued on with the intention of finding a place to camp about 10 miles out of town. We had been fighting a brutal headwind for most of the day, though, so we weren't sure if we'd be able to go that far. Just then a scooter stopped and flagged us down. It was a fellow cyclist, and he offered us a place to stay for the night! John and his wife Pat have very generously offered up their sewing room, shower, dinner table and laundry room to us - what a beautiful gesture! I am always grateful for everyone who supports us along our journey whether than means a honk and a wave or a meal and a supply of hot water.

Q: Do Northwesterners bring rain with them? A: Yes.

Well a lot has passed since we had the chance to write last. We made it all the way to Phoenix (Glendale to be exact) and were lucky enough to have a roof and a carpeted floor for a few days. My ex, Patrick, is going to Thunderbird and is an MBA candidate in Global Management :c) I will always adore him/you (yes, I know you are reading this!), thus it is still a challenge to find the right niche for someone who was once your person. Anyway, it was a bit emotionally roller-coasterish for me at times, but overall we had a good time hanging out, doing laundry, going to Wal-Mart, writing emails, and eating French toast - thank you!! XOXO

After leaving Phoenix it was beautiful. But then it rained. With thunder and lightening. And then it didn't stop. So we stayed in the tent and ate our dwindling food reserves and contemplated our next move. We finally decided to make a break for it after coming to the realization that Murphy's Law must always follow Washingtonians. Oy!

Yesterday the weather finally cleared, and we took advantage of our vicinity to the biosphere to it out. It was quite impressive - several different ecosystems within one area, and multiple different controls over a wide variety of variables. My favorite part was the giant 'lung' room - a building with a collapsible/expandable ceiling to allow for air expansion and compression when the facility is sealed.

OK, so now we're going to tell you all something more interesting (hopefully) than, "Today we did x. It was great."

A day in the life on $20 a day
1. Get up, it's freezing. Contemplate what to wear, and then put it on - it's probably clammy.
2. Bathroom break
3. Cook breakfast, eat, wash dishes
4. Pack up all panniers, try to dry the tent and fly in the process
5. Apply sunscreen, deodorant, and brush teeth
6. Ride, gorp break, ride, bathroom break, ride
7. Spot a Wal-Mart!!!! Buy food, get water from drinking fountain, eat lunch.
8. Repeat step 6
9. Start worrying about where to sleep. Scan the landscape for opportunities
10. Set up tent, change into camp clothes
11. Cook dinner, eat, wash dishes in the dark
12. Brush teeth
13. Make a phone call if signal/charge are available
14. Crawl into sleeping bag because it's too damn cold to do anything else
15. Wake up in the middle of the night with a full bladder but wait as long as humanly possible to do anything about it. If lucky, fall back asleep
16. And repeat when the sun rises yet again

For a good idea of what a typical camp (and our hairstyles) looks like, check out our little video that was taken the night of the big storm. Ciao for now!