Day 2:

• Pass by Ojo Frio Spring (it looked stagnant and rancid).
• The dirt roads became more and more sandy.
• We had to push the tandem more and more as we progressed through the day.
• We Passed by Cerro Parido, rode along Mesa Azabache and Mesa Cortada.
• The well-marked Felipe-Tafoya Land Grant does not allow anyone to camp or even go off the main public access road.
• We were behind our travel plans because of all the off-bike sand pushing that we did
• We set-up our dry camp just ten feet away from the entry gate and fence of the Felipe-Tafoya Land Grant property (it was well-marked).

Day 2 - Ojo Frio Spring to Felipe-Tafoya Land Grant

Above Left: Sunrise.

Above Right: Packing stage area.

Above: The Kitchen and its Head Cook.

Above Left: Final Tweaks.

Above Right: On the road again...

Above: The sign for Ojo Frio Spring (Cold Eye Spring). We don't have a picture of the Spring but it was a low mud flat full of cows about the size of 1 acre. Eighty percent of the mud flat was just wet sand and the remaineder had about an inch of stagnant stinky water and that was covered with pond scum.

We were so happy that we did not have to depend on Ojo Frio Spring for our water supply (as we had a day's supply of water from the BLM Homestake Well about 2 miles back from last evening). We have obtained water from places like that before and it just kills a water filter and destroys a water purifier.

Above Left: Terry gives some visualization for the steepness of many of the small hills where we had to dismount our tandem and push it up hill for a 30°/60% grade short distance.

Above Right: We love the country views of the American SW - We will not see anybody ALL Day.

Above Left: Rock Sandwich.

Above Right: Belly-Up Raven.

Above: Nice Canyon View, so happy that we did not have to ride down and then up.

Above Left: Two Old Poops - Javelina Poop on top of Cow Poop.

Above Right: The road and sign helps us to fix our position, we're at the 57.0 mile point and the map states the road has "some severe erosional problems over next few miles".

Above: We're passing through a repaired arroyo that was washed out within the past month. Note that the County Road Repair Crew(s) can only perform a repair when the area is completely dry.

Above: Road conditions have caused us to exert a lot of energy for pushing the bike through sand and loose dirt which had been plowed up but not compacted yet, we're using a lot of water, more than we planned, and we're now on a water watch.

Above Left: Cattle were a good sign, water was somewhere near.

Above Right: Great views today!

Above Left: A water tank. Terry walked over to see if it was functioning and to determine whether we would need the water filter.

General Rule of Thumb about Water Tanks: If the water source was set-up as a drip pipe above the water collection tank then one can fill up their water bottle(s) directly without the use of a water filter. If the water source comes from inside the water tank, then the water has to be filtered.

Above Right: See what we have learned about Ranching - This water pump, formerly operated by means of a mechanical connection from a wind vein generator to a mechanical pump, has been converted to a solar electrical source that operates an electric pump motor.

Thank You Kind Ranchers, no one has ever denied us water or even worried about our taking of water.

Terry was filling our water bottles directly from to top source water feed. We have to far to travel to fill our water bladder this early in the day.

Above Left: A picture of this Rancher's complete water system.

Above Right: The Bee sits ready.

Above: This was what has cut our travel distance to time ratio in half. The bike wheels were wide for a bicycle but not wide enough to ride through the soft road surface, the bike wheels sink into the soft cover and we then have to push the bike. We probably will have a total of 6 miles of bike pushing before the day's end.

Above Left: Wheel Track and Boot Prints - A good picture of our back trail where we had to push the loaded tandem through soft sand.

Above Right: Pseudo Repaired Road.

Above: We were leaving the Rocking LS Ranch. We left the gate like we found it, closed. This is probably the ranch owner of the water we obtained/used.

The Felipe-Tafoya Land Grant

Above Left: Miles of this today.

Above Right: We had reached the Felipe-Tafoya Land Grant (meaning that it was assigned by the Kingdom of Spain, probably in the 1500s).

The Land Grant is about 5 miles (of no trespassing except to travel without stopping). The shadows were starting to get long; it was time to think about water and camp. We could probably ride another hour. We estimated that we would not finish the 5 miles at our present rate of speed and in time to set up camp before night fall. We were very tired. We decided to set-up camp here, on this side of the Land Grant boundary. It was to be a dry camp, we were low on water, there would be no bathing.

Above Left: We set up camp about 10 feet from the boundary fence. Terry was boiling water for food.

Above Right: In camp, looking southward. We moved the bike away from where we were to set the tent.

Above Left: In camp, looking toward the north along the Felipe-Tafoya Land Grant fence.

Above Right: The Bee will rest on its side; the ground was too soft for the kickstand.

The day started with relative ease, given that we were traveling dirt roads. As the day progressed it became more and more difficult to pedal. By the end of the day we were in a routine of alternately pushing the tandem for 100 yards/meters and then riding for 100 yards/meters. It was very slow going by the end of the day. We worked hard, we had re-hydrated Hawaiian Sweet and Sour Pork for dinner and that was quite the treat!