Mimbres, NM to Caballo Lake, NM
Writing this first paragraph at 0430 in the dry, warm women's room at the Mountain Spirits RV Park. The lightening started just before midnight, with the rain following shortly thereafter. It was light, at first. "This is nice," I thought, since I was nice and cozy in my down sleeping bag. Uh-oh, sprung a leak. Moved things around to preserve the sleeping bag, dry clothes, and electronics. Still thought everything was going to be okay. Then the raincame down harder, the wind started blowing, and the intensity of the lightening increased. I imagined that I could feel the heat of the lightening on my face. I still though I everything would be okay, and I could stick it out until morning, until....
It felt like it was raining inside the tent. My sleeping bag was wet on top and the bottom, and there was a pool forming on the bottom of the tent! I had to abandon ship. I quickly put on my dry bike shorts that I was going to wear today, along with my rain jacket. I stuffed a set of dry cloths into my panniers, along with my bike shoes, iPhone, and iPad. I high-tailed it with my gear to the main building, only about 30 yards away. I was drenched and shivering, standing under the covered porch. This was not going to work, as it was only 0300, and I needed to get warm and dry. Aha, I said to myself! I was standing right in front of the door to the women's room. The restrooms at this park are very nice. They are clean, well maintained, and warm! So I set up shop in the women's room. Changed out of my wet bike shorts into the dry clothes that I carried over, and dried my hair with Eileen's towel (the park provided towels for us to shower with upon arrival, and Eileen is the only woman. She left the towel on the tree stand, and it was dry!)
So now I was warm and dry, thinking about what I was going to do with my wet tent and sleeping bag later in the morning, when I saw a light emanating from the tent area. Then it was coming toward me, in the pouring rain (I was standing in the doorway, watching the campsite). Eric, our 22 year old rider, abandoned his tent and joined me in the women's room. So, here I sit on the single seat in the room, while Eric is comfortable with some benches in the shower room. We will wait until daylight, and assess the situation then.
Post-storm comment: The locals say they have never had a storm of such intensity in this area. I heard anywhere from 2.5" - 3" of rain in less than four hours!
Dawn broke, and I proceeded to empty my tent, hanging my sleeping bag to dry. We went to breakfast at The Living Harvest Bakery, run by a local church. All you can eat buffet for $6.50, paid by Adventure Cycling. Wow, what a wonderful spread, including a cinnamon bun that gives a Cinnabon a run for their money! During the breakfast, the group surprised me by singing "Happy Birthday," and giving me a card signed by all the riders, plus a hostess cupcake! And the coffee, chocolate piñon!
Back to camp, packed al my wet gear, and finally left at 0940. We were re-routed due to the road being impassable, with 2' of running water! The detour was short, and we still passed many areas where the road flooded and had deb is strewn about. In some places, piles of ice remained from the hail during the night.
We climbed for 20 miles, finally reaching Emory Pass at 8,228 feet. We took a group photo at the top. Then, the icing on the cake... the descent!
Pulled into the Lakeview RV Park at Caballo Lake, and set my tent out to dry. Since my sleeping bag was wet, I decided to wash it, and it took two cycles in the dryer to finish. Finally, time to get to bed, and save posting the blog until I could sit upright to do so.
No comments:
Post a Comment