Monday and Tuesday, September 20th -21st -- Final Entry
The last 125 miles of the trip from Silver City to Antelope Wells started with good friends showing up the day before, Mark Truscott and Tom Lafleur arrived Sunday after driving from San Diego. Tom dropped us off in Canada and surprised us by showing up to get the round trip. We all went to downtown Silver City for beers. Ok ok ok, I did it, I violated the rule, I rode in a car which I had been avoiding for over 7 weeks. John and I decided that if that if these guys were going to take several days out and see us to the finish, the whole "no vehicle thing" was a goner. We also decided to ride the last 125 miles without our trailers, what a release of energy that brought on.
The ride out of Silver City Monday morning was great, blue sky and no dogs! After leaving town we hit some vertical climbing but given there were no trailers we blew through it. In the pictures you will see a driveway entrance lined with toilet bowls, not sure the message they are trying to send or the architectural theme but struck me as well . . . out of the norm. There must have been 30 toilet bowls of all colors. This underscores the trip, you just get to see more of America when you ride a bike versus drive in a car.
By noon we had covered over 40 miles and that included stopping to fix a flat, I guess I didn't do a very good job of getting one last spur out of my front tire. We had a supported lunch, Tom and Mark showed up with sandwiches, would have gained weight on this trip if they had been with us all along. For the next 40 miles we had either Mark or Tom joining us, a nice addition for the final miles. There was a lot of concern by a lot of people that the final 100 miles would be the riskiest, with illegals coming across the border and the drug cartels killing each other. Have to say the ride from Interstate 10 to Hachita was wonderful, very light traffic, on a paved road and lots and lots of Border Patrol vehicles. In fact, of the 12 vehicles that passed us on the 20 miles to Hachita 8 of them were brand new Border Patrol cars. Have to say they made us feel very comfortable and secure. We made Hachita by 3pm, about 80 miles from Silver City, not having those trailers really helped speed up the trip. Several days earlier we decided not to spend the night in Hachita, with no motels, no restaurants, and only a yard to sleep in and given our security concerns early on, we nixed it. We marked our spot to return tomorrow for the final 25 miles to the border.
Colleen and my sister Laura Myers flew into Tuscon and met us just as we were getting on I-10. Boy was it great to see my wife, hadn't seen her since Lima, MT five weeks ago. My sister came in from Houston to join in the finish, great having her along too! As I said there was a lot of concern about safety in the final miles of the trip. When we pulled into our new hotel in Lordsburg we found it was right next to the brand new police station. Also there was a humvee sitting at the entrance to the hotel. Two Air Force privates were walking out carrying weapons! The entire third floor of the hotel was full of military personnel helping to patrol the border, all of them packing heat. No need to worry about our safety, anyone that would threaten somebody in this hotel would be asking for it big time! Please see the most recent pictures to get the idea. God clearly had a strong answer to our prayers on the safety issue.
On Tuesday after breakfast we returned to our stopping point in Hachita for the final 45 miles to Antelope Wells. This road is also called the Lonely Road and for good reason, no one goes down it and it is patrolled constantly. Again Mark and Tom joined us on bike for segments of the final miles. Laura and Colleen walked some of it. They even had a Border Patrol helicopter get on the loudspeaker and whistle at them. A nice touch and helps the female ego too. We finally made the border by 1:30pm, 53 days after we started, 2,493 trail miles (probably closer to 2,600 actual miles) from Roosville, MT. We did it, we actually rode our bikes from Canada to Mexico!
As a final note I have a few comments and insights. First the strain a trip like this puts on your family is substantial. This trip is only a small taste of what our military families go through while their loved ones are deployed. Second the only way a trip like this works is through the grace of God, so many things can happen along the way to cause it to derail. Third the American people are really wonderful to experience, all you have to do is get on a bike, pull a trailer, and wear strange looking clothes to strike up interesting conversations everywhere. Fourth and finally, the generosity of so many people have made it worth every mile. So many folks gave that we hit our revised goal of raising over $40,000 for the wounded. A heartfelt thanks to all of you and all of it goes to supporting them that have served us so heroically.
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