Into Las Cruces

It's Sunday evening, we've returned from the parade in Old Masilla. The weather today has been in the high 70's. More on this later.

On Thursday, we rode 17 miles and spent the night at the J.C. Johns Ranch south of Las Cruces. Ali and I had a much better day. We didn't have the arguments we had on the first morning. He's having a tendency to shy at unknown objects, though. Chip Johns, our host, allowed us access to his ranch house. It is a beautiful, one-story, Spanish style home with patios and gardens. Pictures will follow.

On Friday, we rode out of the desert and into the Rio Grande river valley. What a sight! From the brown and prickly desert to the lush green irrigated farmland. Pecan groves went on for miles with alfalfa and produce fields interspersed. We rode another 16 miles and then moved camp to the Las Cruces fairground for the weekend. Ali is improving on each outing.

This weekend, I've been getting help on my horsemanship and Ali has gotten some training from an experienced horseman.

During the parade today, in Old Masilla, all the riders congregated in front of St. Albino's Catholic church. The mayor of Old Masilla read a proclamation and wished the riders safe travel and God speed. Many of the children and families of Old Masilla came to view the parade and intermingle with the riders. There was a teen-aged girl who came up to give Ali a kiss on his nose and several children petted him. Many other children found there way to the horses in our group. PBS New York was there to film the event. Pictures were taken in front of the museum of all the riders to be put on display inside. Pictures will follow.

Tomorrow morning we leave Las Cruces and will ride 14 miles to Radium Springs, NM and stay at a state park campground.

Here's a little side note about travelling conditions on the ride....

Each day of travel, we break the day up into sections. As I pack Ali up for the day I do warm-up and stretching exercises each morning. We ride until mid-morning and take a water and snack break. A truck is travelling with us as an emergency vehicle and as a water carrier. They carry 150 gallons of water for our horses, and they drink almost all of it each day. We ride again until noon and have lunch and a water break. Each rider packs himself a lunch and plenty of water to last the day. In addition, we pack our horses a small amount of feed. Our average moving speed is about 3.5 mph. We take one additional break mid-afternoon and when we ride into camp each night we are all worn out and ready for dinner. And, you might be surprised to know that my seat is not sore!

I know you may be interested in the company I'm keeping on this adventure, but stay tuned, I've just met them myself. I'll be giving you a snapshot of who they are in the coming weeks.