Christmas, an update on our celebrity status, and the PLAN!

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Sharon:

Well, we're on the road again!!

Christmas: We spent 13 nights (yes, THIRTEEN) living the life in Florence at the Caliente RV Park with Mike's Oma and Opa. I had a lovely visit with my mum, the three of us shared a trailer, we met lots of new friends, and even saw snow on the cacti. Christmas (and my birthday) was fantastic, though we did miss the rest of our friends and families up north. I even got a birthday cake, at a gathering of a bunch of fellow Caliente residents. We were sad to leave the company of Mike's grandparents (o-parents?) as we had a truly fantastic time visiting, playing cards, walking, and drinking with them! They even threw us a farewell party in the backyard with 15 of our new friends! We have many really, really great memories at Caliente, but I won't get into them now, as I'm using the computer of a freindly RV park owner in Thatcher, AZ and it's past my bedtime (it's 7:30pm).

Celebrity Status: Thanks to Wayne, one of the wonderful people we met at Caliente, we made front page news in Florence - in a real newspaper! We even cost 50 cents. It was rather odd to see so many copies of our pictures in stacks, in newspaper boxes (or whatever the proper term is for those newspaper dispensing machines - we were right next to all the big US newspaper), and driveways. We also practised our public speaking skills, as Wayne got us up at the weekly "announcements" - and there's over 800 units in the park... A link to the article:

http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=20232747&BRD=1817&PAG=461&dept_id=222076&rfi=6

THE PLAN: We spent days on end at the Florence library, gathering detailed research, planning train routes, and contacting potential hosts all to decide one final, ever so simple, plan - we are biking east. Gone are the ideas of catching the train to DC for the inaugaration (we even had a place to stay), busing to Miami, backpacking to Costa Rica, or biking in Australia (you name it, we thought it - we have three months to do anything!!). But, as it turned out, the thing we enjoy the most is just getting on our bikes and riding. So far, we've been very happy with our plan, even in the blistering heat and over long mountain passes. The goal is another 3000 miles (plus any necessary "hitch-biking") and the end destination will ideally be the Bahamas - obviously a ferry will be involved at the end... 😊 We plan to return to Caliente by bus or train at the end of March in time to hitch a ride with Mike's Oma and Opa up north (hopefully with a pit stop at the Grand Canyon). We'll throw our bikes on top of the minivan and head home for the beginning of April - not so far away at all!

So far: Yesterday, we got a lift from Lupe, the retired Mexican bull-riding copper-miner (over a section of mountain pass that was actually impossible and was so treacherous it would have seen us lucky to get out the other side!!) and today we cycled 76 miles (we don't what got into us) after staying at an RV Park (see a theme?) where a herd of wild javelinas (look like wild pigs) snorted and stared at us while we ate dinner, and this morning we watched 42 shooting stars crash through the atmosphere in a meteor shower at 5:30 am. We pulled the sleeping bags out of the tent and into the frigid temperatures and laid in the middle of the parking lot for a spectacular show.

Anyway, on to New Mexico!!!

Pictures to come!

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Comments

[tyrone and jen]

thanks
hey you guys. we dont know if you check your facebook much so i'll write here..lol...leah would like to say thanks for the nice postcard from mexico, but she would like to go on your next sunny vacation trip to get out of this cold weather she's been having...all in all...we'd like to say safe riding and we will ttyl

[Auntie Trish]

Snail Mail
Thanks for the post card- it only took a month to arrive. Think of all the miles you can cover in that time. Maybe the Posties should take up bike mail! Happy New Year...love Auntie Trish

[Cliff and Dimphy]

The Sign of Travel
Sharon, are you sure your birthday is Dec 25? Mike is definitely a Sag (Dec 18) and reading the excerpt below, we'd swear you are, too! "Sagittarians love nothing more than hitting the road in search of knowledge and adventure. The Archer needs to experience things firsthand in order to have a good time. Tales of monks in Tibet are useless unless the Archer can break bread with these learned men -- then and only then will it all make sense. Philosophers that they are, Sagittarians crave a journey of discovery. You'll never find these folks at Disneyland, since they'd much rather be muckraking in Bolivia or exploring the wilds of Mozambique. Once on the road, Sagittarians seek to expand their mind; if they can grasp the meaning of life along the way, even better. Travel and new experiences are very important to these folks and their sociable natures dictate that they should have fun while they're at it!"