Day 20 & 21

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Day 20 Cuba to Grants

16kms out of town, after a diner breakfast we were straight onto a gravel road. This was a good road with the odd patch of sand just to keep us alert. Our soft sand skills are either improving or there wasn’t as much of it as I remember.
After 25km of this track we re-joined the main road. Here the BDR went straight ahead but with a map warning about deep sand on the remainder of today’s track. Ian opted to continue as he “loves” deep sand and Bryan, Keith & myself took the wimpy option to Grants via seal. This was boring riding but still interesting scenery. We passed a huge open cast coal mine which is owned by Peabody Energy, apparently the worlds biggest coal miner. They have mines on 6 continents including Australia. They were in bankruptcy for a couple of years until 2017 (probably as a result of Obama’s anti coal mining regulations) but now up & running again & look like they going at it big time.

We reached Grants which would probably have the world record for the most derelict buildings. Most of these are defunct motels or motels like the one we had booked which was on the verge of being defunct. We rode out on the trail after checking Ian’s spot satellite tracker & realising he was only about 25kms from town. Met up with Ian around 20ks out & rode back with him on a winding sealed road into town, passed some guys target shooting beside the road.

Over a Subway lunch we organised a motel swap as we were concerned that the one we had booked may have been due to be demolished whilst we were there. Ian reported that his ride was good, the sand was not too difficult so possibly we could have comfortably done it.

Ensconced in our new motel we went to an all you could eat Asian Buffet across the road - $10.50/head, and ate too much.





Day 21 Grants to Near Reserve

Out of Grants we were soon on another gravel track. This had the ubiquitous sand & ruts but no rocks – we started to miss them! We then turned off into another forest on a track which wound amongst conifers on a fine gravel & pine needles (they can be slippery) surface. This continued for 10kms then we were onto a wide sweeping gravel road & from there we were into Pine Hill for gas.

After leaving the gas stop the route took us on gravel past a wolf sanctuary (you could hear them howling) This gravel road was good but, of course with some sand & dried ruts. We then turned off & into Apache forest & it seems like for the rest of the day we were nearly always in it or near it. This forest covers 1.8m acres.

We left the forest for a while & stopped overlooking a Salt lake /mine for lunch which we had bought with us. We were out on the prairie by this stage & as we ate our lunch four trucks with trailers carting stock passed and of course, once we resumed our ride we had to get past them. They were very considerate moving over to let us past, however this was a very dusty business. We were on the range & had long straights with a few cattle on each side of us, after a while two adventure rides came towards us well geared up. Probably riding the BDR South to North opposite to us. Surprise surprise we were then back in Apache Forest.
We arrived into the tiny settlement of Luna for gas & a caffeine charge to wake us up after the long straights we were starting to feel a bit drowsy.
Out of Luna we climbed up over saddle mountain again in the Apache Forest. This track wound up & through the forest for around 80kms. Parts were gnarly & rocky & parts were fast & smooth. This was one of the best tracks we have done with the final 10kms smooth & an excellent fast winding track. Seal to our motel for only 5km which is 12kms out of the town of Reserve. Being a Monday the restaurant adjacent to the motel is closed so we rode to town for a meal tonight. 375kms today mostly off pavement

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