Day 15 to Cabezon Peak

"Sun screen makes good chain lube."-Tony

51 miles. 1200 ft climbing

We road 10 more miles of single track on the flanks of Mount Taylor until we hit dirt road back on Mesa Chivato. We carried lots of water so, not wanting to get off route, we passed Ojo del Dado and Ojo de los Indios springs. Eventually we dropped 3000 feet from the high mesa to the desert of the Rio Puerco basin. The view was wonderful- colorful mesas, shear cliffs, volcanic cinder cone mts.

We siesta'd at Ojo Frio Spring. The water in the cow trough was black. Fortunately, there was a covered cistern with cleaner water. " I wish we had John's filter", I said. "Will this work?", said Cassi picking up a filter that someone had dropped. 13 liters of pumping later, under the shade of a juniper rock shelter, we kicked back. Amazing, this morning we'd been wearing all our clothes and now it was 95 in the shade.

The dirt and dust magnified by the drought had been hard on our bikes, especially the drive trains. We'd worked hard to keep them running smoothly, cleaning them up each town we came to and cleaning/lubricating the chains every couple of days. They needed some lube today, but I realized John had taken his and I'd forgot to get ours from our bounce box. No olive oil, I thought, but hey what about sunscreen? It did the trick till we got into Cuba.

At dusk we road some more. No water in the Rio Puerco (I think there seldom is), just a wide sandy arroyo. The low angle light set off the rich colors of the surrounding rock. Once it was dark we pulled off in to the desert to camp. We'd seen no one all day when, suddenly, headlights appeared down the draw. We'd inadvertently camped right at a road junction. The lights got closer then stopped. A voice called into the night, "What yall doing?" "Just camping. We are not on private land are we?" "No.You're OK", the tone became friendlier "Take care." and the truck drove away.

Our camp was on the edge of Cabezon Peak, the largest of the valley's numerous volcanic plugs. The full moon rose, throwing Cabezon into silhouette. The light was so bright I barely slept, waking constantly, thinking the sun was rising. Cassi, fortunately, did not have that problem.