Day 11 - Border hopping in El Paso, then Breaking Bad for Albuquerque (over 500 km)

After a reasonably good sleep we got ourselves ready and checked out of the hotel, then we were off to find breakfast, mail some postcards and hit the road for Texas. It was already 25 C or more when we started out, and was only going to get hotter as the day wore on.

We arrived in El Paso a little after noon, and rode around the city, trying to find someplace that a) had shade and b) looked like our bikes might still be intact when we returned. Alas, no such luck. Almost the entire city is on the wrong side of the tracks - unless you compare it Juarez, just across the Mexican border. Then El Paso, with its gun battles in the streets (although none that we witnessed) looks positively idyllic.

'Abandon all hope, ye who enter here'

Colin's GPS found us a scenic route with a vantage point from which to look down upon the sprawling mass of one-story houses crouching behind their chain-link fences, after we'd selected our own route along a road that ran parallel to the border. The border looked like the boundary of a super-maximum security prison. Tall chain link fences topped with razor wire enclosed a road travelled only by border patrol vehicles. On the South side of the fences, the concrete slope down to the banks of the Rio Grande, and South of that, a similar arrangement patrolled by Mexican officials. It's impressive that with all this fortification, the drugs still find their way through the border. I guess where there's a few billion dollars to be made, there's sufficient will to find a way.

After our whirlwind tour of the most dangerous city in the Southwest, we set off in search of some Texas BBQ. We'd read about a place called 'The State Line' on the outskirts of town, so we headed there. Colin had a brisket and turkey combo, while I settled for straight brisket, washed down with unsweetened iced tea. Well, unsweetened till we added some sugar. Honestly, I don't know how anyone drinks it without adding sugar.

My friend Val asked for a picture of some BBQ

There was a liquor store next to The State Line, who advertised that 'Our address is in Texas, but we're in New Mexico.' We went in to scout some deals, and to ask about their odd slogan. They explained that the state line runs between them and The State Line. Their parking lot is in New Mexico, the BBQ parking lot is in Texas. They asked if it wasn't awfully warm for wearing all our riding gear. We agreed that it was, but that we were happier sweating than we would be leaving our skin on the pavement in the event of a crash.

After procuring some provisions, we set out for the I-25, intent on reaching Albuquerque at a reasonable hour. There was little of interest in the riding itself. It was just a matter of eating up miles. We did pull in at an apparently award-winning rest stop, but the vending machine was out of water. Or at least, it wouldn't take any money, but spat my American quarters back at me and staunchly refused to give me anything but attitude.

Just past the town of Truth or Consequences we started to encounter intermittent showers, and we could see dark clouds trailing rain down to the ground in the miles ahead. Before reaching the storm, though, we came upon a fantastic scene, watching a rainbow build a complete arc in the sky, little by little. Now, I know that this is just a function of my changing position in relation to sunlight and precipitation, but I enjoyed it nonetheless.

New Mexico bills itself as 'The Land of Enchantment', and I've not found anything to contradict that so far.

We stopped to put on our rain gear at the side of the road, and then continued on as the sky darkened and the wind began to gust. A little further on we caught up with the storm.

Now, I like lightning, when I'm safely inside something that will protect me from it. Like a house, say, or a car. I don't think I'd even be all that fussed if I were on foot, or cycling. But when I'm riding through a lightning storm with a big metal gas tank between my knees, I find it a little off-putting. The lightning was striking regularly, too, about every 2 minutes or so for a while.

We finally rode through the storm, and made our way to Albuquerque, home to the best TV show ever, Breaking Bad. We checked in to our hotel, unpacked our bikes and made our phone calls home when the storm rolled in behind us.

Tomorrow we plan to scout some of the Breaking Bad locations in town before heading up to Chaco, Los Alamos and ultimately Santa Fe.

Colin's video of our ride through White Sands will be up in the next day or two, so stay tuned for that.