DISTANCE TRAVELED: 79.90 Miles
AVERAGE SPEED: 11.24 MPH

          Today, I had set my alarm for 5:00 and by 5:30, I had everything packed up inside of my tent. Since I had packed away everything the night before except for my air mat and the clothes I slept in, which included fleece pants, rain pants, a shirt, and my rain jacket, I didn't have to do much to get ready. After packing up my tent, and loading my trailer, by 6:00, we were ready to go on the road after grabbing some cereal for breakfast. Scott, Mike and I rode down to the closest gas station to buy some extra drinks and snacks for the rest of the day. By 6:15, we were on our way riding in the dark. The darkness made the ride great as we rode on deserted pavement watching the sun come up. At one point, the sun was just over the horizon and our shadows were projected perfectly onto a sandstone cliff a few feet from the edge of the road. As we continued on, we passed by the Tyrone Mine. We couldn't see the mine itself but we did see the huge piles of dirt that were the remenants of what they dug up. They were over 50 feet high and went on for a very long time. Eventually, we got to our turn where we rode on dirt again. As we met up with Brian and Stu, we took a break to eat and drink. As we were standing on the side of the road, we saw another cyclist coming down the road from where we had come. Knowing that John Stamstead was attempting to break the record for the shortest time down the Continental Divide, we anticipated that it was him since he was traveling at such a fast pace with so little gear. To our surprise, when he caught up to us, he stopped and we talked about our trips for about a half hour. I kept thinking that he would have wanted to get to the end and set his record before wasting time with us. We learned about many of his interesting stories and we told him of ours. Soon he was off and I felt a little depressed thinking that not only had he finished in 19 days but he also would finish the trip the same day we saw him. It would take us yet another day to finish. However, we were able to soak in the beauty while he pounded the road night and day. After a brief interview with the photographer who was doing a documentary on John's trip, we were on our way again. Surprising, we were able to travel very quickly along the dirt roads. Since we hadn't been on dirt for such a long time, it gave all of us energy that we didn't have earlier when on the road. As we traveled along, we passed through washes and sandy roads. Eventually, we came to the Continental Divide Crossing #26. (Picture236) After riding on the welcomed dirt roads, (Picture237) we came to Separ where many of us took a break to drink sodas, eat our lunch, and buy ice cream. We left Separ to ride our final stretch of dirt. As we traveled parallel to the Interstate, we saw our turn and then, Mike got a flat tire. (Picture238) We sat down on the road as he changed it and pulled out the thorn that had punctured the tube. Finally, we continued on and got onto the pavement. A big sign was posted saying how far it was to the Mexcian Border giving our the first evidence that the trip was about over. Although the road was flat and we didn't have a headwind, we were all tired from the long ride. Unfortunately, the road was perfectly straight giving the illusion that we didn't have very far to go. When we were still 6 miles from Hachita, we came to the Divide Crossing #17 and we could see town. We would not accept the fact that it was more than two miles away. Sure enough though, we didn't get in for 6 more miles. As soon as I arrived, I joined everyone else in the resteraunt and ate dinner. After setting up my tent, I was ready to relax for the rest of the night. We went hunting for scorpions and found a small one that we were told is very poisenous. It was the first one I had seen in the wild. When it got dark, we set off fireworks that we had brought with us from Separ which not only celebrated our finish but also that of John. Just after dark, John drove up with his girlfriend, media, and other friends having completed his journey. After talking until around 11:00, everyone went to bed for the last time.