Ok, so I hope I'm not breaking any copyright laws!

So I mentioned Guy and Evan in a previous post as the two from the UK and Hong Kong traveling across the US.  I was on Evan's blog and I found a picture of our two favorite people.  Evan: if you're reading this blog, I hope you don't mind.  But Karl doesn't send me a lot of pictures.

As you can see they look healthy and happy.  They will need to work on their tan lines at some point though.  

Cycling Across the US Sure does Change a Man!

Wow!  It's been less than three weeks and Karl and Mo have morphed into World Class Cyclists!  I didn't realize that cycling across the US would take so many years off of their appearance.  :-)  Ok, I'm sure you guessed that the above picture is not Karl and Mo.  It is a picture of the two fellows that I spoke of yesterday.  Evan is on the left and Guy is on the Right. Karl tells me that after this trip across the US, Evan is planning on trekking across Africa.  Oh the joys of being young!  

Karl and Mo are spending the night in Conway, TX.  Population 15.  The only reason that Conway has a population of 15 is that they included their dogs and cats in the head count.  They are spending the night in the one and only hotel in Conway.  It's nice to know that even a super small town can have a hotel for our two friends to stay in.  

They traveled 82 miles today.  Instead of going through Amarillo, they went south of the City and headed east to Claude, TX.  There they had lunch.  The tail wind helped to push them along again today, so the riding was pretty quick until the last couple of miles.  Once they hit Claude, they headed north and had to fight the wind for about 8 miles to Conway.  

The riding today was pretty easy, but the mosquitos were not very nice.  The mosquitos were biting them today in broad day light, in windy conditions, right through their clothes!  A couple of bug bites won't stop our fearless duo.  

Karl forgot to mention that Mo had a flat yesterday and he had one today.  Since they're not traveling on the Interstates as much, the flat tires are not happening as often.  So in the flat tire race we have Mo:6, Karl:5.  

Where's the Beef?

The beef is in the Beef Capital of the World...And so are Karl and Mo.  They traveled 77 miles today to make it to Hereford, TX.  The weather was cool this morning and then warmed up a little in the afternoon.  There was a nice tail wind pushing them most of the day.  They were able to keep their speed between 22 and 30  mph.  While on the road, they met two other cyclists traveling in the same direction, but they are going all the way to Boston.  One of the two guys is from Hong Kong and the other is from the U.K.  Karl and Mo tried their best to keep up with them, but it was a little difficult.  Especially since the one from the U.K. is training for the TOUR DE FRANCE!!!  

Tomorrow will probably be a short day for Karl and Mo.  They're trying to avoid 100 mile days as much as possible, so they'll probably stop in Amarillo, which is only about 50 miles away.

I'm wondering if Karl and Mo are feasting on Steak tonight for dinner......

Rain, Rain, Go Away!

Karl and Mo experienced their first day of rain today.  They traveled 88 miles from Roswell to Portales, NM.  When they got up this morning the temperature was 55 degrees.  It only made it to the mid 60's for them, but as they were finishing their day, it had dropped down into the 50's again.  It wasn't a down pour.  Just enough rain to be annoying.  As they rode today they saw some oil wells for the first time.  Only some of them were pumping oil.  

I did get to ask him what they had done on their day off in Roswell.  They wandered around town and visited the UFO Museum and Dr Goddard's work shop.  I'm sure you've heard of The Goddard Space Flight Center that was named after him.  Click HERE for more information on Dr. Goddard.  They did do about 8 miles of riding around town yesterday.  Six of those miles were to and from the laundromat to wash some clothes.  

Karl and Mo are less than 30 miles from the Texas border.  Can you believe they've traveled through 3 states in about 2 1/2 weeks?  That's CRAZY!!!

I haven't gotten any good pictures lately.  Hopefully Karl and Mo are taking a lot and we can post some of them after they get home.  

This Adventure is TO BE CONTINUED...

Saturday

I wasn't able to update yesterday, so here it is:

Saturday morning Karl and Mo woke up to a chilly 54 degrees.  They traveled 75 miles to Roswell.  No major hills slowed them down, but the wind did.  Karl said that even on the down hills they had to pedal because the headwind was so strong.  It seemed like it was going to rain on them this morning, but the sun eventually peaked through the clouds and the remained dry. 

When they got to their hotel in Roswell, they walked around town for a little.  They plan on staying in Roswell for 2 nights to explore and rest.  There are a couple of museums they want to check out and maybe try to see some UFO sightings.  (Ok, he didn't say that, I did).  The bike odometer says 992 miles.  The GPS says 1002.  So pretty much they've hit a huge milestone.  If they keep this up, they'll be home before we know it.

Here is a picture that I wasn't able to post from Friday.  As you can see when they were at Apache Summit, the elevation was 7591 feet.  

Here is a picture Karl sent of himself from Friday as well.  As you can see he's looking pretty healthy and it seems like he may even get some tan on those incredibly white legs.  I'm just curious at what point did he stop wearing his converse high tops and cut off jean shorts to ride his bike.

Ralph, You Won't Be Disappointed!

I spoke to Karl last night about their adventures yesterday. They wanted to make sure they did some climbing so that Ralph would not be disappointed. They started their ride from Alamogordo and rode a total of 46 miles to Ruidoso, NM. The ride started out with them going North parallel with the mountains for about 15 miles. Then they turned east and went into the mountains. They had a 23 mile climb of 2580 feet. Then once they reached the crest, they had a 5 mile downhill. Karl said that one of the nice points of the day was stopping at a tribal store on a reservation about 1/2 way up the mountain. There, they purchased Pueblo Pies (something like two pieces of flatbread filled with pie filling) and cookies. This was the much needed carb reload they needed to make it up the rest of the mountain.
During their ride today they saw their first "real" trees. There is a lot more vegetation in this part of New Mexico than in other parts. So, they had more to look at than just cacti. They are about 72 miles from Roswell and are headed there today.
I have a picture that Karl sent me today of the elevation at Apache Summit. I am not able to upload it right now because I'm sitting at a campground, but as soon as I can, I will add it to the blog. They were at an elevation of 7591 feet at the highest point.
Finally, here is an update about their day on Thursday. Karl had forgotten to tell me about some interesting things they found out in the hotel pool on Thursday night while they were at Alamogordo. When they were riding Thursday they stopped at White Sands National Monument. Click HERE for more information about White Sands. Their new friends from the pool told them that the area is so busy right now because they are filming the New Stargate movie at White Sands. And, last year they had filmed the New Transformers movie there. They hotels were extra busy because of cast and crew for the movie production. I'm sure they were hob-nobbing with celebrities and didn't even know it.
I'll update today's travels either tonight or tomorrow. That is, if they haven't been abducted by aliens in Roswell. :-)

14 Days of Riding Under Their Belt (and a encouraging message for Ralph)

Yesterday was day number 14 for Karl and Mo.  They rode from Las Cruces, NM to Alamogordo, NM, a total of 66 miles.  The first 15 miles was up hill then they had 7-8 miles of down hill and then the rest was flat.  They didn't have to travel on the Interstate today, so there were no flat tires.  So far their odometer reads 871 miles.  Wait, let me say that again...871 MILES!!!  Holy smokes, that's a lot of miles in 14 days.  

They are about 120 miles from Roswell.  And since there are not many places to stay between Alamogordo and Roswell, they will have a short day today (Friday).  They will only travel about 40 miles and will have a lot of climbing.  The hope is to be able to get to Ruidoso Downs today.  Then on Saturday they will travel the rest of the way to Roswell.  Once they get to Roswell they will FINALLY take a day off to do some sightseeing.  Personally, I think they're looking for their "Mother Ship".  That would be the only logical reason for these two fellows to ride their bikes over 3000 miles across the U.S.! :-)

Hopefully I'll be able to write again tonight.  

Oh, and here is a message for Karl and Mo's Friend Ralph: (these are direct words from Karl, he had me read it back to make sure I had the words exact)

"Ralph: If you had joined us on this adventure, I'm sure you could've convinced me to follow you up and over every hill you wanted to climb."

Ralph, these guys are trying to act tough, but really I think they miss you!