We reluctantly departed The Black Range Lodge after a wonderful home made organic everything breakfast, and heartily recommend it if you're in the area. Our road continued downward with beautiful views, then climbed a bit and leveled out for most of the last 2/3. The wind was calm, to in our favor, most of the morning and we made great time. We passed through some cute towns and ate in the town of Hatch, of chili pepper fame. We passed many pecan plantations and a huge dairy operation. The wind continued to pick up and varied from tailwind to crosswind, stronger and stronger. Dirt and tumbleweed crossed the road at regular intervals. Several people called it quits and got rides towards the end. One of our strongest, a retired firefighter-she's really strong, got blown over twice after she missed a turn and had to head into the wind. We later found out the gusts were up to 60 mph. It felt great to take a shower, we were
covered in dirt!
