And the rest.....

It's almost hard to remember all the stuff I've done in the past couple weeks. Keeping busy is helping keep me sane at this point.

Since I was already in central Texas I decided to make a 200 or so mile detour and visit Big Bend National Park. The park is on the border with Mexico with the Rio Grande separating the two countries. I was in full on recovery mode after the 100K run so a scenic drive sounded like a good idea.

Dogs are not allowed on trails in national parks so Bliksem was the guard dog. Probably not the wisest idea to be a solo female hiking on the border of Mexico, but I couldn't pass up the opportunity to go on some short 2 mile walks. Everywhere I went it felt like I had eyes on me. Upon entering the park we are warned not to buy anything from Mexicans for a bunch of reasons. If they are caught they get held and then bused about 60 miles upriver to be deported and the goods are confiscated. There is also warnings about encountering drug smugglers. The walks I did were all out and backs. The strange thing was that things for sale would appear on the trail that weren't there on the way out. I wouldn't see the people that left them, but I could feel their presence.

I did one stop at a scenic overlook to let Bliksem out for a bathroom break when I heard a commotion coming from the river. A man was running across the Rio "not so" Grande river to try and sell me walking sticks. His English was easy to understand, and it was really obvious that this is his normal day. I wanted to capture how small the river is so I filmed him as he walked back to Mexico. Not the most exciting video in the world, but I was trying to film him crossing back over without him seeing the camera. He had 2 dogs with him and kept asking me what I feed mine. Anyhow, here is the link.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGWuzDUsCd0



The "mighty" Rio Grande. Really scenic area and not at all what I was expecting.

Notice the sign stating that high clearance vehicles only on this road. It was a shortcut that saved me backtracking about 50 miles so I took it in the super low clearance mini van. Made it though and nothing is leaking from under the vehicle.

Not with Bliksem the guard dog in the car. I'd get back from short little walks and she'd have all her hair standing up. I wonder who she got to meet. I guess they decided that whatever I had in the van wasn't worth losing a limb over.

Random stuff that was for sale. Never saw a person. The cardboard sign has all the prices and you are supposed to just leave the money.

Guard dog keeping an eye on the border.

Short walk into one of the canyons.

Singing Jesus was across the river in Mexico and ready to serenade me if I put some money in the bottle.

Santa Elena canyon is 8 miles long and 1500 feet deep. Wish I had more time here to explore.

Bliksem making a break for Mexico. Had to let her out of the car as some point.

Yes, bad me. Taking photos and driving. It's called multitasking.


Next stop was Tuscon to ride the legendary Mt. Lemmon climb. On my trip east I had planned on doing this ride, but the temps were cold and I'm a bit of a wimp when it's below 50. The weather cooperated this time around and it was in the high 60s.

This might be my favorite road climb. 25 miles of consistent climbing on a nice grade. It starts in cactus and ends up in pine forest.
Suck it up legs. It's going to be a long climb!

The start among the saguaro cactus.

Tuscon way off in the background.

Really cool section with switchbacks.

The descent was perfect except for the snow melt that sprayed up. Burr!

Made a stop in Huntington Beach for another fun filled weekend and a ride up Mt. Baldy. Thanks Keevin. Onwards to Reno I went only to grab my mountain bike and hop on a flight back to Orange County. Next up was 12 hours of Temecula.....