Circle to Circle by Shirley Hardy-Rix

Author:Shirley Hardy-Rix [Hardy-Rix, Shirley]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Travel Writing
ISBN: 9781742983707
Publisher: High Horse Books
Published: 2013-10-18T04:00:00+00:00

Shirley: On the way out we stop at the bridge over the Rio Grande gorge. It’s 180 metres above the river and that seems a bloody long way down when we stand on the top.

We take the back roads through the Carson State Forest. It’s much cooler up here and there’s even snow on the ground under some of the big trees. Lieschen’s never seen snow before so we stop for a photo op and a small snowball fight! She just loves it.

From here we cross into colourful Colorado and the San Juan National Forest — all pine trees and winding roads, all beautiful.

Brook is enjoying sharing his country with us. He takes us to Mesa Verde, where Native Americans once lived in homes dug into the canyon walls, high above the canyon floor. Time is against us to get to the Overland Expo tonight so we take the top loop and just look down on the ruins rather than hiking into the canyons. (It’s a pretty good excuse to get out of some serious hiking, really.)

We leave Mesa Verde for Four Corners where Utah, Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona meet — a lot like corner country in outback Australia. Riding along the desert road the wind picks up and up and up. It’s like riding Ruta 40 in Argentina only there’s more sand blowing across the road making the ride hard and uncomfortable. When we get to the monument that marks the four corners the bikes are threatening to blow over. The sand is whipping around our legs and faces and we need to wear our neck socks over our faces to keep the sand out of our mouths.

We take the obligatory photo of a piece of our bodies in each of the states but the wind is making a stroll through the Native American craft market really unpleasant. We get back on the bikes and hunker down for the ride in to Flagstaff, Arizona and the Overland Expo.

The ride takes us through Monument Valley where wind erosion (now that’s a surprise) has created the most incredible rock formations. The sand pounding us makes it difficult to stop and even taking the camera out as we ride along is too dangerous. The sand wouldn’t be any good for the lens. Pity.

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Brian: There are 5,000 people at the Overland Expo and somehow we need to track down our Aussie mates, Ken and Carol Duval. They’re on their second ride around the world. Ken’s in his early 60s and still rides despite having two hip replacements. Carol thrives on life on the road and is the master packer. She’s so good at fitting every little item onto their bike she holds packing classes. I’m wandering through a group when an Aussie voice says, ‘Aren’t you Brian Rix?’ I don’t expect to hear that, this far from home. It’s an older bloke, who tells me it’s my fault he’s here. He met us after our last trip and that encouraged him to get off his arse and travel.

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