Our First Outing!

Since we made it home from Austin, I've been working on adapting our Sportsmobile to our needs.  Sportsmobile did a great job but there is always something that can be improved.  Actually, they say this never ends and to be sure, I am looking forward to many years of "tweaking" our van.

One of the first things that I did was to finalize our air conditioner installation.  Kevin, at Sportsmobile had done a great job adapting the A/C that we had left when we made our first trip to Austin.  Unfortunately, when he plugged it in he discovered that the A/C did not work.  So we were forced to buy another and make it work just to get us home.

The new A/C was actually smaller and more powerful. So all that I had to do was modify the pedestal that Kevin had fabricated so that it would fit the base of the new A/C.  I think it fits quite nicely now...

The major item that had to be accomplished before our next trip was to be able to store our bicycles. After all, this is the major factor that our van was designed around.  I actually figured out a method to get 2 road bikes and 2 mountain bikes in the space under the platform along with 3 tubs of gear, 2 folding chairs, and a folding table.  I guess that I was so busy doing so that I did not get a picture!

Off to Durango for the US Pro Championship!

We have been watching the Tour de France and other races for years and had always wanted to be spectators so here was our chance.  Durango CO is about 440 miles from Silver City so we new that these 3 days off would require a lot of driving but we would be taking our bikes so that we could get in 2 rides.  We left at noon on Sunday Aug.19.

We arrived in Durango and pulled into the Durango KOA at about 9:30 PM.  The next morning we said a brief hello to our friends Jay and Carrol and pulled out to get ahead of the race.

We parked at the top of Hesperus hill along US 160 with a couple hundred other fans and waited...

Everyone was in a festive mood and we were entertained by the massive number of official vehicles preceding the race but eventually here they came!  It was over too soon, but we waited for the road to open and the traffic to clear before we took off to follow them.  Next year we plan to follow the entire tour through Colorado.

We have a habit of eating a fresh salad for lunch and traveling in the Mercury allows us to do this with ease without the frustration of finding a salad bar in most small towns.  Here we are having lunch on a dirt pull out along US 160 near Mancos.

Good thing we found a ground squirrel photographer!

We followed the race route up toward Lizard Head pass and found a great campsite Monday night near the Dolores river.  The next day we were able to enjoy a great ride up the pass through the town of Rico.  On our way back we got very wet in a cold rain but, no problem, the ride was great!

Back to New Mexico!

Tuesday, we turned for Cortez, CO and then south through the reservations.  On the way we just had to get a picture of the Mercury with Shiprock in the background.

 Our destination for Tuesday night was the road to the Fox Mountain Lookout off of NM 32, between Quemado and Apache Creek.  We arrived there late in the afternoon and decided to go ahead and take our ride.  It was a good decision as it rained that night and early in the morning and we weren't looking for another cold rain ride.  Coming back to the Mercury after a ride for a hot shower was a pleasure we will continue to enjoy.

We made it home by noon on Wednesday and had a totally wonderful trip with only one incident.

Driving along US 550 towards Durango I kicked up a large stick from the right front wheel.  Fine time to discover that the front of the right grey tank is not shielded!  Oh well, another project!

On the outward bound trip, traveling the interstate at 75 mph we achieved 18.6 mpg.  But coming back at a more leisurely pace of 60 to 65 mph, we got over 21 mpg!  Shows you what a lead foot will do!

See ya next trip!

JIM