Full-Loaded Bicycle Touring...What an Adventure!

NOB HILL--Well, this is it. The bike and trailer are loaded, tires pumped, odometer reset. Tomorrow at 6:00 AM we pick up Mike Moye and drive out to Grants. There we will eat breakfast, say goodbye to my GF MaryAnn, and start pedaling down the road towards El Morro. Seven days later, hopefully, we should be rolling into Tucson.

The sudden cold snap today has me a little worried...as does the wind. But Mike and I will take it one day (or hour) at a time and see how it goes. The trailer bag looks so big because, in addition to the tent, sleeping bag and pad, stove, food, etc., there are a lot of bulky clothes. Anything can happen out there. For instance between Zuni Pueblo and St. Johns there is 55 miles of empty map space. So we had better be prepared.

Grants to Tucson: Itinerary

1. Grants (NM 53) to El Morro 42 miles 42 total
Saturday...sleep at B&B
2. El Morro to Arizona Border 47 miles 89 total
Sunday...camp along road
3. Arizona Border (AZ 61) to St. John’s 42 miles 131 total
Monday...motel or camp
4. St. John’s to Show Low (US 60) 47 miles 178 total
Tuesday...motel...election night
5. Show Low to Salt River Canyon 48 miles 226 total
Wednesday...camp out
6. Salt River Canyon to Globe 38 miles 264 total
Thursday...motel or camp
7. Globe (AZ 77) to Mammoth 54 miles 318 total
Friday...motel or camp
8. Mammoth to Tucson 48 miles 366 total
Saturday...picked up

I think that once we get on the other side of Show Low everything will warm up a bit. I hope to post to this blog from motels and towns, but it may be difficult. I am also going to try to email pix to the blog if all else fails. They will have little or no text with them however. But there may be no cell phone coverage at times. Well, don't forget to vote...Yours Truly, Johnny_Mango

Here in New Mexico...We Really ARE Blessed!

Sen. Jeff Bingaman is at the podium as Chester Nez, wearing his Boston Red Sox team jacket, begins his Navajo blessing at the Kerry rally downtown last night. John Kerry is standing next to Mr. Nez.

Kerry Campaign taps Chester Nez

DOWNTOWN--Chester Nez rests on a plaza bench after the Kerry rally. Many in Boston credit Mr. Nez for breaking the Curse of the Bambino with a Navajo blessing. The WWII Code Talker and Congressional Gold Medal winner blessed the Kerry campaign in Albuquerque Tuesday night.

Apparently the Boston Red Sox called on Chester Nez to come to Boston and give a Navajo blessing to the Red Sox last April. After the team lost its 3 games to the Yankees in the ALCS they called him again. The local story goes that he walked out of his Albuquerque home, faced Fenway Park, and gave a blessing.

Now the Kerry campaign has him on stage with JK. And last night in Albuquerque's Civic Plaza there he was extracting corn pollen from a little leather bag and letting it sift into the air in all 4 directions. The thousands of people at the rally were hushed during the brief ceremony...including Yours Truly, Johnny_Mango.

Can this be legal?

NOB HILL--I live a block and a half from this artificial sun. Whether it is a product of fusion or fission I do not know. It does cast quite a beam up at my house. It leaves a stronger shadow than the street light next door. Where is this high-powered, 10 million candle, acetylene torch that blots out everything within 2 blocks? STARBUCKS! That's where.

We, as a city, state, and nation are concerned about preserving the nightime sky from light pollution. The street lights only aim down to help with this problem. Also there is the neon, which looks a whole lot better without super-bright spotlights. Why has Starbuck's been allowed to dominate the whole neighborhood with this maddog parking lot fixture? Isn't this against some kind of zoning regulation?

Missed the Movie...but Caught the Floorshow.

NOB HILL--As if there wasn't enough visual stimulation on Central Ave. last weekend, these guys had to dance around on the median to advertise a show at the Guild Cinema. Actually, it was a 2-day indie film festival of about 20 movies. A synopsis of one reads, "A television news crew is thrown into a zombie outbreak." Sadly, I didn't see any of it...did you?

The Gumball King Grins "like a Christian with 4 aces."

Joe Lawson, aka The Gumball King, fans out tickets to Tuesday's Kerry Rally at Civic Plaza. This will be an amazing event! Kerry attracted around 17,000 at his rally in Las Cruces last week. Be there! Tobias Rene will sing. If you don't know Tobias, he is one of the hottest singers in local Spanish music.

Have you checked out that crazy electoral vote predictor in the right-hand column? Why would you?

NOB HILL--The polls for this election are nutz! Wacky. So variable as to be useless. Nobody has a clue as to what is going to happen on election day. The pollsters are digging in...thinking that their particular procedure has as much chance of being right as anybody elses. Likely voters...phone polls...internet polls...registered voters...weighted polls. Now Zogby has gone so far as to use two different methods. Their regular poll uses the internet, and now their tracking poll uses the phone. That way they figure (I guess) that if one is way off they can say they had it right on the other one.

Tucker Carlson, this weekend on PBS's "Tucker Carlson Unfiltered," said that if neither of the two candidates are really saying what you believe, don't vote. Don't Vote? Obviously aimed at people who won't vote for Bush but don't like Kerry either, this statement hopes to siphon off more K votes than B votes. Instead of helping undecideds sort things out and think things through in any number of ways, Carlson (who was so recently skewered on his own show by Jon Stewart) chooses to say, "Don't think...don't vote." That borders on evil. And it never would be said by anyone who in his heart loves this country and democracy. Politics has been called the art of compromise, the art of the possible. The opposite of that is the world of the zealot, and what de Toqueville called "The Tyranny of the Majority."

Yes--I Shoved My Phone In His Face & Snapped His Picture.

The Governor speaks to over 300 at Romero rally, says the race is almost even. One more thing...are those French cuffs?

Gov. Richardson Says Romero "Surging"

OLD TOWN--MaryAnn and I went to a fund-raiser at the Sheriton-Old Town Thursday night for Richard Romero. Gov. Richardson spoke and said a couple of interesting things about next week's election.

• Romero has pulled to within half a percentage point of Wilson.
• As of Thursday morning this race is the #1 watched congressional race in the country.

Wilson's ads attack Romero. She hasn't really pointed out anything she has done. Actually her ads attack Romero for attacking her. I don't think most people feel he has done much of that.

I also ran into Councilman Martin Heinrich. He actually reads this blog occasionally. He said he liked the Rt. 66 ideas, but not getting rid of the Nob Hill parking meters. He thought the merchants wanted them because they kept turning over customers. We did plan to meet for breakfast at the Flying Star after I get back from the Tucson bike ride.

Best Tree in Albuquerque

This tree, a landmark on the north arroyo bike trail, gets my vote for Best Tree in Albuquerque. It is near the Century 21 Theatre. Besides shade, it offers rustic benches and respite from the traffic. One other thing, it is the ONLY tree on that whole, long stretch of pavement.

Anna King taking her turn as barista at her Village Coffee House in Tijeras.

Riding to Tucson

NOB HILL--Mike Moye and I are riding our bikes down to Tucson on the 30th. That's a little over one week from now. So I have been doing some training rides. Sometimes I ride the river trails with my buddy Bob Evans. End to end and back it comes to about 35 miles. Sometimes I ride a loop from the Flying Star-downtown-old town-river trail-Paseo-arroyo-Noreste trail-UNM-home. This great trail is about 25 miles. When I want to do hills I ride out Southern to Tramway and Central and then out into Tijeras Canyon. From my house out to the Tijeras ranger station and back is about 30 miles. Of course, on this route you can keep climbing as far as you want because it is, baring a headwind, an easy downhill ride home.

It really helps to have a goal...a great place to stop and eat near the middle of the ride. On the canyon rides I like to stop in Tijeras at the Village Coffee House. Great coffee, food, and you can sit outside if you want. It also has a scented, feminine restroom complete with a tabletop water feature that emits small, perfumed clouds...sigh. The owner, Anna, is very friendly and also has a lot of gifts and things to look at.

Mike and I carry one-wheel trailers on our long trips with all our camping stuff, tools, parts, clothes, etc. On these full-loaded touring excursions we average about 50 miles per day. Up steep hills we get down to about 4 miles per hour. We could walk our bikes up those steep hills, but we're too stubborn. The fastest we ever got going downhill was a little over 40 mph...pulling those trailers. Stupid, yes. Sorry, no...I still have that top speed recorded on my speedometer (Although I got going almost as fast in Tijeras Canyon with a tailwind a week ago). Riding on the shoulder is impossible at those speeds, so we become something of a streaking hazard.

At any rate, I am totally excited about going to Tucson! Our basic route will be as follows: Grants, El Morro, Zuni Pueblo, St. John's, Show Low, Salt River Canyon, Globe, Oracle, and Tucson. Mike's wife Carol and my gf MaryAnn will pick us up in Tucson. I figure it will take about 8 days, maybe camping half the time. We eat anytime we pass a restaurant, snacking in between.

Full-loaded touring is closer to backpacking than it is to recreational bike riding. It is exploratory, inventive, visually stimulating 100% of the time. And it can be difficult. Your comfort and safety sometimes depends on the quality of your decisions. It is better with 2 riders.

Ken Saville Makes Who's Who of Business Executives and Professionals

Ken Saville explaining the details of a letter he received from the National Register. He seems to need a little more coffee.

He's In the Book.

NOB HILL--It was one of those mornings when everything seemed perfect in the Flying Star. The coffee was drinkable; the usually loud music was turned off; we had already found two copies of the Journal to share. The news of the day was agreeably bad...just bad enough for a decent discussion, not so bad as to be depressing. And almost the whole gang was there...except for...wait a minute...here he comes: The Artist Ken Saville!

Ken likes to think of himself as a hardass. I admit he does rely heavily on the Ward Bond character in The Searchers for social clues ("I'm the hard case you're gonna have to deal with!"). The Ward Bond character, however, showed a little more variety in his wardrobe than Ken does. Ken has a closet full of red camping shirts. And you know, they never seem to wear out...completely. But I give Ken credit. He is an artist (currently showing at the Mariposa Gallery) and has made a living from art for most of his life. A couple of years ago, Ken added Substitute Teaching to his list of activities...so now you know he is REALLY rolling in dough.

Thus it came as no surprise to see him produce a letter stating that he had been nominated to "Who's Who in the National Register of Business Executives and Professionals." Congratulations my friend, you deserve it.

Speaking of millionaires, can you believe Alex Rodriguez's behavior in knocking the ball loose in the game Tuesday night? The announcers tried to excuse it by saying that he had nothing to lose...he was out anyway. And we all know the millionaires, even those in baseball, don't think they have to play by the rules. He just got caught. I sure hope it doesn't jeopardize his standing in Who's Who in the National Register of Business Executives and Professionals. At any rate, here is a man for whom the Yankees paid $55,000,000 and his solution to dealing with his lack of performance is to take a swipe at the pitcher's hand. God Bless our Millionaires...where would we be without them!

Look Left. Look Right. Dream.

NOB HILL--We in New Mexico seldom seem to recognize how important our surroundings are to the rest of the world. Let me call attention to only one of them: Route 66. It is famous WORLDWIDE. Yet, we do nothing to draw attention to it. No signs on I-40 east and west of town advertising the vintage motels and local restaurants available. In fact, we seem to be saying it is easier to close most old motels rather than restore or preserve them. Even the neon signs are vulnerable to economic forces. Look at what happened to the wonderful neon cowboy downtown at what is now the Colosseum. They took pliers, broke all the tubes, and painted the metal white. Public remodelling done by an idiot.

Meanwhile, a Swedish photographer stood in front of the 66 Diner tonight setting up his camera to take a picture of the neon on the building. He was working for a Swedish magazine. Route 66 is famous over there. Being a helpful guy, I thought I would suggest some neon signage for him to shoot. Whatever I mentioned he had already photographed it: El Vado, La Puerta, El Don, El Rey. I didn't bother telling him about the downtown cowboy.

When I was teaching 4th grade at Emerson ES I rode my bicycle to school most days. Once they got over my owning a car but still rode a bike, we started talking about dreams I had when I was their age about just riding away on my bike through the small towns on my Illinois map...Genoa, Marengo, Stillman Valley, Pecatonica. As a child I would dream about this...riding to Ottawa, Rock Island, Effingham, Leaf River, St. Charles. Anyway I would tell those kids at Emerson that 3 blocks from our classroom was Route 66. That if you turned left you could ride your bike to California and the Pacific Ocean...turn right and you could ride to Chicago, Lake Michigan, and beyond. 66 is magical. Nob Hill wouldn't be the same if the main street did not reflect in its signs and buildings that energy of the Road, that dream of adventure, the lure of strange-sounding places. "Now you go thru St. Looey...Joplin, Missouri! And Oklahoma City looks mighty pretty. You'll see Amarillo...Gallup, New Mexico. Flagstaff, Arizona: don't forget Winona, Kingman, Barstow, San Bernardino."

Swedish photographer has spent several days in Albuquerque photographing Route 66 neon.

Sign Survives Onslaught of Vandals

"Fortress Bush" endures on the northern end of Monte Vista Blvd.

Burning Bush

NOB HILL--Mary Donato tells me that this guy's Bush sign on Monte Vista Blvd. has been through several incarnations. It has been torn up twice and burned twice. Each time the homeowner has replaced it. The sign is now stapled to a sheet of plywood, covered with chickenwire, spotlighted (with a buried cable), guarded with a sign announcing you are being filmed, and surrounded with a 6-foot high chainlink fence. Now, I can't say as I blame him. But if he had spent the same amount of time fixing up his yard, he might have more than one Bush to be proud of.

This Man Doesn't Have to Think. He KNOWS.

Bush's so-called Christianity has a dark side...and it might unleash the Hounds of Hell. Is the Rapture Index what gives GWB the certainty that he is always doing the right thing?

Will Bush Put the Hammer Down on the "Prophetic Speedometer?"

NOB HILL--I imagine some of you thought I was exaggerating in my portrayal of GW Bush and the End of the World. I said that GWB was using America as a tool to bring about the second coming of Jesus in a post called "Send GW Bush Straight to Hell!" There is an article in this morning's Santa Fe New Mexican that talks about Bush's belief in the closeness of the end times and his Khristian cohorts' desire to bring about the end of the world, along with the Rapture and the 2nd Coming. There is an upcoming meeting on the subject in Santa Fe on Oct. 24th sponsored by the Santa Fe Jewish and Christian Dialogue.

Of particular interest is the Rapture Index, a so-called "Prophetic Speedometer," which measures current events in such a way that it is possible to fortell how close we are to the End Of Time. We are currently in a "fasten your seatbelts" warning. Apparently GWB pays a lot of attention to these people.

I believe that a discussion of religion will be the final battleground of this presidential campaign. Bush's certainty and inability to change are an article of faith. This is what Kerry was trying to get at in the (2nd?) debate when he said that you can be certain and wrong at the same time.