Tag Archives: NM

Borders & Reflections

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Done & done – 2900 miles border to border, triple crown, and 11,000 trail miles down. What’s next?

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The southern terminus is a Crazy Cook, a nowhere place in on the NM/Mexico border, just a little bump on the panhandle 85 miles away from any roads.

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Life is harsh out in the desert. Everything is sharp, the sun intense, and the bones bleached dry.

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I was skeptical about the southern terminus, expecting another anticlimax. I’m happy we were there at sunset, where the light turned spectral over the western mountains. It’s hard to tell from the photo, but as the sun descended behind the hills there was intense pink and blue banding fading into a perfect butter yellow sky.

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We waited for hours at the road after walking the 85 miles back – no luck hitching, only a couple of cars. Finally we got a ride from border patrol – we didn’t bother telling him Huck was a Danish national on a dubious visa.

 

New Mexico

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Frosted flakes outside Chama, NM. And I thought it was going to be warm in the desert…

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After a morning of 100 or more river crossings, Huck and I decided to seek out higher ground. We spend the majority of the day wandering around the Gila Wilderness far from any trail, thru tall grass and wide open pine forest.

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Ghost bike for a cyclist killed by an automobile outside Silver City, NM.

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Those desert skies tho – I’ve never seen any sunsets so chromatic, and it got better the further south we headed.

SCALLEYCAT 2015

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Moons Under RENO

Moons under RENO. I’m not sure when we thought it would be a good idea to get bare assed on the main drag, but obviously it was the best idea at the time. This wasn’t anywhere in the manifest, but hey – anything for points…

SCALLEYCAT is an annual 24 hour bike race/scavenger hunt in Reno, Nevada. It’s also a booze fueled debauch across the high desert and into every den of iniquity in town. SCALLEYCAT started in the mythical past (I thinks it’s 10 years strong now) and is still the best race in the west. Last year, Harpo mane and I went together. This year I rolled down with the New Mystics contingent to race and recreate, visiting some homies in town and scumming around the Biggest Little City.

Cheating Is Winning

We received a sympathy card from Jeffy – the homie whose house we were staying at – before the race even began. It’s contents? “We’re deeply sorry for your loss – you will not win SCALLEYCAT.” We promptly signed our own names to the card and re-gifted it to these yung bucks… cheating is winning.

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Juice gets extra juicy with some MD 20/20. We were somewhere downtown, it was 4 am. Every year SCALLEYCAT has different themes – this year was robots, hence the roborection. Last year when Harpo and I raced it was Hot Dogs & Bananas. Don’t ask…

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The homie Tom trying to catch a free ride. It was a pleasure to git down to Reno to see this guy. He’s the third member No Touching Ground and I put down in New Mystics in 2007. I hadn’t seen him since he moved back to Reno, his hometown, this summer.

Tagging on Other People's Stuff

In SCALLEYCAT a lot of points are had from messing with other contestants. In this case, Colin and I spent a half hour at the morning checkpoint walking around calmly catching SC*15 tags on other people’s helmets. What’s amazing is that no-one noticed…

 

New Mystics Cultivation Concern

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Bruce Willis

Seeds from Bruce Willis – a Cannabis Sativa strain developed in Beacon Hill and organically propagated in South Park, and now, everywhere…

Living in Washington, where marijuana has recently become legal recreationally as well as medicinally, New Mystics is doing something about access. Cannabis has been used for centuries by humans – see Herodotus’ records regarding the Scythians, or the wealth of Ayurvedic literature on the plant as medicine – so it seems appropriate that we end the prohibition of this plant.

New Mystics had some concerns about the corporate takeover which would inevitably ensue from asking the state Liquor Control Board to legislate access to cannabis. Hence, they’ve been planting seeds wherever they roam – an since the crew includes cyclists, messengers, hikers and pedestrians of all stripes, is pretty much everywhere in western Washington. Much like picking huckleberries in August, there should be free and easy access to marijuana for those who want to find it. And sure, if you’ve got the loot and want to buy some super fancy weed at a legal shop then by all means, it’s your legal right to do so. But weed is a weed, and we should let it grow freely…

Natural Medicine

Repping the crew with the brightest smiles…

Graffiti writers also love dental hygiene.  NKO preparing to dehydrate some toothpaste dots – we will take these dehydrated toothpaste slugs and cut them up into single servings, then portion 2 per person per day in resupply packets. This is getting deep…