So we climbed beautiful Emory Pass- the highest climb we’ll hit on the Southern Tier of the US. 
That’s me about halfway up. And here’s Alan at the top:
Yes, it was an exhausting climb- 8 miles up to about 8,800 feet and right back down. Fortunately we had motivation to get through the rest of the day. We had arranged to stay with Pat, a woman we met through that cyclist hosting website we’ve mentioned before, warmshowers.com. We were thrilled to get there are meet her and her husband, their adorable Yorkies and try her famed chocolate chip cookies.
They were both amazing and after a fantastic meal there, we passed out for the night feeling pretty exhausted. Unfortunately, I woke up feeling tired but better than the night before, while Alan woke up feeling about 100 times worse. Pat took pity on us and helped us get to nearby Silver City where we went to the Adobe Agave Inn, where owner, Ellen, provides free rooms for cyclists passing though. She also took pity on us and invited us to stay until Alan feels better, which is great because he spent the rest of the day like this:
Yup, he’s got a good flu going and so we’re going to be taking it easy for a day or two until we can get him back on his feet. A huge thanks goes out tonight to Pat and Dave and Ellen- all wonderful people we’ve met in the past day who have been so amazing, accommodating and supportive.
He was awesome and told us we were nuts to be riding in March in New Mexico. But he dropped us off just the same and we had our first glimpse of what lay ahead:
This is us at about 3000 ft elevation. Behind us is Emory Pass. The next day of riding and the highest altitude we hit going across the Southern Tier of the US. We’re grinning, but it’s only out of fear.