Day 16

Leaving Cuba in he morning had us traveling across some of the most desolate country we have seen. we drove across the northern New Mexico desert after it had rained and getting across some of the arroyos was an experience we won't soon forget. One crossing looked solid but it turned to quicksand as soon as we started across, Had to keep moving or the Jeeps would sink.

This old ruin out in the middle of nowhere was a testament to how hard life was when it was built.

We drove south till we came to the Gila National Forest and made camp before it rained. The rain on the tents made sleep come easy.

In the morning as we were having our first cup of coffee, a rancher rode up on his horse and chatted a while. He asked if we knew there were wolf tracks in the mud next to our camp. Evidently, we had visitors during the night and didn't know it.

We finally broke camp and headed south on some of the worst muddy roads I have seen in my life. The clay soil made it difficult to stay on the road let alone make progress. But we did. When we got out of the forest and stopped to refuel, we had to hit the car wash to remove about 200 lbs of mud from each vehicle. We had to do this twice.

WE DID IT!!!!!!!

By evening we realized the goal of our trip. We started at the Canadian border and finally made it to the Mexican border. It was a great feeling. Both Matts, Alex and myself have had one of the greatest trips we have ever seen.

We found the roads choked with locusts and the occasional tarantula. We had wanted to head west from the border crossing but every road is closed so we had to backtrack north where we finally stopped in Wilcox, AZ for the night.

The 60 miles from Lordsburg and Hachita to the border crossing at Antelope Wells were fast. It was a good highway. WWe saw about 30+ vehicles during our trip to the border and back. Every one of them was from the Border Patrol. We had spoken with a couple of BP agents in Hachita on our way to the border and they took our names and vehicle descriptions. We found out that the Border Patrol watches the roads and trails as much as 80-100 mils from the border.

This day ended our quest to run the Continental Divide from Canada to Mexico. This day we crossed the divide several times and it was fitting we crossed it one last time as we got near to the US/Mexico border.

However, we are not finished with our trip. Tomorrow we will head south toward the Coronado National Forest. We plan to see some of the historical sites along the way to Bisbee, AZ and then run the border to Nogales where we will turn north toward Tubac where we will spend a couple of days fixing what needs fixed and unwind a bit from the hectic pace we have had since we left home on the 26th of August.