52 km/32 mi
Today I wanted to try something new. I've been getting lax staying at people's houses all the time (though I'm grateful to all of them, of course!). Today it was either a motel, or I push my luck and find a wild camping site in a national forest.
I've only "backcountry camped" one other time, in Ha Ha Tonka in Missouri. A lot of national forests don't allow dispersed camping any more, so I was worried I would find all the tempting sites along the road cordoned off. But I decided to give it a try, and if I ran out of luck I'd just ride back to a motel in Magdalena.
Because Natasha and I didn't have much time to hang out together the night before, she and I went to breakfast together at a local diner. I had a huge breakfast and she had coffee. We talked more about travel and exercise, then went back to her house and I set out on my bike.
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="500" caption=""M" is for .. thumbnail:: /images/2012/12/wpid-mine-state.jpg
System Message: ERROR/3 (<string>, line 28)
Unexpected indentation.
alt: No caption :(
Don't drink the koolaid...! Oops, I'm too late
The road to Magdalena was hilly, and though I only rode 32 miles, it took most of the rest of the day. I was able to find a nice spot on NF land. It looks like it's used a lot for offroading. Got a beautiful view, it's near the city so I can stock up tomorrow, and best of all it's free!
I'm off to Datil tomorrow, with an exciting side trip! Soon I'll be heading to Arizona.