Break South

We broke South at 5 Celsius (41F) with a window in Denver's snow. We had to make Albuquerque, where temperatures were more tolerable, but fell short by half the distance. Trying to save some money, we wild camped behind a petrol station on truckers' lots at twilight. Strong winds fought our efforts to anchor the tent down with our panniers, when a stranger, a trucker cautioned us against parking on the truck lots. He said it would be dark in hours and snowing, and the late night truckers pulling in wouldn't see us in the dark, that we could be rolled over by the container trucks. Gary even helped us shift our tent and pin the stakes down, all in the brutal Colorado winter wind at freezing temp. At night sleep would not come easy, if at all, huddled underneath the 6 layers of clothing and raincoat in the sleeping bag rated for 0 Celsius, looking at the thin film of ice on the tent's rain fly. Our physiques are used to tropical heat. At day break, spurred by the cold, we broke camp and depended on the portable stove to rewarm numb fingers as we packed the ice covered, wet tent.

We broke South once more, determined to find warmth as far South as we could. Later we would agree that we have never felt this cold for this long in our lives. The wind chill at 80mph (128km/h) cruising through the mountain mist at single digit temps sipped through our 6 layers of clothing, still kept on since setting off. At times we shivered, but we couldn't stop, for there would be no respite from the cold until we reached Albuquerque. We could only go on, one small milestone at a time, each mile bringing us closer to warmth for as long as we could ride safely. From Denver to Alburquerque (715km/447m) we did not see a single motorcycle on the road. Now enjoying warm cooked meals and friendly conversations with fellow hostellers, what we remember from the experience, is our now established cold weather tolerances for riding and camping, and the warm memory of a helpful trucker called Gary who looked out for us.

Written by Kelvin