Simon's rough day

From the GDR blog:

Simon called from Silver City at about 10:10 p.m. Tuesday, saying he arrived in town at about 9 p.m. "I got pretty well thrashed by the weather today," he said. He also discovered there was no store 40 miles south of Pie Town, so he rode off route and flagged down a vehicle to ask where the next store was. When they told him it was 20 miles down the road, he asked if he could buy some food from them and they sold him some cheese crackers. "Those are good. They pack a bunch of calories," he said. When he arrived at a ranger station, he bought six bottles of soda from a vending machine, "and that carried me through most of the way."

"I finished my food off just before the last hill, and I'd really been hammering to that point because there were lots of storm crowds brewing," he said. A big storm broke out with pouring rain, thunder and lightening. Simon waited under a bridge until it eased a little, but the storm didn't show any signs of letting up. He decided he needed food more than he needed to stay dry. So he set out as the storm picked up steam again, trying to hammer to the next town. "I got there, got soaked, got muddy, got to Mimbres at a quarter to six and the store closed at five." He tried to wait the rain out a little longer and continued on to Silver City. "I'm pretty well hammered, but only one day left, and it doesn't look too tough," he said. "I look forward to being at the border."