Day 13 - Silver City, NM to Hillsboro, NM (Snow?)

Miles Today: 56.55; Total Miles: 775.5

I talked to my mom (my weather lady) and she told me that Silver City and the surrounding areas were expecting snow that night. She told me to watch the weather reports closely and not go anywhere if there is going to be snow. My first thought was that I wanted to get out of there as soon as possible to avoid the snow. Silver City is on a mountain and I knew that if I was there when it started snowing, I might be stuck there for a couple days.

Joe left early in the morning for his flight home and I left about a half hour after that. The weather report said that the snow and rain was expected at about 11 am. I raced out of there at 6:44 am. I thought that maybe I could out run the thing. Well, I did avoid the rain and snow but something happened that I didn't expect. It was VERY COLD!

This day took me over Emory Pass. This is a mountain pass with the highest elevation of my trip (8,228 ft). I started up the hill in the morning. Because of the constant hill I was climbing it was slow and FREEZING. My plan was to make Hatch, NM which was 90 miles away but when I got to Hillboro about 56 miles in I was so cold that I decided to stop there for the night. The motel I stayed at had something to be desired. There was no phone and 2 channels on the TV. Also, my cell phone did not have coverage so I knew my mom would be worried.

I arrived at 12:30 pm and had lunch. After lunch I went to the motel and fell asleep until 5:15 pm. I went outside and looked for a nice restaurant to have dinner. Little did I know that the whole town closed at 3 pm. It was not my day. I was just hoping that I would not be snowed in in this town.

That night around 9 the rain came and then the snow soon after. The snow covered the ground but not the street. I thought that I HAD to get out of this town and get to lower elevation to avoid any more snow.