Day 90: September 1st 2009, Cloudcroft to High Rolls (6mi)

No rush this morning. Like I said New Mexico is going by too fast for my liking, so I'm slowing it down a notch to take it all in. My plan for today was to get up whenever, take the time to discover Cloudcroft and Lincoln National Forest and get some updates on the blog and try to find a place to stay in Las Cruces. So I did.

I stayed in my bag until 835 and it felt great. Got up, repacked what I didn't need, covered it with twigs and grass, marked it and made my way into town taking a different trail this time. When I got in town I came across a shop that had a longboard hanging through the glass so I went into High Altitude to check it out. Inside, I asked the guy about the road to Alamogordo.

"Dude its gnarly man, I wouldn't skate it, but if you are going the other way, you would probably be pushing"
"Yeah, I already came from that side, What about after High Rolls?"
"Thats when it gets real gnarly"
"Hmm, and the shoulder?"
"No shoulder man and the road is busy. You'll also get into a tunnel after High Rolls"
"Word man, well I appreciate it"

I didn't know how seriously he took his skating but his opinion was an insight nonetheless. So then I went to the library to get some things done online. And I met Charlotte the librarian who took her job way too seriously.

"Ok, you have to sign here saying you won't use the computer for any terrorist activities" asked the 40 year old something in her hi-neck wool pullover and her blue scar around her neck. Terrorist activities? That was a first for me, usually it was pornography but she didn't even mention that although it was written on the form. So anyway, I signed. "And you can't plug anything into our computers, no cameras and no USB drives," obviously pointing to my camera, also a first but it was all good.

So I took to the computer and started working. My solar charger wasn't charging on this overcast day so I plugged it into the computer. Now, the computer room is a room thats about 300 feet from her desk which faces it. Her line of sight, however, is blocked by a bookshelf. Every 10 minutes or so, she would come into the room and check what everybody was looking at like little kids. She saw my drive one of the times, immediately told me to unplug it, pointed at my face and signalled with her index finger for me to follow her like a kid in school.

"Follow me, I need to speak to you outside" When we walked outside she stopped and turned to face me. "Did I not say you can''t plug anything into our computers"
"Yes you did, but..."
"No buts" cutting me off
"Its my solar charger and I need to charge it."
"I thought I made it clear, please go" pointing toward the door
"Im sorry" I said, although I was pissed at the way she talked to me
"Im sorry too"

I went back, gathered my stuff and as I walked outside she said "Good luck". That was that. It was only 1. I went into a little restaurant got myself hooked up with a little burrito and thought it was time to move on. I took the Trestle trail again and got to my other stuff. I would take the Switchback trail which would put me about 4 miles east of High Rolls. The rest would be on US-82.

Back on 82, the road didn't seem too steep. There was indeed no shoulder but I thought, fuck it. Ill skate and carve the shit out of it. Horrible idea. I put my board down and without even one kick I was already cruising at 5, 7, 10, 15 eventually till I knew I was going in the 20s. I was trying to carve as hard as I could, but I had to get out of the way for cars and thats when I would lose the control I had. 2 miles into it, I felt I was going too fast for comfort especially with all the weight on my back and no protection whatsoever. About three cars were coming up and there were four behind me dragging. There was also a sharp right turn ahead. I tried footbraking, but I was going too fast to be on my board with one foot and I felt the speedwobble on my Gullwing double trucks. Right then, I knew I would have to bail and I knew I was going to have to take a shitty fall, I just had to find the best place to do it.

About 200 feet ahead was a little gravel parking lot on the right. That would be my target and when I got up to it fast I turned into it. I tried running off my board before the truck coming the opposite direction was too close, but no luck. I flew forward on my right side and, no shit, I slid about 6 or 7 feet. It was so dusty from me sliding, I could barely see the road behind me, like a tornado had just whipped up the dry dust. Surprised I could still get up, I got up immediately after the train of cars behind me and infront of me stopped to see if I was ok. Frantically, I searched for my board but it was nowhere to be seen. I was terrified it had been runover. The old man in the gold truck coming up the mountian stepped outside to see if I was alright. He must have been so shocked that I got up so fast, he was staring at me in disbelief.

"My board" He pointed to other side of the road and there it was in the steep grass, unscathed.
"What are you trying to do, kill yourself" telling me like there was no way he could understand what I was doing.
"We all have to die sometime, Im sorry about that and thank you for not running over my board."

I checked myself and I escaped with nothing but a scrape on my knee. The long sleeve I was wearing protected my arm and I instinctively knew to lift my head. I started laughing crazily about how the hell I just got away from that. Im so lucky or somebody is really looking out for me. I wondered what it was like to witness a fall like that. I just couldn't stop cracking up like a madman. I would just walk my dumbass down this mountain into High Rolls which was about 2000 feet and less than 10 miles from Cloudcroft. I set up camp underneath a pine tree, next to a fast moving stream. Ill never forget that gravel slide, I wish somebody was behind me filming.