Day 18 - Kingston, NM to Hatch, NM (Red Hot Chili Peppers!)

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So I’m riding along today past one chili pepper field after another when I decide to stop and taste one. It was delicious and a welcome departure from my usual snack of a Cliff bar. That is until about three minutes after I ate it when my mouth caught fire! Took an entire water bottle and half an hour to cool me off.

Today was an unforgettable ride, first on the remainder of the Black Range Scenic Byway (about which I will say more in a separate post) and then through a magnificent agricultural region in the New Mexico portion of the Rio Grande Valley that, in addition to countless chili pepper fields and processing plants, included dozens of groves of pecan trees, cotton fields and various other crops.

I am camping tonight in Hatch, New Mexico, the self proclaimed “chili pepper capital of the world”. I would not argue the point. Colorful chili peppers even adorn New Mexico license plates. 

Not that I had many options, but I wish I had checked the forecast tonight before setting up camp. I would’ve seen the temperatures are supposed to plunge into the 30s!



Comments

  1. Pat Henning StrotherOctober 30, 2021 at 3:42 PM

    Mike- perhaps you would enjoy joining the long running chili pepper consumption contest between Patrick and Ryan.

    ReplyDelete

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