8/26/00 57 miles 
Hachita to Demming
It was a fast (fast for us) 52 miles from Hachita to Demming Saturday morning. We left Hachita at 6:20 AM and at 10:30 we were only 2 miles from the exit to Demming when Ken got his first flat. Being anxious to get the post office before we thought it closed at 11 AM, he pumped it up 3 times in those last 2 miles to get into town. Luckily, the Post Office was open until noon so we fixed the flat and arrived to pick up our parcels with time to spare. The parade for Demming's Duck Race Days had just finished, so there was lots of activity and traffic in town. We found The Roadrunner RV Park, the only Park with tent sites and spent the afternoon relaxing in the shade after a cool shower. By the time we got back downtown, the duck races were over and we missed the out house races too. The lines at the restaurants went around the block so we hit the grocery store and bought a ton of fresh veggies, went back to the campground and made a tasty stir fry.

8/27/00 3 miles
Rest day in Demming
Ah! We slept in until 7:30, then rode downtown to get some breakfast items. Rita said, "No more oatmeal!" We spent the morning lying around camp reading the Sunday Paper, just like normal people. Rita was sad as Ken disassembled our trusty bikes and boxed them up. From now until we get on the bus Monday night we will be on foot. Ollie, the RV Park owner, said that the humidity was up to 19% and that's why it was so hot, because the temperature was only 93. So, we went to the pool to cool off.

8/28/00 Bus Trip
Demming to Santa Barbara California
We spent the morning packing our camping gear into a big box. Ollie, the campground owner, said that his wife, Sue, woke up with a toothache. At noon, when she returned from a dentist in Mexico, Ollie said that health care and medications were so much cheaper across the border that it was well worth the 60 mile drive. We saw the reality of our country's ailing health care system. At 4 PM, Ollie helped us load our bike boxes and additional camping gear box in the back of his pickup truck. He drove us to the UPS shipping desk in the Industrial Park on the outskirts of town. After the boxes were weighed, stamped, and given a goodbye kiss from Rita, Ollie wanted to give us a historical tour of Demming's industrial park. As we drove by old hangars, we learned that the compound was originally a WWII Army Air Corps pilot training center.  Now this land contains the nation's largest chili processing plant which is Demming's largest employer. We returned to the campground to take a  shower before our 17 hour bus ride to Santa Barbara. It was a hot slow walk as we carried our 3 remaining bags downtown for a nice dinner at Demming's finest restaurant, the Si Senor. At the grocery store we picked up few snacks to eat on the bus and then headed for the Greyhound Station to wait for the 9:30 departure time. We knew it was going to be a long night as we climbed aboard the very crowded bus. Ken sat by an elderly gentlemen, who was going to see his even more elderly aunt and uncle. Rita sat by woman from Florida who had been riding the bus for 3 days to see her children in Oakland. We shared a mutual desire for our children's happiness. Her words of wisdom: "I want my kids to find peace." "I tell them, it's okay if you can't find peace with me, but I pray you find peace with the Lord." With that Rita dozed of for a long uncomfortable ride to California. 

8/29/00-9/4/00
Week's rest in Santa Ynez California
The oak trees filled in the brown, dry hillsides of the Santa Ynez Valley. We woke up to the whinny of horses and the crowing of roosters on the small ranches in this rural area of CA. We spent 7 relaxing days decompressing from our former environment. We'd sleep-in, walk to town for breakfast, stroll through museums and shops. One afternoon we drove to the Los Padres Nat'l Forest and were treated to the sight of 5 California Condors soaring high above the hillsides. Ken played Mr. Fix-it at Shirley's lovely  home in the country, while Rita wondered if UPS was really going to send our bikes to Spokane. Ken's nephew, Brian, showed us his latest machining project; he designed and machined a downhill racing mountain bike. It was very radical compared to our trusty old touring mountain bikes.

9/5/00 Plane trip
Santa Barbara to Spokane Washington
We arrived at the Santa Barbara Airport Tuesday AM boarded a United flight, changed planes in San Francisco, and arrived in Spokane 10 minutes early without a hitch. When Hank dropped us off at our house, we wandered around the rooms, but it didn't take long before it felt good to be home.