Today's Location:
Mission Accomplished
Day 4: So far, we’ve talked about weather, terrain, vegetation and even fences. But what does that have to do with tracking down Dan Buettner and the AmericaQuest team? To find them, we have been using the clues imbedded in the AmericaQuest’s Web updates. We have also spent quite a lot of time getting to know the lay of the land, in hopes of quickly finding the team and making it easier for our readers to understand the contrasts between Iowa and New Mexico. When we were planning this trip we discussed whether to hire bicycles, and if Peter could even safely take a camera on a bike. For a variety of reasons, we decided this would not be a good idea. On Tuesday, we ran into a guy who runs a company called New Mexico Mountain Bike Adventures, which offers a variety of guided trips exploring some of New Mexico's past. We got to talking about what we were up to in this part of the world and told him about searching for the AmericaQuest team. A broad grin spread over his face. "I'm taking those guys out on a trip tomorrow! We're going to a little-known Anasazi ruin." It seemed too good to be true. We'd stumbled across our goal! We made a couple of calls and were on our way. Dan was delighted that we had found them and immediately invited us to join them. Today, we followed the team as far as our mini-van would take us. The roads were pretty rough, but we were able to film the team as they set off on their mountain bike adventure. Knowing that the team manages little sleep because of their grueling schedule, we couldn’t help but be impressed to see them as they gathered their gear and set out on another exciting adventure. By the time their bikes were checked, oiled and all set up, they were really psyched up about their expedition. Five hours later, they returned full of enthusiasm. The bike ride, described as "technical" by the guides, was over some very difficult terrain including steep slopes of "head-size" volcanic boulders. "Very easy to go over your handlebars," said John. The village ruins were perched on a high cliff overlooking the Rio Grand, with Los Alamos in the distance. “A very thought provoking juxtaposition of cultures,” he commented. (We plan to put some video clips of these interviews on this Web site when we get back to Des Moines.) It was mid-afternoon, the team was tired from their exertions and still hand hours of work ahead of them. Yet, each member gave generously of their time to answer our questions. Thank you Dan, Christina, Jerome, Tom, John, Dave, and Deborah. See you again at the Iowa videoconference.
Today's Questions & Answers
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