Hiking the CDT: Day 3

Day 3
White Dome tank to American Inn, Deming
20 miles
The freakin’ road walk of 15 miles put the hurt on MeGaTex today. We got off to an early start, hiking by 7:30 AM, and enjoyed the gravel road walk that put us up past the Florida Gap and onto the long hot road walk back to Deming.
Tonight, Louis has severe stiffness in his Achilles’ tendon, Lee has the same complaints. My feet held up, but I have some toe pain. Train is unscathed, attributing his fitness to working around a 400 degree oven for the past 9 months pivoting his core in sweltering heat.
I absolutely love the El Mirador Mexican restaurant across the street. Lee and I got here first, and after a hot shower we headed over there where I had a bowl of pozole and tamales with red sauce.
Mesquite thorns went right through the soles of the trail runners of the other three guys. Only I was unscathed, due to the hard Vibram soles of my New Balance boots.
We found a golf club head, a Santa chalice, a golf ball, and a dime on the shoulder of the roads.
Louis had no long shirt and his arms are baked to a red crust.
The oddest sight today was a big dead horse laying on a trailer towed by a pickup truck rolling through town.
I joined Keith for Italian food. I had a big salad with grilled shrimp. We may take advantage of a slacked walk tomorrow. It is satisfying to negotiate this first segment.
Despite maps and a GPS, we were misguided twice in 3 days. Pretty challenging conditions out there.
Tomorrow we start heading up to some mountains.