Day 8 Tuscon - Las Cruces (330 miles)

A number of firsts today:

1. Got caught in a dust storm in the desert - not very tasty

2. My first Taco Bell/KFC combo for lunch - absolutely disgusting

3. Riding a motorbike with 50mph cross winds - a little frightening

4. Seeing a grow man totally over excited about a cowboy town - completely hysterical

We decided fairly early on to take a 50 mile round trip to go and see Tombstone, the scene of the famous shootout at the OK Corral, as both Williams are big Cowboy fans. We were up at 6.30am and arrived at Tombstone at about 9am. Amongst other things, Americans really look after their heritage and are very proud of their comparatively short history and Tombstone is no exception. The main street is almost authentic and various members of the local community continue to walk around in period costume, which actually looked quite cool. Anyway, Nutting went completely Cowboy mad. First came the Stetson, closely followed by a tassled jacket, a belt and holsters, 2 x hand guns, bullets and at that point I had to drag him kicking and screaming from the shop before he bought a horse, ranch and some deputies. I have never seen a grown man get so excited about a period of history before. Nutting was running around photographing everything and everyone, telephoning people letting them know where he was and throwing money at anyone who had the word 'Authentic' in the title of the shop. Unfortunately we didn't have time to stay for the 2pm re-enactment of the gun fight, so at least it gives Nutting a reason to go back!

A long day in the saddle as we passed into New Mexico and proper Cowboy country, but what boring countryside. Impressive that it's so big and barren, but thank god for ipod! In these dust bowls, the wind picks up and gusts to the point where our bikes were at virtually 45%. To get a break, we'd pull up next door to 18 wheelers and just sit behind their rig for a restbite before pushing on. First of our 2 big days are now over, thank goodness. The fact that we have to fill up the hogs fairly frequently is no bad thing. We arrived in to Las Cruces, another a typical US border town, and checked in to the Pack 'em Inn or Squeeze 'em Inn or whatever it's called for another mediocre night's sleep. Nutting wants to have Mexican food tonight, only on the condition that I can leave the window open!!

Off to Fort Stockton tomorrow, another 300+ mile day, so better charge the ipod. More soon listeners........................