The wind blew hard all night, didn’t show any signs of stopping and would be a headwind for the riders!!!!

We said goodbye to our wonderful community building . . .

. . . with the wide selection of seating, and the AC running all night, a few of the riders had ‘considered’ sleeping on the floor in there overnight . . .

. . . ahhh . . . I guess we were not the first to think of that idea!!!

The G, George and I were up at 6:00am to get the water going for coffee  . . .

and the goodies out for breakfast and lunch . . .

. . . and soon hungry riders started appearing in the darkness as the sun was just coming up.

Ends up that because of the wind conditions, and the distance, riding would be optional today for anyone not wishing to ride. This ‘sagging’ is out of the ordinary for ACA tours but today would be an unusual day. 50-60 mile an hour headwinds and that ‘steep’ climb that was promised by the roadside sign we saw yesterday . . . load up those bikes!!!

Soon we were ready to roll . . .

. . . many of the RV folks had left early because the owners were concerned about afternoon wind gusts blowing their rigs over!!!

Five of the riders decided to ride the first 20 miles, that included the killer hill. We picked up one of them before the climb . . .

. . . and the other four . .

 . . . continued up . . .

. . . and up.

The van motored ahead to a rest stop at the 20 mile mark where we waited for the remaining riders. Time for a hike into a slot canyon. Jamie donned her special footwear!!!

Then . . . a beautiful drive to Presidio . . .

. . . where we stayed at the Three Palms Motel.

. . . and I fulfilled my week long dream of just flopping out on a queen size bed with no rock jabbing me in the back or sand blowing across my face!!!

. . . oh and there was a nice pool right outside the door!!

Even though we were moteling it, we had our camp dinner on the patio. Nancy was on the griddle handling the pork carnitas , . .

. . . while her cooking partner, Jim, was preparing everything else in the narrow walkway and warning folks not to get too close!!!

We ate and had our map meeting on the lee side of the two story building and went to sleep with the wind sounding like it was going to blow the building down. By 6:00am the front had past and it had blown itself out!!!!