We tried a food experiment last night – soaking macaroni and beans to see if they’d rehydrate without cooking. This morning after four miles of ancient roads and bushwacks it sounds good, so we have it for breakfast. Ann is amazed to be eating such fare, but even more amazed to be liking it! We both change our tune climbing up a hill later, when we get macaroni burps. So maybe there’s a reason people don’t eat cold macaroni for breakfast!

A little after noon we reach the food cache at hiway 9. I manage to get a digital signal on the cell phone and send off some posts, but it takes forever. I may have to go easier on the photos in the future.

Weighted down with five days of food and 2 1/2 gallons of water, we trudge north from NM9. It’s the strangest cross-country hiking I’ve done. We walk for hours in an unchanging sea of dust and creosote bushes. After dinner Ann is ready to camp, but we decide we should push a little further towards the next water. During this leg we talk over the coming days, and decide we have a good chance of making our hotel date in Silver City on the 27th. This lifts our spirits, just as we emerge from the creosote sea under a glowing orange sunset. Life is good.