Sunset seen from our NYC apartment, April 17, 2017.

This morning, Jeffrey’s best and prettiest friend—Nancy!—took him out for breakfast, and then to LaGuardia airport.

We’re off!  I’m stuffed in the red pannier.

Our building, from which we saw last night’s sunset, is marked with a red dot.

Most of America is empty. As we flew west, we looked down on a vast territory through which in five weeks, split between two years, we had pedaled our way to Albuquerque. Today’s trip took about five hours.

The disks are irrigated fields.

Rugged New Mexico, with snowy peaks near and far.

We were met at the Albuquerque airport by our good friends Peggy and George, who took Jeffrey to a nice restaurant.  At the restaurant, Jasmine took one of Jeffrey’s new calling cards, heard a little about the Ride and the plight of refugees, and voiced enthusiastic support.

Peggy and George brought us to their lovely house in Rio Rancho.

Here’s the Sprint 26.  In the 10 months since we left it in Rio Rancho, it gave birth to a baby trike!  Peggy introduced us.

Tonight’s sunset view of the Sandia (“watermelon” in Spanish) Mountains, east toward NYC.

Peggy and George will play a big role in this year’s Ride.

The weather, the terrain, the political climate, and the vast stretches of desert that pale frail Jeffrey must traverse, scared Jeffrey’s family and friends . . . and Jeffrey too, a little. Today, George offered to shadow us on the road in his car. Peggy said, why not rent a truck, so if a rescue is necessary, the Sprint 26 can be rescued too.  George made the arrangements!

We have a long, hard road ahead. Thanks to Peggy and George, until we get through the Mojave Desert, we will not be on that road alone.