Texas, Part 1

 

Well we did it, we made it through west Texas and I'm here to disprove a few notions we had prior to this section of the trip:

1.) West Texas is boring and ugly. Untrue! And those who think that have either ONLY traveled I-10 ( which is boring and ugly) or they haven't yet seen other parts of the west which are just as vast and beautiful. Perhaps we still have our east coast goggles on, but we have not yet been disappointed.

2.) The winds this time of year travel out of the west and it's always warm, sunny and dry. Untrue, untrue, untrue! The last 5 days have had relentless headwinds and strong gusts, cool temperatures, and a bit of rain. Nothing like the pictures below.....we only take pretty day ones.

3.) It's flat. Well, yes, if you were to measure straight across the land you would generally only find a 300 ft difference in elevation after decending the mountains. But what Google doesn't take into consideration are the 427 arroyos, canyons, and washes that one has to climb in and out of....this turns a "downhill day" into a day of unflattering words.

4.) All road surfaces are the same..NOT! This is a general observation from the whole trip, but has been made abundantly clear in the last 6 days. As of lately we've been riding on bad chip seal (tar and chip), which is like a biking hell...for days. The nerves in my arms are shot from the vibrations and I'm surprised my bike didn't just shake apart.

Okay, I just had to get that off my chest since this is pretty much all I think about for 8 hours a day.

The last week has all in all been a productive one. Since Dot is now carrying the vast majority of the gear weight, I can now (hypothetically) go longer and faster. So we began the week with a 100 mile day up to Alpine, TX..at about 5,000 ft. We stayed with an amazing couple who are two of the coolest, most layed-back family physicians I've ever met. We both wanted to extend our stay with them, but because I now set the speed of the trip, I had to press on the next day into cold, wet winds while Dot got to stay and explore Big Bend National Park with Katie (one of our hosts) and their friend Casey. They also had a border patrol run-in, but that's a good story for later! Because the Big Bend trip took so long, Dot and I esentially traveled separately for two full days and she caught up with me again in Langtry, TX.

Traveling separately for hours is our new traveling compromise. While being apart for two whole days is rare, we both realized that Dot cannot go my pace for hours without loosing her mind or falling asleep. So now our new daily routine involves a 2 hour morning walk for Dot while I start biking. This way I have 20-50 miles under my tires by the time she catches up. She can then spell me a bit by blocking my wind (did I mention the 25mph wind gusts?) until she gets bored and pushes forward. She then walks again in the evening while I shower. While we have lost a bit of the biking camraderie, we are making the trip work for both if us.

The week in general has been notably boring for reasons of location and exhaustion. We are now averaging closer to 85 miles a day. Highlights have included:

• Riding through Marfa (Texas celebrity hang out), Alpine and our hosts there, Big Bend, and seeing a bed and breakfast in Marathon made entirely out of paper concrete
• The Indian breakfast in Sanderson at a rather sketchy Budget Inn
• The cyclists travel trailer in Sanderson, continuing to prove the extreme generosity of strangers.
• Staying with the Bouchers at Fort Clark in Brackettville (and being rescued by Bob after 60 miles of headwinds made it impossible for me to do the last 30 to their house before dark),
• Making two new friends in Uvalde...one, a Canadian, who drove ahead to get gas when Dot unexpectedly ran out and another (Ron) who took us out to dinner and swapped travel stories.
• Arriving in San Antonio! For two girls who have seen almost nothing but scubrush and Border Control vehicles for the last week, San Antonio is an urban oasis of people, art, and life. We were not expecting it to be so cool and plan to spend all day today exploring the city before heading 80 miles north to Austin tomorrow....IF I can convince Dot to leave this amazing town!

One final note, not only are we physically half way across Texas, but in the last day or so we seem to have made a very apparent environmental and cultural change. Even before arriving in San Antonio, it was abundantly clear that we were no longer in "the west". It's hard to put a finger on the change, but the air smells different all of a sudden, things are a bit greener, the trees are bigger, and catfish is making its way onto menus. We're both a little sad about this, but recognize that this is also what makes travel so exhilarating.

 

 

 

 

 

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