A Big Texas Welcome

We've had a great time enjoying the company of new and old friends recently so blogging has suffered.  Rick just wrote up a nice overview of the incredible time we had at Camp for All outside of Houston TX.  Here is the link with picture   Camp for All story 

Valentines Day

Monday Feb 14 Langtry to Amistad National Recreation Area (American RV campground)

Around noon we met Bonnie and Orley a couple in a large motor home parked alongside the road taking a break to walk their dog.  Orley is an experienced bicycle tourist from Ticonderoga NY who road cross country a few times in the past.  The couple sold their house a few years back and have been enjoying the nomadic lifestyle escaping the cold snowy North Country winters then traveling back to NY in the spring stopping to see family that are spread out through the country on their way home.  They take their bikes with them and use them to explore along the way.  We happened upon them just as we planned to break out some military rations for lunch.  They invited us to have sandwiches, soda and some chips instead.  We had a nice time meeting them and having a break from the MRE meals!

After the break I was energized to ride briskly to the town of Comstock as I had 2 Valentines Day care packages waiting and I didn't want to chance arriving after it closed...and I couldn't remember if that was 4 or 5pm so I road a time trial pace for the next 10 miles and arrived 10 minutes before 4pm.  I Stuffed my panniers with the package from Dianne and Susan and had a big Christmas morning when your 8 years old grin on my face all the way to camp!  (I did share...see pic)

Bright skies and more friends

Sunday Feb 13th Sanderson to Langtry

The weather has drastically changed for the better as our only worries today were if I covered up with enough sunscreen.  It felt so good to be hot...unfortunately Aaron doesn't agree as he doesn't do as well in the heat so we need to keep enough water on hand so he can dump it on his head to stay cool.

About mid ride we bumped into 3 more really nice cross country cyclists who were heading west a day behind Steve and Luke.  Daniel Young is an artist (painter) from Chicago who has been on the road since September (in picture with Aaron).  Coincidentally Daniel travelled with Big Ring Bob who I had planned to travel with until he had to cut his journey short.  The other two riders were Walter and Sarah both fellow New Yorkers (Catskills) who left from New York riding down the Atlantic coast to St.  Augustine then headed west.  They were all over 3000 miles into their journeys!  It was fun to hear their travel stories about the people and places they have seen down the road.

More kind souls

Friday Feb 11th.  Fort Davis to Marathon

While leaving Fort Davis I stopped in a small shop and finally found the perfect Valentines Day card.  I'd stopped in 4 other stores in the past week with no luck and was getting a bit stressed about not finding the right one.

Saturday Feb 12 Marathon to Sanderson

Today was our earliest arrival to camp (about 3 hours before sunset).  It was nice to have time to ride around town and check out the local businesses.  The 55 miles on route 90 had minimal traffic and was mostly downhill or flat.  We dropped about 1300ft in elevation today and tomorrow we'll lose another 1300 ft as we drop off this plateau that we've been on since our ride to up to Three Way, Arizona on January 28th.  For over 2 weeks we haven't spent any time below 3,500 ft until today (and spent a great deal of the time between 4000-6000ft).  We hope the time and exercise at altitude makes riding easier as we head closer to sea level  

I don't recall seeing more than 2 houses once out of Marathon until we hit the outskirts of Sanderson.  Once in Sanderson we biked a mile from the campground to Cheli's restaurant that had excellent home made pizza and my 1st salad in over a week (with these really tasty hot peppers).  Lenny went to pay for dinner and the owner told him about how her daughter was also paralized in a car accident.  She wished us well on our journey, thanked us for spreading the message of hope for those who are injuried and insisted on buying our dinner.

Outside the restaurant we met Luke and Steve, two really cool adventurous guys from St. Louis Missouri who are riding cross country in the other direction.  We enjoyed their company and would write more about but Luke isn't as far behind with his blog as I am so I'll cheat and just give you his blog address for more details about todays encounter.  http://plantandpedal.blogspot.com   Luke and Steve's blog 

"Baby Wipe Blues"

Thursday Feb 10. Cielo Ranch driveway to Fort Davis

Desolate scenic rt 118 from Kent past the Mc Donald Observatory to the town of Fort Davis is one of the top rides of the trip.  The route is 57 miles long and has just a sprinkling of very large ranches. I could count the number of trucks I saw on one hand (No cars seen today... it seems there are only a hundred or so cars in the whole state of Texas).  The route does make you work for the spectacular views.  Of the 1st 37 miles from Kent to the observatory about 20 were uphill.

We've been dealing with freezing temperatures and lack of running water from burst water pipes at the RV parks as well as frozen water in the RV ever since leaving Las Cruces on Sunday.  So for the last 4 nights we've been singing Brandon's made up song "The Baby Wipe Blues".  Huggies have been our only method of staying clean but tonight we had a real shower.   I now have an appreciation for hot running water in a way I could not have understood before this trip.

Cold weather continues

Wednesday Feb 9th

Interstate 10 exit 159 truck stop to Cielo Ranch driveway 6 miles East of Kent TX

Worked on Aaron's shift and brake cables in the RV with the heat blasting while we waited for the weather to warm up.  Despite waiting til 2pm to start it was still only in the mid 20's and felt colder due to a 20-30mph headwind the 1st 18 miles. 

We welcomed the mostly uphill journey today as it made it bearable trying to stay warm.  About 6 miles into the climb I found a concrete bridge that had a nook isolated from the bitter cold wind and the concrete was soaking up the sun all morning.  It felt like heated mini fort and gave an opportunity to warm up and catch up on blogging as Aaron ground his way up the mountain.

Due to the cold, wind, hills and late start we only managed 24 miles today but we did manage to finish the stretch on Interstate 10 and find quiet roads.  Since we finished in the middle of nowhere we just camped in the RV off the road with no houses in site.  We ran the generator all night with the electric heater blasting to defrost our bodies.

Dust storm

Tue Feb 8th

Quitman Mountains interstate 10 rest stop to Interstate 10 exit 159 truck stop

Based on our start and stop points today we are in fairly desolate country.  The only town of any significant size during our 63 mile ride was Van Horn TX so while in the town we stopped to eat our military rations and for ice cream at the Dairy Queen.

We talked with a few people who wished us well.  Gayla a local from Van Horn was one of them and she kindly bought us ice cream as well as arranged for us to talk with a Larry Simpson a reporter for the Van Horn Advocate newspaper.

On our way out of town I saw my 1st "Dusk devil" (see pic).  That mini twister was the 1st sign of rapidly changing weather.  Initially we liked the weather change as strong winds from our back blew us out of Van Horn making easy to coast along at 20mph with pleasant temperatures around 65.  But about 5 miles from the finish there was a sudden shift and we got a 20-30 mph head wind and the temps dropped instantly 25-30 degrees.  I went from comfortable wearing shorts and a jersey to being cold despite putting on pants, jacket, winter hat and fleece gloves.  I've never experienced such a rapid weather change!