(January 17)

Day 23 - Langtry to Sanderson TX

Not Quite

 

Not sure if you can see the overcast skies behind me, but it was cold, rainy and blustery all day. I dreaded when I needed to stop to take a break because I'd immediately get cold as all the sweat began evaporating and cooling me down.

At Dryden TX...a lunch stop I was very grateful to find had an open convenience store...I met Greg Hildi and his dog Pablo. As you can see by the stroller full of gear he is pushing, Greg is walking rather than riding. Greg has, so far WALKED from Alaska. He says that when Pablo gets tired its a hard decision as to whether or not he has the strength to let him get up in the stroller so that Gary can carry/push Pablo along. Man, this guy is tough as nails.

 

Inside the little store at Dryden, I met Dave Brabham (who runs the store) and his son Devon along with Barry Blair, who is as close to a real life cowboy as you'll find anywhere. He is the ranger (as in the only one) at the 10,000 acre Meyer's Spring Ranch near Dryden. The ranch is a hunting location for exotic African trophy hunting. He solved the mystery of 10 dead javelina for me. He says when he kills all the various varmints and predators that aren't wanted on the ranch (badgers...who he claims are just 'plain mean bastards'...mountain lion, coyotes, foxes and javalina) he places them OUTSIDE the boundaries of the ranch so that predators such as coyotes will stay outside his ranch and eat the bodies vs. come onto the ranch looking for food. He calls the places he traditionally leaves the bodies "boneyards."

 

You can't quite see it, but he was wearing a six-shooter in a holster EXACTLY like any cowboy you'd ever see in a western movie. He uses it regularly to shoot rattlesnakes...41 last year in fact.

Turns out all those high ranch fences I've been seeing are to keep the exotic African game inside the ranch. Barry Blair said that some of the African animals can leap over an 8 feet fence, so the 12 foot fencing is required. It also turned out that no one is still cattle ranching in this part of Texas because the exotic hunting business is far more lucrative. Note the prices for killing just ONE animal. There is some arcane point system for the various types of animals and the higher the points your animal scores, the more you pay.

 

When I came around a curve and saw Sanderson TX...the only real civilization I'd seen in two days...I was very, very happy. I don't think you can tell in the picture, but it was already pretty dark when I took this pic.

I met Don Potter at the only restaurant in town: Dairy King. Don had not only ridden the Southern Tier (the same route I'm on), he's ridden many other bike tours as well in addition to doing things like backpacking on the Appalachian Trail. This summer he plans to really challenge himself by riding the Trans Labrador Highway in Canada, which is roughly 800 miles of almost no services whatsoever. This is a day of me meeting some serious badass dudes.

 

Note the patch on his right breast. It is a patch stating he's been one of the only 150 people allowed by treaty in Antarctica during any given year. He was there constructing an observatory. He said that when it is 40 BELOW ZERO, nothing will run so the only way to transport construction tools, materiel, etc.. was literally to pull a sled behind you while walking to the construction site.

 

Did I mention how badass this guy was?

 



I started the day with a breakfast of fig newtons and trail mix because:

 

1) there was no way I was going to set up my stove again this morning in order to boil water for the oatmeal I have with me because I needed to get going early if I was going to have any prayer of making it to Sanderson today, and

 

2) I really hate cooking. It gave me almost enough calories/nutrition to fuel me for the morning, but not quite. By later morning I was ravenous again.

 

In addition to the fact that Sanderson is pretty seriously uphill from Langtry, the hills were rolling and almost the steepest I've encountered; but not quite. Despite that, the were STILL extremely challenging over 60 miles however. The other big climb/hill days I rode were not nearly this length of distance in a day.

 

The wind was almost as difficult a head/crosswind as I've experienced so far, but not quite. Still, there were times going up the bigger hills when it was plenty tough. I ended up having to walk up a few because the wind just made it a bit too tough to ride.

 

It was almost as cold as that day back near Brenham, TX but not quite. It actually kept getting colder all day so I kept needing to stop and add layers.

 

It was almost as rainy as that day in Natchez, but not quite. The rain kept me a bit wet on the outside on and off all day, but the real damage was done by sweating inside my layers. Just isn't possible to avoid that happening in weather like this.

 

When I got a second flat on a trailer tire, it was almost as cold as the day I had to change a flat the last time, but not quite. In this case I was able to change it right there on the side of the road without needing any additional heating resources.

 

I almost didn't have the strength...mental or physcial...to make the 60 miles today, but not quite. As you can tell by all the difficult factors of the day today, it was an extreme challenge. When I left the store at Dryden and still had 20 miles to go, I was seriously contemplating on just stopping and camping right there. But I'd set my goal as Sanderson and there just wasn't ANY way I was going to give up on that goal. Sure, by the end, my feet were numb, my hands were numb and all I could do was look down at the road under my front wheel and pedal, I literally didn't have the energy to pick my head up and look forward.

 

Today was so difficult, I honestly don't think I'll ever forget it. In later years, when something difficult comes along I will always be able to say "well, this can't possibly be any tougher than Sanderson" and know that there is little chance it ever COULD be as tough. It might come close, but very likely not quite.