(January 23)

Day 29 - Van Horn to Fort Hancock TX

Bunnies & Rainbows

 

Reverend Hans Myors. Though I didn't know it, we'd both been in Van Horn over the past two days.

I spent a majority of the day on some form of access road next to I-10. The access road in this pic is not too far out of Van Horn and features some pretty rough asphalt.

 

For some unknown reason, the access road simply ends. So, I was forced to find a gap in the fencing in the median and walk my bike across the interstate so that I could ride the shoulder of I-10 headed West.

 

In this pic I'm looking West and have found a gap (if you zoom in you'll see a small place where the cable/fend in the median stops to form a gap) where I can cross over to the other side.

When, suddenly, my route took me off of I-10 and onto some very rural country backroads, it was jarring. In this pic, the Mexican border is very close...probably a quarter mile straight in front of me. It is DEFINITELY a desert here.

 

 

My "favorite ex-wife" Denise and I had something of an inside joke regarding a way to describe days/moments/times in our life when things were going well: "Rainbows & Bunnies."

 

Today was all Rainbows & Bunnies. After another spectacular "Smother Biscuits & Gravy" breakfast at the small bakery across the street from my hotel before dawn, I was at the Post Office right at 8am when it opened.

 

I was shedding more weight! No, not my tent (I have heeded everyone's good advice and will keep my tent and camping gear all the way), but rather some extra winter clothing I didn't really need, my original bike saddle, etc. Two flat rate boxes worth! And, after re-packing and re-organizing my trailer I'm more efficient and lighter weight than ever. I even sent back the "trunk" I had on my bike to jettison weight. Let's just say I'm REALLY worried about some of the climbing coming up!

 

Just as I was leaving the outskirts of Van Horn, I caught up to Reverend Hans Myors. Hans has ridden on "mission trips" across the US 18 different times, logging over 260,000 miles in the process. I didn't know at first that it was a cyclist ahead of me since Hans was riding a recumbent and was both riding quite slowly AND was low to the ground. For a while, I thought he was some sort of construction signage :)

 

When we parted I was riding fast. No wind makes that possible as does good roads. For the first 50 miles or so I was riding either directly on the shoulder of I-10 or on an access road. It is the first time I've ever ridden my bike on an interstate and I must say: not bad! First of all, the shoulder of an Interstate is a cyclists dream. Smooth as glass, free of debris and detritus and very wide. I felt a lot safer riding on I-10 than on many of the backcountry, 2-lane, no-shoulder roads I've been on.

 

The only weird ocurrence on I-10 was having a dog bark madly at me from the cap of the pickup truck he was riding in as that truck passed me going 85 mph. Dogs really do HATE cyclists for with a deep-seated hatred it is hard to overstate.

 

With the shoulder of I-10 being such wonderfully smooth pavement, and with no wind, and with it being sunny and in the 70s most of the day AND with there being many long, down-hill stretches I was flying high!

 

Sure, eventually I had to leave I-10, but that wasn't until toward the end of today's ride. So, for most of today, my life was full of bunnies & rainbows! Last week was really rough, so I was quite glad to be able to have a strong riding day.

 

Even when I left I-10 it was pleasant because the smell of the creosote bushes in the desert all around me brought back some very pleasant memories of growing up in Phoenix, AZ.

 

Well, that was before what boming up to what my imagination portrayed to the rest of my mind as a cartel hit squad. I mean, when one hears voices at an abandoned farm which sits so close to the Mexican border, isn't that what anyone would think? :) Of caurse, I'm pretty sure they were simply ranch burning some trash and NOT some sort of cartel hitmen giving enemies a Columbian necktie party! Nevertheless, I rode by there as silently and as swiftly as I could manage!

 

Tomorrow I'll get to El Paso, my last stop in Texas. I can hardly imagine how long I"ve been in Texas! The BIG mountains...and gorgeous scenery..of New Mexoco is just around the corner!