Day 11 Ft. Hancock to Van Horn

Distance 75 Miles
Riding Conditions:  Tailwind almost all day!

I woke this morning under the weather.  Head congestion and chills.  We agreed that Neal would ride on ahead to Van Horn and I would take it easy and catch up later.  The temperature was in the upper 50s but i wanted to stay warm so I wore the following:  wool socks, leg warmers, 2 pairs of shorts, a long sleeve wool jersey, arm warmers over that, a fleece sleeveless jacket over that, long fingered bike gloves, a gator for my neck and a hat for under my helmet.  On top of  all of that I added a yellow long sleeve rain jacket and decided to walk across the street to the truck stop for a cup of coffee to start the day.  Of course everyone else was wearing boots and jeans. I must have looked like an alien from another planet.  I feel like I provided some comedic relief into an otherwise normal Monday morning.

The ride took me just South of  Interstate 10 onto farm roads with very little traffic.  I tried to stay as warm and ride as easy as possible taking as many breaks as possible along the way.  I figured that I had all day to ride the 75 miles and want to get on top of this cold.  After 41 miles I arrived in the tiny town of Siera Blanca.  Most buildings looked like they had been closed for years, except for a little restaurant on the edge of town.  After a tall stack of pancakes and a side of biscuits and gravy I was ready to roll on to Van Horn.

So you might wonder what one does while cycling long distances between towns when the roads are long, straight and flat.  Usually I'll listen to music on my Oakley "Thumps".  These sunglasses, like an ipod, let you store music and play them through ear buds attached to the arms of  the Thumps.  But since I haven't charged the Thumps for several days, the music died before noon.  So I started counting the number of boxcars on the trains going by on the Union Pacific line that I was riding next to.  The longest was 112 cars.  I then administered a mental status exam by counting backwards by 7s starting with 100. (it should end with the number 2 if you try it).  I then started to self reflect on my life. ( I still don't know why Mrs. Carp gave me an F in English when I was in the 5th Grade)   My thoughts were interrupted when 2 Border Patrol cars flew past me, stopped and started chasing someone off in the distance.  I wanted to shoot a photo but thought better of it and kept riding.

I am  now in my 2nd day in Texas and feel like I have just scratched the surface of this State which is around 950 miles wide.  Here's an interesting fact about Texas.  When this State was admitted to the Union they added a clause that would allow Texas to subdivide into 4 additional states if there was sufficient need.  Could you imagine 4 additional "red States" coming from Texas in the next election!!

No problems with traffic out here!!

A Texas stare down with a charging millipede.
















Investment property for sale. Drive to the middle of nowhere, turn left and go to the dead end. You can't miss it. (Don't laugh, in California there would be a bidding war starting at 2 Million.)