Days 13 & 14 Ft. Davis to Sanderson to Comstock, Texas

Day 13 Distance 112 Miles   Calories Burned 7,895  Temp 97
Day 14 Distance 89 Miles     Calories Burned 6,261  Temp 96

I finally got tired of lugging 95 pounds of bike around day after day.  The first stop today was in Dryden, a town with 1 building, a combination market and post office.  I unloaded about 5 to 6 lbs of clothes that I don't really think will be needed and shipped everything home.  I am  contemplating taking off the front panniers and shipping them home as well.  The thought of having a lighter more aerodynamic bike is sounding very appealing right now.. 

There are essentially 4 kinds of winds that a cyclist can encounter, which I'll rank in order of preference:  a tail wind, no wind, a cross wind and a head wind.  For the past 3 days, the Lone Star State has greeted us with unrelenting headwinds.  I have noticed a pattern forming; early in the morning there is a light breeze.  Around 10 or 11, as the sun gets stronger the winds increase to 20 to 30 mph.  By 2 or 3 in the afternoon, when the sun is at it's hottest, the winds are gusting and around 6 or 7 the winds die down to a gentle breeze.  The winds, coupled with the heat coupled with the hills are taking it's toll on me.  My legs are tired and my body is tired.  I had expected to get a tail wind at least through Western Texas.  Unfortunately, there is a front heading Northwest from the Gulf which has been straight against me as my route has been Southeast.  The forecast for tomorrow is again in the upper 90's and again for winds out of the Southeast.  Oh yeah, possible thunderstorms.  Been lucky so far with only a light rain coming into Silver City.  Now I know why I haven't seen a "recreational cyclist" since Las Cruces, NM.

My riding partner, Neal, had a spoke blow out on his rear tire somewhere East of Dryden.  We patched it up as good as we could and now trying to make it to the next bike shop which is in Del Rio, a distance of 33 mile from the hotel here in Comstock.  If one more spoke goes on the back tire, we might be hitchhiking.  Comstock is an interesting place.  There are 4 buildings.  The motel, a place to eat, a market and a closed cafe.  Everyone is sitting out front of their places, drinking beer, chatting, laughing and having a good old time.  The woman who cooked me a "tamale pie" told me if I needed anything else to holler and then left to resume her conversation with the other folks sitting out front.  The same scenario repeated at the market with the clerk chatting with the half dozen patrons and taking beers out of the coolers and spreading them around.  Everyone that I've met so far in Texas has been very friendly.

Today I ran into some cyclists crossing the Country going East to West.  The first, Janet left last October and has been camping and riding 10 to 30 miles per day.  At the Judge Roy Bean museum in Langtry, I ran into 2 cyclists in their mid 20s from Kansas City who started in St. Augustine, Fl and are heading to San Diego.

Who's the hombre wearing the Arrogant Bastard Ale jersey.     The mouth of the Pecos River just before it empties into the Rio Grande

The commode/flower pot next to the table was a nice touch for  dinner at the local restaurant.    This is how kids spend their nights after dinner in Comstock.