Monday, March 31, 2014

Ice Cream Social - Brackettville, TX - March 31

Today was a much easier day. It was 73 miles, but the headwind had abated to 5-10 mph. 

After dinner, we enjoyed ice cream with the "Women's Group". This is an all women's group that is traveling on a parallel path to our riders. Whereas, we are doing a camping tour, the women stay only in motels.   Also, they have no traveling food service, so all of their meals are in restaurants or fast food.

Bubba had arranged the invitational ice cream social, and was dressed in full regalia (below). 



Leaving West Texas - March 30

Today we crossed the Pecos River, considered to be the eastern boundary of West Texas. Everyone in the group cheered the event.  

Cycling this past week has been difficult, especially today's ride from Sanderson to Comstock. We traveled 80 miles with headwinds of 20-25 mph, and gusts of 35 mph. I started riding at 8:00am and finished at 5:30pm. Added to the headwind, was hilly terrain and the infamous Texas "chip and seal" road surface. 

Tomorrow, we have another 80 mile day,  but the wind is forecasted to abate to 10-15 mph. Also, our route turns from southeast to east after the first 35 miles. We will pass through Del Rio, the first city of any size since El Paso. We're planning stops at Rudy's BBQ and Walmart to replenish personal items. 

 


Friday, March 28, 2014

Big Bend National Park - rest day

The group spent the entire day touring Big Bend (by car). Spectacular views of the Chisos Mountains and the Rio Grande River. I would highly recommend a visit to this park if you are ever in the vicinity. 








Thursday, March 27, 2014

Hotel (12) Gage - Marathon, TX

The Hotel Gage is a luxory hotel in the small community of Marathon (5000 pop.). The Hotel primarily serves tourists who are embarking to Big Bend Park.  It reminded me of the Hotel Pattee in Perry, IA.  

We wandered through the hotel upon our arrival in Marathon.  Unfortunately, the restaurant and  bar did not open until 5:30 on weekdays.  

Tomorrow, March 28, is a rest day, and the group will be using the day to explore Big Bend Park.

The group was in good spirits today.  We finally had payback for the prior two days of fighting strong headwinds from the southeast.  The winds shifted to the west, and we covered the 57 mile ride ride by 1pm.  -- Also had another excellent meal prepared by Ann: ribeye steak, BBQ ribs, salad, spice cake, and white chocolate bark.

El Cosmico Campground - Marfa, TX

El Cosmico is a unique campground where we stayed overnight.  It features open air facilities, incuding the toliets, and the shelter where our meals were served.  

The following is form the El Cosmico website and is a good statement of the campground ambience.

El Cosmico is an 18 acre nomadic hotel and campground in Marfa, Texas. In keeping with the belief that life should be a balance of adventure and do-nothingness we offer shelter, occasional entertainment, opportunity for learning/doing/making, and access to the majesty of the high plains desert. From its wide open spaces to the vast canopy of stars above, El Cosmico provides temporary liberation from the built world. It is second home to intrepid travelers and wanderers from all corners of the planet.

Accommodations at El Cosmico include renovated vintage trailers, safari and scout tents, Sioux-style tepees, and tent campsites. The property also offers several communal spaces for guests – a hammock grove, an outdoor kitchen and dining area, a community lounge and mercantile, an outdoor stage, a reading room. We rent wood-fired hot tubs as the burn ban allows, and bikes for exploring Marfa.



Prada Store - Marfa,TX

The Prada Store was an artistic installation near Marfa.  Marfa is known as an art colony with several galleries within the community.

Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Valentine, TX

On our way from Van Horn to Marfa, we had lunch in Valentine, TX.  The high school students prepared lunch for us as a fund raiser for their trip to Italy.

Valentine appears to be another agricultural based community, which is headed for extinction.  This seems to be a global trend.  Certainly, we see it in Iowa; and Judy and I witnessed this in our travels in Denmark last year.  

The school district which serves Valentine has 29 students, K-12; with only 9 students in the high school.


Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Van Horn, TX

The 75 mile ride from Ft Howard to Van Horn was our most difficult day so far. We had a 19 mph head wind, with gusts to 30 mph.  Our average speed was only 10 mph.  To ease our journey, we rode in a pace line, and took turns at the head of the line. The terrain was he same as yesterday, and quite monotonous.  

The weather forecast is for a change in wind direction from NE to SW.  This will be a very welcome change 😊

Monday, March 24, 2014

Ft Howard, TX

An easy 57 mile ride today.   The route was flat, with little to no wind.  Most notable event was discovering a really nice bakery inside a large Mexican market.  This size of  the market was comparable to the new HyVee's in Des Moines.  The most impressiive feature was the large produce department.  It reminded me of some the large European markets that we have visited.

Lunch was at a great Mexican restaurant.  I had Huevos Rancherous ($5) and cantalope juice.

Tomorrow looks to be quite challenging, with a 1000 foot climb at the beginning, and a strong eastern headwind.  Winds are forecasted to be in the high teens in the afternoon, so the group is planning to start riding at daybreak.

El Paso, TX - tough day

Probably our toughest ride to date.  78 miles into a strong, sustained headwind.  The best part of the ride was dinner and the open bar.  Bubba declared an open bar in honor of the waning virus.  This proved to be somewhat premature; Sonny and Lil both succumbed to the virus.

Sunday, March 23, 2014

Columbus, NM -- rest day, no riding

We spent our rest day in Columbus. It is a border town with a few hundred residents, and a declining population. It's claim to fame was the raid by Poncho Villa in 1916.

In the morning, we visited the Poncho Villa State Park, where a park ranger addressed our group and provided historical background of Villa's raid.  The motivation for the raid is somewhat murky.   Villa was a figure in the Mexican revolution (1910-1920),  and it appears that his objective was to rearm his struggling army.  

The raid provided the US with a cover for sending an army of 10,000 soldiers to capture Villa, and stabilize the territory around the US/Mexican border.  -- Villa was never captured, and was thought to have been assassinated by the Mexican government several years later.

In the afternoon we crossed the border to eat and shop at the "Pink Store", accompanied by liberal amounts of margaritas.  On our return to the border, several of the men obtained haircuts in an open air salon on the street.

Earlier in the day, discovered that my rear tire was flat; probably a victim of the dreaded "goat head thorn". This was my second flat on the rear tire, and decided it was time to mount new rubber. 

We have had no new occurances of the virus, and the group appears to have cured.  I'm not sure of the exact count, but well over half of our members have been sick over the past week. 





Friday, March 21, 2014

On the road to Columbus, NM

Rodeo to Columbus is our longest day of the whole tour: 95 miles.  Fortunately we had a 25 mile tail wind in the afternoon.  The only notable event along the route was crossing over the Continental Divide.

Similar to the prior day, there were very limited services along the way, and Ann again prepared box lunches for our noon sag stop.


Rodeo, NM -- we are truly In the middle of nowhere.

Rodeo was our next destination after Brisbee. The only town along the way was Douglas,AZ, another border town. Our sag stop in Douglas was a small, excellent Mexican bakery, where all pastries were 50 cents each. Douglas was also the home of the Gladstone Hotel (see panoramic photo below). It had over the top features, including massive granite columns, a marble staircase to the upper floors, and elaborate art glass installations.  There are gouges in the marble staircase, supposedly made by Poncho Villa, as he scaled the steps, mounted on his horse. 

After we left Douglas, we encountered a desolate landscape.  Here were no services, and only an occasional ranch house. Ann prepared box lunches for.our noon sag stop.  The only tourist stop was a monument commemberating the defeat of Geronomo in1886. 

The population of Rodeo is 75. However, it had a community center and a bar/restaurant. -- I am continually amazed by Bubba's resourcefulness. He had rented 3 vacation cabins to accomodate our showers. Later in the evening, he had invited the regional border patrol captain to address the group. 

I've previously commented on the quality of our camp meals. The Rodeo dinner was especially notable: crab cakes, meatloaf, rice with a wine sauce, fresh vegetable medley, macaroons, and chocolate chip cookies. 





Brisbee, AZ

Brisbee was our overnight town on Thursday March 20.  It was founded as a mining town, and superceded Tombstone as the county seat of Cochise Co.  There were substantial mining operations here until the 1960's. Today, it subsists primarily on tourism. 

Brisbane reminds me of Galena, IL. It is built in a deep gorge, with small residences perched on the hillsides.  Like Galena, there are several sets of long steps that descend to the Main Street of town. We camped in the city park that was at one of the highest elevations.  No one rode their bike up the steep hill leading to the park!

Bubba had arranged for a wine and cheese reception at one of the art galleries.  Afterwards, we dined at one of the many restaurants. Though the food was good, it did not compare to the meals prepared by Ann, our camp chef. 


Wednesday, March 19, 2014

Tombstone AZ

We had a "tourist" day in Tombstone. Stayed overnight in a hotel, and went to th "OK Coral" show.  

On the trip into Tombstone, there was a notable change in the vegetation, with plains of grass punctuated with Yuca.

We had a 10 mile stretch of downhill, smooth pavement, and an awesome tailwind.  Everyone was in agreement that this was the most fun to date😊.

Monday, March 17, 2014

Tucson - St Patricks Day

 It was an easy riding day. 39 miles and 1200 ft of climb. We had an urban ride, traversing NW Tucson to SE Tucson. Mostly traveled over city steets, but had a few miles over a beautiful trail system.  

As we approached our campsite, we passed the "largest aircraft boneyard" in the world, populated by various Air Force planes that were mothballed.  We were denied entrance to the boneyard, and visited the adjacent space and aircraft museum.  Volunteer workers at the museum estimated that the boneyard contained at least 2000 aircraft.

The virus continues to spread through the group, and is currently counted at 17.  The staff is doing there best to make us comfortable, dispensing anti nausea and diarehea drugs.  Additionally, they are requiring everyone to don rubber gloves before handling food or food utensils.







Sunday, March 16, 2014

Catalina, AZ

This is a view from our campsite at the Catalina State Park.  This was our rest day, with no riding on Sunday, March 16.  I came down with an intestinal virus that has been going through the group.  So I spent most of Saturday evening and Sunday in my tent.  Hope I feel up to riding on Monday.  Fortunately it is one of our lighter days, with 39 miles and 1200 feet of climb.



Gila Bend to Casa Grande

Magnificent desert fauna, especially the Saguaro cactus.




Wednesday, March 12, 2014

Dome Valley

We rode 70 miles from Yuma, AZ to Dateland, AZ, passing through the Dome Valley.  This area receives irrigation from the Colorado River, and is unaffected by the drought in Northern California.  So, this is our primary domestic source of fresh lettuce.  The fields were planted in serveral different varieties of lettuce, and we saw workers harvesting romaine.





Center of the World

On the way between Calexico and Yuma, We stopped at a very unusual museum in Felicity, CA, named Center of the World museum.  It was built by Jacques-Andre Istel in 1986 (Wikipedia link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felicity,_California).

It contains several granite monuments, still under construction.  Each of the granite ranks is on a separate historical topic.

No one in our group had any opinion other than the museum was uniquie, and a little bizarre.

As a part of our $5 admission, each of each were invited to stand on brass emblem, that marked the "center of the world".  We received a certificate as evidence of our visit.




Monday, March 10, 2014

Overnight at the Calexico Mission School

Our accomodations in Calexico are at the Calexico Mission School.  This school is admisinstered by the 7th Day Adventists.  This is a picture of the junior class members that prepared and served our evening meal.  Breakfast will be served by a different group of students.
Most of the students come from Mexicali, and cross the border each day to attend the school.  English is mandated in all the classes in order to improve the students' English.  Apparently, English proficiency is a drawing card for the school.