Category: Pedal Wheels

Van Horn, TX to McDonald Observatory (Fort Davis, TX)
Date: 01/22/2013
Distance traveled: 75.74 miles (1180.37 miles total)
GPS tracks: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/265407592

Standing on the 118… so little traffic, so wide open, and pretty smooth.

The ride today was a hilly & gorgeous one. I got away later than I intended – somewhere round 11am – which made for a late arrival at my destination, the McDonald Observatory. It didn’t help that I took a couple of pretty long stops during the day.

Indeed! Thanks for the warning.

For the first half of the ride I had an amazing tailwind – it blew me all the way to Kent. I was glad to get to Kent. From this point forward I will not be doing any more interstate shoulder riding. (At the time I thought this was a great thing, but after 3 more days on Texas ‘chip seal’ I found myself longing for some good ‘ole interstate concrete.)

Kent is an abandoned town. The only activity is FedEx trucks that use the abandoned gas station to swap trailers & cargo. It’s a pretty striking example of how a town can just ‘disappear’. Boarded up houses. Decrepit schoolhouse. I climbed up to the top of the hill where the water tower used to be to have lunch. It was a pretty view if you looked past the town below.

The old school house at Kent. You can see my lunch perch in the background.

Nothing to see here in Kent.

From Kent I got on the TX 118. And, of course, now the wind is no longer at my back. This is where the real climbing of the day began. It was really pretty, though, which made for a nice ride. I’ll admit that this was harder than I expected… a theme that will come out in the next few days… as I’ve discovered that the elevation profiles don’t accurately describe how hard the up and down and up and down of it all that can really make for hard riding.

Officer Morris.

Today was the first day I got to talk to law enforcement of any kind, too. There was an unmarked truck patrolling the 118. At one point it stopped and the driver got out and walked a bit of the road and I caught up to him. He was a state trooper out looking for border crossers. We chatted for a while – he told me about patrolling the area via helicopter, about when he catches the “poor bastards” he shakes their hand for trying… it’s a 7-10 day walk from the boarder up here! He also showed me how they use trash along the side of the road as markers, signals for the drivers that are supposed to pick up the walkers to let the cars know where they’re hiding in the brush.

Looking down the 118… lots of hills ahead!

Wide open.

Rolling hills on 118.

That little spec of light in the middle is the McDonald Observatory, only a few short miles away!

When I finally got to the observatory, I found the home of John, Deb and their kids who live up at the observatory. They are warm showers hosts who open their doors to anyone who wants to stay up at the observatory. John works there as a research scientists (I think that was his title…). I swooped in, showered, and immediately turned around to head to the visitor’s center for the evening’s “star party”.

On select nights of the week the observatory holds star parties. They invite visitors out to come out and look at the stars via various telescopes. They had some high and low powered telescopes pointed at the moon. One at Polaris, Andromeda, and a few other things. It was beautiful, but didn’t last very long. I’ve never seen the moon through telescopes like that – it was absolutely stunning! I also went in to watch the film in the auditorium. That was a mistake… it was a lame ass film from the 80s attempting to teach metric powers of ten.

After the star party I went back up to the house. After a quick dinner & chatting with the family I settled in for a restless night of sleep. After many dire warnings about how the cats may piss on my stuff, my sleeping bag (they’ve done it before) I couldn’t sleep… every time the cats stirred I woke up for fear of being sprayed. Also the floor smelled like piss. Not the best conditions for a good night of sleep.

My stuff piled up on the chair to avoid the cat piss.

Good thing the tour the next day made it worthwhile. :)

Hanging out in Van Horn, TX
Date: 01/21/2013

The most interesting thing in town.

There is nothing to do in Van Horn. It’s Monday of the MLK holiday and what little there is to do is closed up tight. The cute café. The few shops. I took a 2 hour walk up and down the main drag and the (second) most interesting thing I saw was the El Capitan hotel – if I’m ever back here and not on a budget I’m totally staying there. I snagged a decent lunch at Chuy’s, which is home of the “John Madden Haul of Fame”(sic)… I have no idea what they’re hauling but the story here tells why John Madden is involved. So I spent the day planning, watching the inauguration, and other tv. Fun times.

View from the roof of the El Capitan.

I’ve got 630 miles to go. I’m planning to ride it in 8 days. This is the route I plan to take. I’m going to do a little bit of fun sightseeing along the way, so it’s not the most direct. But I’ll still get done a couple days before my flight out of Austin. After spending some time looking at the route I’m starting to look forward to west Texas a bit more.

Texas is just too damn big.

As I was planning the rest of the trip, I was thinking about the road traveled thus far. Here are some random and somewhat disorganized stats:

• 1104.63 miles traveled over 20 days
• 64% of the total miles completed
• 125 hours 41 minutes spent riding
• 44k feet climbed
• 3 days were spent off of the bike as rest days
• 7 consecutive days on the bike (max)
• 55.23 miles/day average
• 64.98 miles/day not including the days off
• 8.78 mph averaged across all days
• 50+ cyclists seen on the road (all but 5 were seen on the same day)
• 11 dogs have chased me on the bike (once by a pack of 6, but they actually looked friendly)
• 11 nights spent with warm shower hosts
• 7 nights at hotels (including tonight)
• 2 nights camping
• 1 night with family (hurray Ruth and Ben!)
• 0 bike related injuries
• 0 flat tires
• 0 pain killers

So far, so good. Looking forward to getting back on the bike tomorrow.

Horizon, TX to Van Horn, TX
Date: 01/21/2013
Distance traveled: 109.44 miles (1104.63 miles total)
GPS tracks: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/264585415

To know me is to know that there is hardly an hour that goes by without a song in my head. I generally wake up in the morning with some song on the tip of my tongue. The surprising part is that it is frequently a song that I haven’t head in a very long time. The most interesting part is trying to figure out why my subconscious picks the songs that it brings to the fore. Sometimes it’s clear, often it’s not.

Today it was easy figure out – all day today I had “Radar Love” by Golden Earring stuck in my head. That’s because I’m ready to be home. I’m ready to get done. From here on out, it’s all about getting done and back home to my baby.

That’s one of the reasons I went so far today. I think I’m ready to start racing across Texas, get to Austin, and maybe even catch an earlier flight home. I don’t know if I can really keep up that pace. I’m going to try not to miss out on any of the interesting bits. I am still “enjoying the ride” – don’t get me wrong, I’m having a good time on the bike – it’s just that I know where I’d rather be right now.

Dawn and Dan. Dan was heading out to help lead a ride that morning.

The ride was actually a really nice ride today. I started super early this morning after a great breakfast with Dan and Dawn. Bacon-sausage, biscuits, grits, eggs… oh my! I was out the door by 8am, which let me consider doing a 100+ mile day. Did I say how much I enjoyed staying with Dan and Dawn? I did. Dan has done his own touring and is super active in the El Paso cycling community. He had some great advice & I really enjoyed talking about his various adventures. He’s where I got the tip to stop for burritos in Fort Hancock… it was a little off route, but worth it!

Arzate Grocery #2 – they make your burrito to order. I think his wife cooks them in the back. The brisket was great, as was the rojo and the verde.

The weather has finally warmed up – it was the first day where I’ve biked in a short sleeve shirt since California! The roads were mixed – highway 20 out of El Paso was quiet and smooth, parts of I-10’s shoulder was complete crap, and then there were long-long stretches on unused frontage road that paralleled I-10 that was very safe but not perfectly smooth. It was a good day to be lost in thought on the bike.

Not sure if that wall is not effective at all… or super effective… at keeping folk out.

Tejas… why u no make good road?

Lots of flat with nice views of the mountains.

The empty frontage road along I-10.

I got to Sierra Blanca, TX around 3:30-4pm, which left me with about 30 miles to go to Van Horn. I decided to do it because (1) I didn’t like my camping options in Sierra Blanca, (2) I wanted to get to a bigger town for a day off on Monday and (3) I really really want to get my daily mileage up to get home. So I rolled on.

That meant I finished in the dark, riding the last 10 miles along the interstate shoulder. Late night, midnight on the interstate. It was actually very peaceful despite the fast traffic. I don’t mind interstate riding – the shoulders are generally nice, wide and smooth. I got into Van Horn, found a cheap hotel, and settled in… I’m staying here for a day off… I haven’t had one in about a week. My body needs a break. And I need to do some planning for the rest of the trip.

I had intended to camp here… but being that it’s closed and for sale, and I was too lazy to find another place to camp, I ended up at a cheap hotel.