{"id":2667,"date":"2013-01-19T23:06:30","date_gmt":"2013-01-20T06:06:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kmwoley.com\/blog\/?p=2667"},"modified":"2013-01-19T23:09:42","modified_gmt":"2013-01-20T06:09:42","slug":"day-18-4th-state","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kmwoley.com\/blog\/day-18-4th-state\/","title":{"rendered":"Day 18: 4th State!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Las Cruces, NM to Horizon City, TX
\n<\/strong>Date: 01\/19\/2013
\nDistance traveled: 69.75 miles (995.19 miles total)
\nGPS tracks: http:\/\/connect.garmin.com\/activity\/263868849<\/a>
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

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\nMountains and trees \u2013 the scenic ride into El Paso.
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

[Aside: Thank you all for the comments and the encouragement. Please keep them coming. :) ]<\/p>\n

After a lot of humming and hawing, I finally decided to stick close to the Adventure Cycling Association’s route rather than diverge a bit\u2026 I had been thinking that it would be nice to see more parks before heading into West Texas. I was looking at going up to Hueco Tanks State park, and then over to the Guadalupe National Forrest. But time and distance changed my mind.<\/p>\n

So I set out this morning on highway 28 and unceremonially crossed into Texas. There was no sign. No marking of any kind. I kinda feel cheated. But all of a sudden, bam, you’re in Texas and you didn’t even know it.<\/p>\n

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\nMesilla is a cute little town just outside Las Cruces.
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

I had intended to avoid El Paso entirely rather than ride straight through it. There’s a nice route that takes you over and around the city (through the Anthony gap). I hate city biking so I thought this looked like a great plan. If only I hadn’t missed my turn!<\/a><\/p>\n

I didn’t set up the Garmin \u2013 I was just going to look for the road sign\u00a0instead. But I got distracted. Highway 28 is a well known bike route and there were A LOT of bikes out. I counted 50 cyclists total before I lost count. I even ended up riding with a woman who was training for a half\u00a0Iron Man for 25 or so miles. My average speed was about 5mph faster when I was riding\/racing with her than normal. It made for a fast and enjoyable morning.<\/p>\n

So I missed my turn off while I was racing along. Biking through El Paso sucked. The roads\/sidewalks nearly knocked my teeth loose. Glad to be passed that.<\/p>\n

My end point tonight was with another awesome warm showers host. They live in Horizon City, TX. Horizon City, TX is (not surprisingly given the name) uphill from the route. 5 miles out of the way, but worth it!<\/p>\n

Dan and Dawn are great hosts. You’ve got to love dogs to stay here! She owns a Great Dane rescue and has 5 adorable and well behaved great danes in the house, with Benji the terrier to keep them all in line. I really enjoyed dinner and playing with the dogs. Lots of sad rescue stories about the puppies. You just wouldn’t believe the condition of some of these dogs when they come in. It’s sad to see what folks will do to these poor dogs.<\/p>\n

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\nTyranny was my favorite dog. You should see her pics from when she was rescued<\/a>. Be warned, they are pretty graphic.
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

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\nDawn and the doggies.
\n<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Las Cruces, NM to Horizon City, TX Date: 01\/19\/2013 Distance traveled: 69.75 miles (995.19 miles total) GPS tracks: http:\/\/connect.garmin.com\/activity\/263868849 Mountains and trees \u2013 the scenic ride into El Paso. [Aside: Thank you all for the comments and the encouragement. Please keep them coming. :) ] After a lot of humming and hawing, I finally decided … Continue reading Day 18: 4th State!<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[294,293,244],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2667","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-california-to-texas-2013","category-crazyguyonabike","category-pedal-wheels"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kmwoley.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2667","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kmwoley.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kmwoley.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmwoley.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmwoley.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2667"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kmwoley.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2667\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2668,"href":"https:\/\/kmwoley.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2667\/revisions\/2668"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kmwoley.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2667"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmwoley.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2667"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmwoley.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2667"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}