There are many things I want to remember on L3, so I thought I’d write them down and share them.

Biggest Local News Stories During L3

The U.S. Government shutdown and its local effect on Big Bear National Park and the Fort Davis National Historic Site.  Beth especially has discussed this already, so I don’t need to discuss this any further.

The University of Texas vs The University of Oklahoma football rivalry and the big game that would be happening as we flew home on Saturday.  This was a welcome reprieve from the constant news reports about the children masquerading as elected officials in Washington, DC.  Oops! I said I wasn’t going to discuss this any further, didn’t I?

The Denver Broncos versus the Dallas Cowboys football game on Sunday afternoon and evening, October 6.  Actually, we were really only aware of this because the restaurant bar in Marathon had the game on that day, and it was pretty hard to ignore.

Truly Remarkable Things We Experienced During L3

The night sky everywhere outside of El Paso, but we particularly noticed it in Marathon, TX.  You really can’t appreciate how many bright stars and planets there are up there, until you spend some time in a remote place.

The speed limit on the two-lane (one in each direction) on US 90 is West Texas.  It’s a Texas chip seal surface, but in many places along this route the speed limit is 75 mph!

The importance of the railroad to the local economy of towns along the railroad line, which runs parallel to US 90 for much of this road.  Alpine is thriving, in part because the railroad decided to use this town as a crew shift location.  When they moved the crew shift location out of Sanderson, it really hurt.  Sanderson’s population is less than 900 people, about 5,000 less than Alpine.  Here is a 1947 photo of Oak Avenue, the main thoroughfare in Sanderson.

1947 Photo of Oak Street, Sanderson, TX. Today it is a shadow of what it once was back in the 1940’s. Nevertheless, Sanderson still has an elementary and a high school, not to mention a beautiful and apparently relatively new town library!

I’ve mentioned the prevalence of town libraries in the caption above, but I found this aspect of life in West Texas to be very remarkable.  Libraries are really important there, which I think is great!

The awesomely beautiful desert.  Here is a video I took on Day 5 on our way to 10 miles east of Dryden.  The scenic mountains in the middle of the desert are like nothing you can find on the east coast.

Can you stand yet one more picture of prickly pear cacti – I don’t think I’ve shared this particular one yet – I’ve been saving it! 🙂

Prickly pear cacti along US 90 between Alpine and Marathon, TX. I don’t think we’re going to see these plants too much or even at all on our future legs across the U.S.

The sudden appearance of humidity on the last two days of riding on L3.  We were soaked with sweat on our return to the Hampton Inn in Del Rio, and that was the first time we’ve experienced that on any of our previous rides.  We were east of the Pecos River and, for the most part, out of the desert, which might explain it.

Some of the Great Things We Experienced on L3

The courtesy of Texas drivers.  They were incredibly patient and even in El Paso, I rarely felt in danger of being hit by a car or a truck.

The friendliness of the people.  Some that come to mind are the lady at the Langtry Visitor Center, the many waitresses that served us in Van Horn, Fort Davis, and Marathon, and especially the U.S. Border Patrol Agents.  Once again our conversations with all of them were relaxed and friendly.  I just wish we could have talked to more locals and for longer lengths of time.

Texas Barbeque – it’s the best!  Thank you Rudy’s!

My daughter Beth! For her insightful and entertaining blogs, her reliability, and her warm companionship to all of us!  Thanks Beth!

I’m really looking forward to Leg 4 next March!

Tim re-joined us on Friday October 11, our final day of riding on L3.  After Beth arranged for us to have a noon check-out time, we left the hotel with our bikes in Silver’s bay and drove to Bracketville, TX so that by biking west to Del Rio, we’d have the winds at our backs again.  We left the hotel around 7:15am when it was still dark, and somehow missed the turn that would have kept us on US 90 and on the right path towards Bracketville.  But we were glad we did get lost for a few minutes, because we came within about 20 feet of the International Fence, the closest we had ever been to the border and the fence.  Beth and Mark took pictures of it, so you can see it on their blogs.

Shortly after 8:00am, Beth dropped us off and we started our way on US 90 West towards Del Rio.  The ride was, fortunately, once again uneventful.  We again passed several ranches bordering the highway and I managed to take a picture of one of the more elaborate ranch signs, this one of the Clearwater Creek Ranch.

Clearwater Creek Ranch sign, Bracketville, TX. We passed dozens and dozens of ranches along US 90 between Van Horn and Del Rio, all of which had signs identifying them. This was one of the more elaborate ones. By the way, this ranch and its 2,000 + acres are for sale, in case you’re interested.

And here’s a picture of Mark and Tim on our very last rest stop of Leg 3.

Tim and Mark on final rest stop of Leg 3. We stopped at a rain drainage culvert along US 90. The multiple parallel steel bars act as a grate to keep any large solid objects from entering the culvert with the water and clogging it up.

I also took a few final videos of Leg 3 while riding along US 90.  As you can see in the first one, the weather this day was overcast and the dark clouds actually did drop a few raindrops, but we were not caught in a downpour.  We were moving at a pretty fast pace at this point, a train passed by going in the other direction, and you get to see Tim passing me while I was taking the video.   I took the second video as we were passing by Laughlin Air Force Base.  Pilots were practicing take-offs and landings, passing over US 90 at a fairly low elevation, which was a different experience for us.  Hope you enjoy them.

We completed the 31 mile ride in a little more than two hours, arriving back at our hotel by 10:20am, gave each other congratulatory man-hugs, and then went to our rooms to disassemble, pack up our bikes, shower, dress, and check-out by noon, all of which we were able to do.

After that, we decided to drive a good part of the route in Map 4 of the Southern Tier.  We continued on US 90 east past Bracketville and drove into Uvalde, TX, where our Dad was stationed for several months during WWII.  We had planned to pay a quick visit to the John Nance Garner Museum in Uvalde (Garner was the Vice President to FDR during his first two terms and was a native of Uvalde), but as you can see from the photos I took there, the museum is closed for renovations.  Neither Beth nor Mark were too disappointed about that.

John Nance Garner Museum sign in Uvalde, TX. The fence and the small sign at the bottom right let us know it was closed. Beth and Mark were not overly disappointed.

Photo of the John Nance Garner Museum in Uvalde, TX. There were lots of nice homes in Uvalde, which bills itself as Tree City, USA.  Indeed, there were many trees planted there and several were growing right in the middle of streets.

The drive along the Map4 route was very hilly, since it is part of the Texas Hill Country.  The roads were very narrow and mostly free of any traffic, but there are also lots of twists and turns and with a speed limit of 65 mph, I think cars might be right on top of us before we could have a chance to react.  So I am not at all opposed to Tim mapping out an alternative route to at least some of the Southern Tier Map 4, even though it is not his turn to plan the route.  We’ll see what he comes up with – we have a few moths to decide on the route we’re going to take in early March 2014.

We made it to our hotel near the San Antonio Airport around 5:00pm, had a few beers and snacks, and then Tim drove us to downtown San Antonio for a visit to the Alamo and the River Walk.

Beth in front of the Alamo, San Antonio, TX.

Brian at the Alamo.

After an outstanding steak dinner at the Saltgrass Steak House on the River Walk (great choice Tim!), we finally managed to get Beth to at least try on a cowboy hat, even if we couldn’t interest her in letting us buy it for her.

Beth posing in a cowboy hat on the River Walk in San Antonio, TX. Maybe on our next leg, we’ll convince her to buy one. 🙂

All in all, it was a long but nice day, and a great way to end Leg 3!

At breakfast this morning, Tim told Mark and me that the cold he’s been fighting the past few days has finally gotten the better of him and so he wouldn’t be riding with us this morning.  Mark and I decided to ride anyway, but to make an easy day of it by riding with the wind instead of against it.  We decided to ride from Del Rio back to Comstock, a distance of only 30 miles, heading west with the wind, instead of from Comstock, where we left off yesterday, to Del Rio heading east against the wind.  We missed Tim on our ride today – it was uphill most of the way, but it was only 30 miles, so it went relatively fast.

The first image I took a photo of today was of the flags of Texas and the U.S.  The flags were straight out and blowing in the direction we decided to travel, so it was a good omen.  Winds today were 15-20 mph with gusts up to 30 mph out of the east.  It would have been another hard ride if we opted to go against them, but we didn’t.

Texas and U.S. flags blowing in the direction we rode today. Often in Texas, the state flag is somewhat larger than the U.S. flag (since Texas was a republic before it was a U.S. state), but these flags look to be the same size.

Just before we crossed over the Amistad Reservoir, Mark and I stopped to take a few pictures of this beautiful body of water.  It’s right next to a dam on the Rio Grande, and it fed by the Rio Grande and the Pecos Rivers.  It looks to be very high right now – we didn’t see any high water marks on the shore above its current level.

Close up view of the Amistad Reservoir on the east side along U.S. 90.

Mark taking a photo of Amistad Reservoir. It was another beautiful day, but we could feel the humidity today.

Mark and I were both a little concerned about crossing over the Amistad Reservoir on U.S. 90, since it is only a two-lane bridge with next to no shoulder whatsoever! But we were in luck, and also crossed it very early in the day.  Most of the traffic was headed in the opposite direction, towards Del Rio, while we were headed away from Del Rio.  So it was relatively easy, plus traveling with the wind allowed us to traverse the 2-mile long bridge very quickly.  But see for yourself in this next video.

Once we crossed the bridge, we made a quick stop to phone Beth and ask her to meet us in Comstock at 11:00am.  We also took a few photos of the roadside vegetation.  Bet you can’t guess what I took some photos of …..  🙂

Prickly pear cactus photo #1 of the day.

Prickly pear cactus photo #2 of the day. Mark thinks these may be of the Teddy Bear variety and he may be right about that.

The only unforeseen event of the day was that Mark got another flat tire, his third of this trip.  And this time if was my son Chris coming to the rescue.  He recommended that I take along a pump that he personally liked, and so I did.  Previously we had been using Tim’s pump but since he wasn’t with us, we used the pump Chris purchased for me and it worked fine!  So thanks Chris!

While we were changing the flat, the flies descended on us, finding us in less than one minute.  Mark and I agreed that the flies and other insects are the only thing about Texas that we’re not fond of – everything else about Texas (the history, the scenery, the courteous drivers and friendly people in general) have been great!  But the insects are another story.  They remind me of when my Dad was stationed in Texas during WWII and my Mom came down to live with him for a while.  I’m sure my sister Denise was with them also.  I remember my Mom telling me that the Texas insects were so pervasive, that aside from canned goods, every other food item had to be kept in the ice box to keep the insects from getting to it.  I can really understand why now.

But even with losing a little time changing the flat, we still made it to Comstock in time for Beth and Tim to pick us up at 11:00am.  Then it was a quick drive back to Del Rio, some relaxation in the pool and the hot tub, followed by a real Texas barbeque lunch, which was outstanding!  Beth, Mark and I decided we were going back there for dinner tonight!

Mark enjoying a brewski at the Hampton Inn hot tub, Del Rio, TX. Map 3 of the Adventure Cycling Association Southern Tier Route is now complete! We’re going to let Tim decide, based on how he feels on Friday morning, whether we ride tomorrow or not.

Today we got up shortly after 6 am, packed up the truck, and drove off the lot of the Outback Oasis motel, which was easily the worst accommodations we have stayed in this or any leg of the bike trips.  The bugs at the Outback Oasis, flies, ants, etc. might have enjoyed it, but not us.  Mark was somehow able to tune them out, but I was not and neither was Beth.  After a really good breakfast taco (bacon and eggs on a soft corn taco), we started the 30 mile drive past Dryden, where Beth picked us up at the end of the day yesterday.  Here are two videos I took early this morning, one on the drive to our drop-off point, and one shortly after starting out on our ride.  It’s pretty dark in the first video, but you can see the headlights from our Silverado pickup truck, and the white line forming the edge of the eastbound lane of US 90.

We had ambitious plans for today!  We wanted to bike 92 miles from 10 miles east of Dryden all the way to Del Rio.  But, unfortunately, the wind had other plans, which you can kind of get a feeling for from the last video.   I think about the time we were 30 miles out and pulling into Langtry, TX, we realized that we weren’t going to make it.  The winds were a steady 15-20 mph with gusts up to 30 mph, and they were mostly headwinds.  Once we crossed the Pecos River, the winds became a combination of head and cross winds, and they were relentless, not to mention discouraging.  It was all we could do to pedal between 8-10 mph on the flats.  When we were riding uphill, and there were a ton of hills today, we were moving at a 5-6 mph clip.  So after having traveled 30 miles in more than 3 hours, it was likely going to take us until sometime after 6pm if we continued to Del Rio.  So we opted to make it to Comstock, another 30 miles away, and have Beth pick us up there, which she did at 3:45pm.  Our average speed for today was under 10 mph.  Oh well ….

Aside from the wind, the day was nice.  It was sunny, and it warmed up from the 54 degrees we started with all the way up to 85 degrees by the time Beth picked us up in Comstock.  Traffic along US 90 was fairly light and 99% of the drivers were extremely courteous, moving all the way over to the left when they passed us.  Like most of US 90, the stretch between Sanderson and Comstock was just 2 lanes total, but with a speed limit of 75mph.

For me, the highlight of the day was our visit to the Judge Roy Bean Visitor Center in Langtry, TX, just a mile off of US90 on TX Spur 25.  There they tell the history of Judge Roy Bean, the law west of the Pecos.  His buildings are still there, restored no doubt but shown in the condition in which he occupied them.  The bonus part of the visit was the Judge Roy Bean cactus garden! Here are some photos from our visit.  If you’re ever in west Texas driving along US90 west of the Pecos River, don’t miss it!

Judge Roy Bean Courthouse, Langtry, TX. This free historic attraction, offered by the Texas Department of Transportation, Travel Information Division, is well worth of visit!

This historic marker at the Judge Roy Bean Visitor Center in Langtry, TX, tells more of his story and his shrewdness, especially when it came to making a buck!

Saguaro cactus in Judge Roy Bean Visitor Center, Langtry, TX. The only saguaro cactus we have seen on Leg 3 have been at Langtry.

“Blind” prickly pear cactus in Judge Roy Bean cactus garden, Langtry, TX. I’m really going to miss seeing prickly pear cactus every day ….

Prickly pear, Ornamental Agave, and Ocotilio cactus in Judge Roy Bean cactus garden, Langtry, TX. Mark and Tim were getting a bit concerned that they’d have to remove me by force from the cactus garden! 🙂

Windmill in Cactus Garden at Judge Roy Bean Visitor Center, Langtry, TX.

Gorge just west of Pecos River. This was my only “scenic” shot of the day, but Mark took lots of them on the ride.

The only other remarkable thing about today was the omnipresence of Border Patrol personnel.  I think we must have seen at least one vehicle every 30 minutes on the ride today.  Here is a video of a Border Patrol vehicle driving next to US 90 on a kind of a frontage road, except that it is gravel and not paved.  The vehicle is dragging three big tires behind it, which are sweeping the surface of the gravel road clean of any footprints.  It’s a little difficult to see the tires, but they are there in the very bottom right of the screen.  By sweeping the road, the next time they drive the road, probably early tomorrow morning, they’ll know if any people came along or over the gravel roadway.  We’re just a few miles from the border with Mexico, and within 40 miles from Del Rio, which is on the Rio Grande and right next to the Mexican border.

We’re having dinner at Chili’s (the best that Del Rio has to offer) and deciding what we’re going to do on tomorrow’s ride.  We’ll let you know tomorrow what we decided to do.  Bet you just can’t wait! 🙂

The only other thing I want to mention tonight is that I am reading a book loaned to me by Mart Lou Brogan, one of Nancy and my friends from our college years.  It’s called “The Given Day,” by Dennis Lehane.  It’s a very enjoyable read and I’ve been talking about it during almost all of our meals, but Beth, Tim and Mark might all want to read it, so I can’t give away any of the plot.  When I finish reading it, either on the plane home or possibly even before, I’m going to miss it.  It’s 700 pages long, but it’s moving very quickly.  So thanks Mary Lou, if you’re reading this!