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All posts for the month October, 2013

Days 1 and 2: Back in the Saddle Again

Posted by Beth on October 6, 2013

Posted in: SAG Lady. 1 comment

Day 1:

I woke up at 3:19 a.m. and figured I might as well stay awake, as I wanted to leave a little after 5. Blah blah flights were fine. On the second one, from Houston to El Paso, I talked a little with a guy who works as a management consultant for Werner Ladders, a company I’d never heard of that is responsible for most of the ladders people use. He was rich in a low-key way. It’s usually easy to tell when people are rich because they seem more relaxed than other people. And because they tell you about the property they own in Switzerland. Also he was originally from California. Sometimes I confuse rich people with Californians, but this guy happened to be both. He was very nice, in case I’m implying that rich people aren’t. Anyway, you might want to invest in stock from Werner Ladders, because I hear it’s climbing.

My main objective upon arriving in El Paso was to sleep. I took a sort-of nap until Dad called and told me I should leave to pick everybody up in Fort Hancock. Then I drove them back to the hotel and took another half nap while the guys were in the hot tub. Then we went to an okay Mexican restaurant where I looked (and felt) tired while drinking a large but weak margarita. Then we went to a depressing Barnes and Noble and I bought a couple of notebooks. Then I slept.

Hotel Art of the Day

Pebble triptych
~24″ x 16″
Courtyard Marriott, El Paso

Hotel Art Score

4/10. “Let’s frame some stock photos!” I don’t enjoy looking at this at all. And the lines in the matte make it more offensive.

Art Art Score

1.5/10. It ain’t art.

Day 2:

I woke up at 3:50 a.m. But it was actually 5:50 Eastern time, so not as bad I guess? I dropped the guys off in Fort Hancock. It was chilly but sunny and everyone was in pretty good spirits.

Ready for the long ride to Van Horn

Then I headed back to El Paso to while away some hours. First stop: the Cielo Vista Mall. I don’t get to go to malls very often and sometimes crave their reliably bland ambiance. Indeed, the most striking feature of El Paso to me is its blandness — it feels like the result of averaging all American cities together. Cielo Vista met all of my expectations.

As I wandered around looking for an ATM, a guy at a kiosk gave me a small piece of soap and said, “This is for you, it’s organic soap,” and then took it back and said, “Let me give you a paper towel to put it in,” and then took my right hand and said, “Will this make anyone jealous?” and I said no, and before I could process any of this he started buffing one of my thumbnails. He asked my name and asked about four times if I work with chemicals (I don’t take great care of my hands but his disbelief started to get insulting), and he used some magical block on my nail and finally had me compare my treated thumbnail to my untreated thumbnail and said, “Betty, do you like it or do you love it?” I said I liked it because I was pissed about his sales methods. But the treated thumbnail was much smoother than before and was remarkably shiny. He said, “We have a special offer for you today,” and that’s when I squirmed out of his grasp, organic soapless, telling him I’d think about it.

And I did think about it and I decided that I needed one of those magical nail buffers, because I couldn’t stop running my fingers over my new nail. But I didn’t want to buy anything from someone who had ambushed me. But if he hadn’t ambushed me I wouldn’t have known that my nails could feel so wonderful. But Amazon sells the thing the guy was using for about $3 and the first comment is from someone who says not to get these from the mall people, so I feel a little better.

The mall visit was just to kill some time; my real mission was to acquire a pair of cowboy boots. El Paso is, according to itself, the boot capital of the world. I did some research and learned about a factory outlet for Lucchese, a luxury boot brand. Johnny Cash wore Luccheses, and I try to emulate Johnny Cash whenever possible.

In the store, I tried on the first pair of boots that caught my eye in my size and soon realized I was going to have some trouble getting out of them. I tugged awkwardly with no success, and eventually a salesman came over and yanked them off of me, almost pulling me off of the bench, as other customers looked on and laughed. Then I went up half a size and easily found my new boots. They’re a little more ornate then what I usually go for, but I think they’re going to fade really nicely. And maybe sometimes I feel ornate! The boots are a birthday present from the guys (at least until they find out how much they cost). Thanks, guys, you’re the best!

Making Mr. Cash proud

Next objective: lunch. I’d been seeing signs for Whataburger on the highway and was pretty sure I’d never had the eponymous burger before, so I Google mapped one and had Kiri (Android’s version of Siri) guide me there. I ended up missing the turn, though, and had to circle around to get there. I saw the big “W” sign and pulled into the lot, deciding to bypass the drive-thru for a more comprehensive Whataburger experience. When I walked in I was surprised at how crappy- and old-looking it felt, with its rundown pastel pink and blue decor. This was a fast food place not excited to be itself. I ordered a chili cheeseburger for $2.15 and had some insightful observations while waiting for it to be made:

For a place called Whataburger, they sure have a lot of hot dogs on the menu.
It’s kind of strange that none of the signs in here say the name of this place.
I wonder why they’re using that Oktoberfest-style font on everything. Some kind of promotion?
Oh look, there’s another Whataburger right across the street. I guess it’s really popular.

I confirmed what you already know when I got back to my car: I was not at Whataburger. I was actually at Wienerschnitzel. I had been schnitzeled.

Okay, this W looks nothing like the Whataburger W. But I was hungry!

I took a few bites of the chili burger and said out loud, “You don’t have to eat this.” So I wrapped it up and drove over to my intended destination. The Whataburger was way better than the Mistake-a-burger. But I saved the half-eaten one and gave it to Dad later. He thought it was great.

I was happy to be in a pickup truck (more on the truck later) for the two-hour drive to Van Horn, because its threatening grille and hulking size make people move out of my way. I saw the guys on a frontage road about 15 miles away from town and knew they wouldn’t be long.

The check-in guy at the charming Hotel El Capitan was sassy and urbane. I kind of regret not getting his back story but I wasn’t feeling chatty and I don’t think he was, either.

Snacking it up in Tim’s room after the ride

We ate a nice dinner at the hotel, then Dad and I went to the dollar store for some supplies, then I helped some people relearn how to blog, then bed. Tomorrow (or today, since I’m writing this so late): Marfa, the Brooklyn of West Texas. Everywhere is the Brooklyn of somewhere these days.

Hotel Art of the Day

Hotel Paisano
16″ x 16″
Hotel El Capitan, Van Horn, Texas

Sorry for the bad photo.

Hotel Art Score

6/10. The Hotel Paisano is the owner’s sister property in Marfa. This seems to be an old photograph with some Photoshop filters applied. It’s appropriate and pleasant enough to gaze upon, though I wish the shot were framed with more space above the sign. The actual gilt frame is especially nice.

Art Art Score

3/10. Maybe I’m being harsh, but this just doesn’t feel like art to me.

Day 2 – Fort Hancock to Van Horn, TX

Posted by Brian on October 6, 2013

Posted in: Brian. 1 comment

Today’s ride totaled 76 miles and included 1400 feet of climbing, starting at an elevation of 3400 feet and getting up to about 4800 feet. Much of the time we were climbing, we had the wind in our faces. We started out on TX 20 and then took TX 192 for a while, and both of these are so-called Texas Farm Roads, where all of the vehicles using them are basically farmers. For most of the day, except when we were actually on I-10 East, we saw very few vehicles and the ones we did were U.S. Border Patrol vehicles.

We also had a chance to chat with some Border Patrol officers at a check point on I-10 East. They are all nice guys, eager to speak with crazy bikers on the way to Florida. I guess we mix up their otherwise fairly routine day.

The terrain on today’s ride was almost identical to what we’ve experienced in California and Arizona. It was the desert with cactus plants and mountains off in the distance. It is not at all tiresome to me because I find it very beautiful. I have some photos of our scenery below.

We started off at just after 9am MDT in Fort Hancock and took until about 4:30pm CDT to get to Van Horn, so our 76 mile journey today took us about 6.5 hours. We made about 4 or 5 stops, most of them short except we probably did take a 20 minute lunch break along I-10.

We were on I-10 for maybe 15-20 miles today. It’s not bad – the drivers are almost all very courteous, the truckers in particular will move over into the passing lane so that the wind they carry with them doesn’t make it to us. Once we made it to I-10, which was right after TX 192 and with a little more that 50 miles left on our ride, we were either on I-10 or the frontage road alongside of it, variously known as either I-10 business or TX 80 – they’re the same road. So here are some photos of our ride today.

Mark at our 1st rest stop along TX 192

Prickly pear cacti along TX 192. I thought we might not see many after this, but fortunately we did! 🙂

Cacti and mountains at mile marker 95 on I-10.

We were surprised at how much green vegetation there was in the desert in October – much different from what we’ve been seeing in our March sojourns.

Several times today we saw signs saying “Watch for Water in the Road.” Apparently, when it rains here, it really rains. Here is a Flood Gauge sign along I-10 Business East, that can show how high the water in the road can get. There are some months of the year when you definitely could not do this bike trip.

After getting into Van Horn, we inquired about the Catholic Church and were told it was within walking distance. But then Beth looked up the Mass schedule for us, and there were no Masses on Saturday evening! Sunday morning’s Mass is not until 10:00 am, and we have too far to ride to leave at 11 am or so and make it to our destination before sunset. So unless there are Sunday evening Masses at our next stop, our quick stop to watch the St. Theresa Feast Day celebration in Fort Hancock at the start of today’s ride, and Beth and my visit to Van Horn’s Our Lady of Fatima Church (see below) will just have to do.

Our Lady of Fatima Church, Van Horn, TX.

I took a couple of videos today. Here is one of them.

Day 1 and 2. West Texas El Paso to Van Horn

Posted by Tim on October 5, 2013

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We are staying in an old, historic Hotel in Van Horn, TX called the El Capitan. It was built in 1930 as part of a chain of hotels to help the tourism industry in New Mexico and West Texas, We’ll see another one tomorrow in Marfa called the Hotel Paisano. Very elegant features and completely restored about 10 years ago. I guess it is the classiest place in Van Horn.

Yesterday’s ride was very peaceful once we got out of El Paso. We were on what is called Farm Roads on the street signs and there was very little traffic since everyone takes I-10. Flat roads, light traffic and a tail wind. Bicycle Heaven!!!

Beth picked us up in the SAG Wagon which is a Chevy pickup truck for this leg. We drove back to our hotel in El Paso and then got dropped off this morning at Fort Hancock. We have felt like the minority several times so far and Fort Hancock was one of them. We didn’t see any anglos but everyone is friendly, even when they don’t understand us.

Today was harder than any of us were expecting. We were spoiled by the easy ride yesterday. Had a head wind a large portion of the day and we were climbing. We also were on I-10 for maybe 20 miles. When we weren’t on I-10, we were on what is called a frontage road which parallels the interstate, The surface is rough but tolerable and no traffic. We were on frontage roads for 40 miles and only two vehicles passed us and both were Border Patrol. We went thru a Border Patrol checkpoint on I-10 and were able to talk to the officers. They aren’t getting paid because of the shutdown but were promised back pay when the shutdown is over.

We have gone almost 130 miles so far. We have a ways to go this leg. I have a charlie horse tonight in my right hamstring and Mark may be coming down with a cold. Tomorrow’s ride is supposed to be 73 miles on flat roads. Hopefully easier than today. I’ll be taking some Advil tomorrow for sure.

Fort Hancock to Van Horn, TX: For some reason, it was harder than it should have been

Posted by Mark on October 5, 2013

Posted in: Mark.

75 miles (121 km) – Total so far: 127 miles (204 km)

For the Texas leg of our ride, we rented a pickup truck. There are some remote parts of West Texas where we were not comfortable with Beth being by herself, so the pickup allows us to ferry the bikes to and from stopping points while staying in the same place for more than one night. Everyone else has a pickup anyway, so Beth looks like a local. She got the cowboy boots today in El Paso after dropping us off in Fort Hancock–a cowboy hat is next. This part of the route parallels or uses I-10 the entire length from El Paso to Van Horn. When we left Fort Hancock, we were on Texas farm roads for most of the morning. They are some of the best roads we have been on yet, and had almost no traffic at all. About at the halfway point, we started to use the I-10 shoulder or the frontage road when it was available. The frontage road (pictures to follow) was like our own private bike path. Less than a handful of cars passed us for many miles. We did some climbing today and that proved to be more difficult than we anticipated. I kept waiting for the long slog uphill to Van Horn to end, but it never really did. It was uphill for at least half of the ride. It never got too steep, but it just kept going up and the crosswind / headwind got stronger as the day went on. We are in an old restored hotel called The Hotel El Capitan and it’s very nice. Our steak dinner in the hotel restaurant with a spinach salad and asparagus was a real treat. Tomorrow we are heading to Marfa. Good god I hope it’s downhill.

Here is a real picture I took of the mission church in Fort Hancock this morning.

A mobile dental children’s office in Fort Hancock. I would have gone inside if it was open. No Saturday hours for this dentist either.

Here is a cotton field.

One of nice farm roads before we had to use I-10.

The I-10 shoulder. It was load when the trucks went by. The speed limit here is 80 mph.

The frontage road was great.

The railroad tracks are next to the frontage road.

The trains are long and they travel fast.

Day 1 of Leg 3

Posted by Brian on October 5, 2013

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After another sometimes frustrating experience of assembling my Richie Breakaway, Tim and Mark and I left the hotel to purchase some groceries and to purchase a spare tire to Tim and me. Then around 11:30am, we left the hotel and began biking out of El Paso. The traffic overall wasn’t too bad, and drivers by and large were courteous.

By 12:30pm we decided to stop for lunch just outside Socorro, which was the biggest town we rode through. I have a few pictures of our stop there below. We stopped a few more times, once to repair Mark’s flat, once to call Beth to ask her to leave the hotel by 2:15pm to meet us at Fort Hancock, and once more so that I could retie my shoes, since the laces were getting too close to the sprocket for comfort. We made it to Fort Hancock just after 3pm and loaded our bikes up in the flatbed of Beth Chevy Silverado pickup truck. Then we drove back to the hotel. Tim, Mark and I took a dip in the pool and the hot tub. We showered and changed, had a few beers while Tim read to us from “Conquering the Borderlands,” and went out to a fine dinner of (what else?) Mexican food! I was in bed by 8:15pm!.

Here are some pictures from Day 1.

Mark and Tim at lunch stop past Socorro, TX

Here is what pecan trees look like with leaves on them.

Tim and Mark drying off at hotel hot tub after Day 1.

Tim reading “Crossing the Borderlands” after Day 1

El Paso to Fort Hancock, TX: A good start for West Texas riding

Posted by Mark on October 4, 2013

Posted in: Mark.

52 miles (84 km) – Total so far: 52 miles (84 km)

Yesterday was a long day—I worked a half day in the office starting at 7 a.m., and it wasn’t an easy schedule. Between fillings, 3 extractions, a crown and a few emergencies, I wondered, ” How am I ever gonna get out of here on time to make my flight?” Somehow, I did, and of course both of my flights were delayed anyway. We got into our hotel late, and I slept poorly, but I was awake by 6 a.m. and had my bike assembled quickly. I met Tim for breakfast at 8, but Brian never came down… Tim and both knew that meant trouble. We knocked on his door to see if we could help him get his bike together. He opened his door with shorts on, but no shirt. His chest and belly were smudged generously with grease stains and his fingers were black. He made a grave proclamation about committing bike murder. The three of us figured out the problems, brought the bike back to life, and Brian cleaned himself up. After a stop at the bike shop for spare tires and a trip to Walmart for Gatorade, beer, and snacks, we hit the road by 11:30. The ride through the rest of El Paso was not bad at all. We were able to get on the North Loop Rd. East easily from our hotel near the airport, and even though it has four lanes, it felt very safe: there were bike lanes and nice shoulders most of the way and the road surface was smooth. The drivers are extremely courteous in this part of the country. At the first traffic stop I picked up 2 pennies. Whenever I see loose change on the street, I think it’s going to be a good day. I did get the first flat tire of the whole trip, but with teamwork, the three of us were back riding in 20 minutes. The route out of El Paso follows The Don Juan Ornate Mission Trail. We passed through several small towns including Socorro, San Elizario, Fabens, Clint, and Acalo. A nice tailwind helped shove us along, and we made it to Fort Hancock by 3 p.m. The tall, metal border fence was visible for some of ride, as we were only about 1 mile away from Mexico for most of the day. Pecan Orchards, rows of cotton, fields of corn and alfalfa were prevalent. It was a very flat ride, too. Some of these pictures are from Google images because Brian was setting such a fast pace with the nice tailwind that we only took one break the entire ride. I’m still waiting to see my first armadillo and javelina.