Walking back to our rooms last night and again going to breakfast this morning, I enjoyed a panoramic view of a night sky with more stars and planets than you ever see on the East Coast. Apparently West Texas is famous for its night sky because there is so little light pollution. There is an observatory on the top of the Davis Mountains, called the McDonald Observatory.

Mark had a brilliant idea at breakfast of going to Fort Davis and riding to Marathon from there instead of Marfa. Simply brilliant Mark. Much more interesting scenery including a tarantula crossing the road right in front of the bikes. I was too scared to stop and get a picture. No mechanical issues today with the bikes.

I am very impressed with the Gage Hotel. We are staying in the Captain Sheppard House which is a block or so from the rest of the hotel. It has 5 rooms and we have 4 of them. No one is in the 5th so we have the house to ourselves. Definitely our nicest accommodations of all three legs. Hopefully some one else will post pics. As you might have guessed by now, I haven’t figured out how to do that.

We planned to meet at a free breakfast at our hotel at 6:30 and get on the road by 7 am. Slight problem–when we switched to Central time coming into Van Horn last night, we didn’t realize sunrise wouldn’t occur until 8 am. OOPS. So we killed another hour before we left Van Horn. Good thing–it was freezing for the first hour or two of our ride until the sun warmed things up.

I found the ride very enjoyable for the first half. When we left Jeff Davis Co. we also left a smooth road and found ourselves on a rough chip seal road. Then a head wind picked up making our ride tedious. Today I had energy and set the pace, sometimes too fast, and had to be coaxed to a slower pace. We met Beth in Marfa and split a pizza before loading the bikes in the truck for our drive to Marathon. The next two nights we stay in another historic hotel called the Gage Hotel.

The road paralleled train tracks almost our whole ride, so we occupied ourselves counting cars on freight trains and one Amtrak train. We also picked out lone trees and antenna poles and one stationary blimp in the distance and quessed how far away they were from our present location. Things are a lot further away than we thought in this wide open country. What can I say–it passed the time on a long ride.

Tomorrow is a 60-mile ride from Marfa to Marathon. We pass thru one decent size town called Alpine which has a state university called Sol Ross State Univ. Can’t say I ever head of it.

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.

This was a great day of riding, that is until we got to the city traffic in El Paso. The road we took from Las Cruces is called ‘the farm road’ and is aptly named. There were miles and miles of farms on both sides of the road, especially pecan orchards. It is all irrigated agriculture. We saw dozens of road kill dead skunks, perhaps attracted by the pecan trees. We saw several wineries for the first time since leaving California.

The road was flat and smooth and had a nice paved shoulder most of the way. This trip has been remarkable for the lack of other cyclists we have seen, but today we saw dozens of other cyclists on the ‘farm road’. I guess it’s a haven for cyclists in the area. A let down was when we realized that we were in Texas. There is no ‘Welcome’ sign. That has always been a photo op for us. Oh well, we’ll get over it. Texas, our fourth state, four more to go. I guess I am getting ahead of my self. The combined mileage of the trip so far is less than the miles we have to cover (1124) just to get across Texas.

Some observations about Leg 2 of our trip:
The roads were a little better.
Scenery was spectacular because of the mountains.
Litter along side the roads in Arizona was depressing. Miles and miles of broken bottles and trash that no one picks up. There weren’t any trash receptacles either.
Perfect weather, again. I hope carmaker doesn’t get even.
No flats, pretty amazing.
Other than Brian’s one fall, no mishaps.
Last but not least, the best and most entertaining Sag Lady anyone could ask for. You done well, Brian and Nancy.

Thanks for all the support from you guys back home. It really helps. Until the next leg….

There is one word that would describe today–LONG. You forget how far 90 miles on a bike is when you are doing this much cycling. Fortunately the weather was excellent. Our trend continues, cool in the morning and warm in the afternoon. In fact it was in the 70’s this afternoon.

The shift in terrain was probably the most dramatic of any day. We started in the mountains. Then dropped down into dessert-like terrain. Then into irrigated agriculture and finished in suburbs. I haven’t seen downtown Las Cruces. Maybe we are in it.

It was great to be greeted at the door to the hotel by Mary, Nalla and Souk and of course Beth. They finally figured out why Brian’s GPS tracking device wasn’t working this afternoon. I assume that was how Beth knew exactly when we would arrive. I am sure Beth wishes she had figured that out sooner. One more day: Las Cruces to El Paso. Supposed to be about 56 miles and flat.

What a day. It was our coldest start yet, but as usual, we started shedding our extra layers at each stop. For some reason we made good time despite all the climbing. I guess we all had extra nervous energy stored up for today. We all seemed to have a mindset that we didn’t want to hit any downhills. We earned that elevation and we didn’t want to give it back. The only consolation to a downhill was the distance we were covering when we did get a coast.

The road you take to go over Emory Pass has almost no traffic. It seems that most people avoid it because the driving time is increased with all the switch backs. You are in the Gila (pronounced ‘HELA’) National Forest for most of the ride. The scenery was the best yet. The air in the Natl For smelled so crystal clear. You felt like you we’re breathing some of the cleanest air on the planet. Beth caught up to us at the perfect moment, about 5 miles from the summit. I was out of water and snacks and Brian and Mark were pretty low.

When we reached the summit, we rode another 150 yards to get to the vista. I highly recommend stopping to check it out. You can see for 30 miles on a clear day. We could easily see the town of Kingston where we were stopping.

Then the scary part starts–the descent. We all had both hands on our brake levers and took one break just to rest our hands. A little tricky when cars had to get around us. Thankfully it was minimal on the switchback portion of the descent.

The destination was the Black Range Lodge where we cooked dinner for ourselves and the proprietors. Or should I say Brian and Beth cooked dinner. Mark and I did the dishes. Then we played pool (Mark and I against Beth and Brian). I bet that doesn’t make it into Beth’s blog. Absolutely our most exhilarating day of biking since we started in San Diego.

Now the fun starts. Today was the first of our two days of climbing. It’s not that the hills are insanely steep it’s just that they are so long. We have hills this steep in PA, but they don’t go on for miles on end. Our first hill today was about 12 miles. Not excessively steep, just looooonnnnngggggg.

As the day went on, the wind increased and became a stiff cross wind. It was so strong at times that it felt like it was going to blow you and your bike off the rode. When the wind is blowing that hard it feels safer to be going at slower speeds. When we had descents, we all rode our brakes to keep our speeds down. We all agreed that biking today with the cross wind was scarier than the tunnel. I hope this doesn’t freak you out Mar.

Mark was his entertaining self today. I can’t believe Brian posted that video. We needed the laughs to take our minds off our quads. I am confident we will get thru tomorrow. It should be the most challenging day of the trip. We have to get over Emory Pass which is 8228. I think I read somewhere that we will climb 4000 feet tomorrow. Hey if this was easy, everyone would be doing it. Well, maybe not everyone.

After a great night’s sleep we rolled out of the motel parking lot at our usual 7:40am. When we got out of Safford, it was so crystal clear that I was struck by the first (and only verse I know) of Oklahoma.  So I belted out: ‘O what a beautiful morning, o what a beautiful day…’  I’m sure you know the rest of that verse.  Little did I know that that song would reverberate in Mark’s head for the rest of the day. Sorry about that little buddy.

As in the past mornings, we started shedding layers after an hour or so. It struck all of us how little traffic there was this morning. It helped that it was Sunday for sure. We went for 5 minutes many times without seeing a car in either direction. It reminded me of some of the running scenes in ‘Forrest Gump’. At one point Mark and I quested how many miles ahead there was this bend in the rode we could see. It turned out to be 6 miles.

We met up with Beth in Duncan, AZ for lunch at Ol Joe’s Cafe which is mentioned in ‘Conquering the Borderlands’. They do listen to my reading every night. We also passed the entrance to Sandra Day O’Connor’s family ranch which is also mentioned in the book.

The highlight was the tailwind after lunch, hence the title of this post. It was nothing short of marvelous. (I won’t tell you what Mark said, Holly). That was the fastest 78 mile ride I have ever done. Way to go God. My prayers were answered today. Lets see what tomorrow brings.

After our usual 7 am breakfast at the hotel, we were off and riding at 7:40 am.  Skies were crystal blue and temps about the same as yesterday.  Looking forward to an easy 75 mile ride.  Not exactly.  76.7 miles to be exact and the extra hours in the saddle started to chafe all of our butts.  We made it but not without some pain.  The scenery is getting more and more breathtaking with each passing mile.

The highlight was ice cream cones at Taylor Freeze in Pima.  What a throwback in time.  It reminded all of us of a Dairy Queen when we were growing up.  Somebody even mentioned Dinny and the trips to the airport on Sunday nights to watch the planes come in for landings at the end of the airport runway, followed by ice cream, Dinny’s treat.

Tomorrow is a repeat of today (77 miles) but with some climbing thrown in for good measure.  We fortified ourselves with our first steak dinners of the trip.  I intend to wear long pants tomorrow.  My right leg is pretty sunburnt, despite multiple applications of sunscreen.  It needs a rest day from the sun.  A rest day from biking will not come until next Friday after we reach El Paso.  Many miles still to ride.

I think I can.  We got an early start after a great sausage and eggs breakfast.  OOPS-forgot about Lent.  The first climb wasn’t too bad so I started feeling confident.  All those spin classes at the Y really paid off. Thanks Steve, Joe, Gina and Frank!  After lunch in Superior, Az, we started for the Queen Creek Tunnel.  We resumed climbing to the mouth of the tunnel where Sag Lady was waiting for us. Brian had his first fall this trip-a nasty one on gravel.  Bloodied his knee and bruised his hip but he is a trooper.

The tunnel wasn’t bad.  One car was honking at Sag Lady for driving so slow but gave a friendly honk, if there is such a thing, when it passed her and realized what she was doing-protecting three old men Wearing spandex.  From there the ride kept rising for many miles ultimately reaching our highest elevation at 4,888.

Then the down hills started. Brian and Mark were much better than last year, not going all out.  They still go faster than I am willing to go but I catch them pretty quickly on the flats and up hills.  All in all a good day.

Can’t wait to read reactions to the video posts. Don’t forget to check out Sag Lady post and cast your vote to name the sag car.