Another day which should have been easy – flat all the way – but which proved really tough due to a continuous headwind.
Heading east out of El Paso along route 76 to Fabens, where I had some decent tacos for lunch, then along route 20 which runs alongside Interstate 10, there was little of interest on the way. It was just a long hard slog to keep going against the wind, and by the time I reached Fort Hancock, which had a reasonable motel, I was glad to stop.
Distance today just 54.8 miles, total so far 988.5 miles
Wednesday 14th May
The headwind continued all day, and the entire day was spent either on Interstate 10, or, in some sections, a service road that ran directly parallel to it.
At least the road surface was good, there was a decent wide shoulder on the interstate, and the large trucks thundering past were generally very considerate in giving me a wide berth.
There was very little in the way of services during the day's ride. The only town on the way was Sierra Blanca (pop 530) which had a service station where I had lunch, and this historic church:
Later I passed the time zone marker and arrived in the Central Time zone:
Around 4pm I reached Van Horn, which had plenty of motels, and a number of restaurants to choose from. I had a drink in the very well preserved historic El Capitan hotel, which had a really nice bar:
Distance today 66.2 miles, total so far 1054.7 miles
Thursday 15th May
This was another day where there were little or no services for a very long way. Heading east from Van Horn, remaining on the service road parallel to I-10, there was a service station after 20 miles, where I made sure to get plenty of food and drink to last me for the next 70 miles, as there were no further services until Fort Davis.
After the service station, the service road ended and the route rejoined I-10 until the ghost town of Kent, at 38 miles, where it left the interstate and joined route 118, a quiet, lonely, narrow road which began climbing immediately and continued to do so for another 30 miles, to an altitude of over 6000', then it continued to undulate for anothet 10 miles before descending to Fort Davis, at 5000':
Just before reaching Fort Davis I passed by the Mc Donald observatory, one of the largest telescopes in the US:
The motel at Fort Davis was in a pleasant setting with a scenic backdrop:
The town centre had some good historic architecture:
Distance today 90.2 miles, total so far 1144.9 miles
Friday 16th May
In the morning I noticed that one of the spokes in my rear wheel had broken. Fortunately there was a bike shop at Alpine, 24 miles along today's route and I made it there without further problems.
The route to Alpine continued along highway 118; there was some fine mountain scenery on the way:
Despite the unassuming facade, this proved to be an excellent repair shop owned by a very helpful and competent bike mechanic, John, who fixed a new spoke for me and trued the wheel very quickly.
However there was a further problem. I went for lunch in Alpine and on returning to the bike, found that the rear tyre had gone flat. It turned out that the valve stem had separated from the rest of the tube. So it was back to John's shop again, fortunately close by, to purchase yet another innertube and have it filled with slime sealant.
Eventually I was on my way again. From Alpine the route rejoins route 90, and continues on it for the next few days.
I decided to stop at Marathon, which I reached around 4pm, as it was another 55 miles to the next town. I had a drink in the very pleasant Gage Hotel, then found some good, and free, accommodation in the quirky La Loma Del Chivo hostel, which offers free accommodation to long distance cyclists:
Gage Hotel
La Loma Del Chivo
Distance today 60 miles, total so far 1204.9 miles
Saturday 17th May
It was a gentle coast downhill for the 55 miles to Sanderson, the next town, and I made good swift progress.
Despite styling itself the “cactus capital of Texas” didn't see many cacti there, nor indeed anything of much interest. So I continued along this very quiet section of Route 90, which had very few facilities along the route. I stopped at Dryden, which had a very small general store, for some lunch:
The scenery continued to be rugged, with mountains and cactus-filled canyons:
During late afternoon a headwind developed and my pace became considerably slower. It was almost dark by the time I reached the next available accommodation, a rather basic motel at the tiny hamlet of Langtry:
Distance today 112 miles, total so far 1316.9 miles
Sunday 18th May
The winds from the east continued all day, making progress very slow and hard. Along this stretch of Route 90 there are quite a few canyons:
The railway line runs close to the road and I saw some very long goods trains:#
After about 20 miles the route crossed the Pecos River:
I had lunch at Comstock, the only services along today's stretch, and while I was there I met 2 other Southern Tier cyclists, Niki and Rory, who were travelling in the opposite direction:
The headwind seemed to get worse as the day wore on and for most of the time my speed didn't get above about 7 mph. It was late afternoon by the time I crossed the very long bridge over the Amistad reservoir:
I reached Del Rio, the day's destination, at about 7.30pm, after a tough day. I covered about half the distance I managed yesterday, yet it seemed a much harder day due to the headwind.
Distance today 57.5 miles, total so far 1374.4 miles
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