Day 16: El Paso, Texas

Great day for riding a bicycle.  Not a great day to be on the side of the road changing a flat tire, but then again it's never a good day to be on the side of the road changing a flat tire.  So much for the heavy duty tires, only got about 50 miles before I noticed a soft rear tire (after I stopped to get  a photo of a Christmas tree, complete with branches of tinsel, in the desert).  Actually, I think the damage might have been done during the installation process two days ago, it was a slow leak with no noticeable tire damage - my fault.

We spent 77 miles today with nearly a constant tailwind--yippeee!  The highest speed recorded on the Garmin was 29.4--not sure where that was since there were no hills to be found other than climbing into El Paso to our hotel.  What a fun day, and the SAG stops proved it with all riders being nearly giddy.



We made sure to ride today with Roger.  It is his last day with us.  Gayle will be meeting him here to take him back to the Twin Cities so they can prepare for their major bike trip in Holland.  We will miss him, but we hope to get together this summer with he and Gayle for some biking with other 2013 Coasters and/or maybe coming up to watch our friend Barb bike racing in MN.  These are special friendships that we really cherish.  It was a real treat to get to ride with him again for part of this journey.



We crossed the border of New Mexico into our fourth state, Texas.  We will be spending quite some time before the next border crossing, 19 days total before we leave Texas--from the dry desert of west Texas to the lush hill country (and one of our favorite layover days at Mexican Hill Ranch) on into east Texas.  Good thing it is such a big state with such diverse scenery.  If it was desert, I think some of us might just lose our minds before the 19 days are up!

We are in El Paso under a sunny sky and probably a high in the 70s, perfectly pleasant! Tonight we have the added benefit of a hotel room and our chef preparing meals.  Although the meals at the Columbus school were very good.  Bubba has made some great improvements to the 2015 C2C, but I still wish everyone could experience Marfa, Texas in a few days.  El Cosmico overnight--it has to be seen to be fully appreciated. 

Tomorrow we head to Fort Hancock, the sun shining bright and the wind at our backs.


UK Update:  In early, thanks to the tailwind, enjoying another hotel.  Life is Good!