Pedaling for Patriots

Another wonderful day in El Paso and we spent it resting, catching up on emails and phone calls, and doing maintenance on the van and bikes.  Rob got his hair cut by Eddie, the owner of Coronado Barber Shop.  They bonded as former Marines, while I enjoyed the weather outside.

We would like to thank all the people who have sent us messages of support and all those who have sent donations to the Memorial Fund.  It is very motivating to know that so many Americans support this cause!  (I’m sure that will help push us forward as we start to climb these mountains!)  We would also like to thank Fox News, specifically Catherine Herridge, for the great article about Pedaling for Patriots.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/10/07/khost-coast-update-cia-fundraising-ride/

What a great day in El Paso!  We were able to sleep in (yay!) and read the paper and catch up on emails.  We headed out to Scenic Drive, overlooking the city, where we were hosted for lunch by the El Paso Police Academy and Municipal Police Officers Association.  We had a great time and even got to meet a few of their bicycle patrol officers.  We were also interviewed by four local television stations, for broadcast on this evening’s news.  Many people have been eager to hear about what the CIA does and why the Memorial Fund is important.

We then headed back to the city and did a walking tour of the downtown area.  It began in San Jacinto Plaza, original site of Ponce de Leon’s ranch, wound through El Paso’s downtown historic district and ended on Mills Street at the Kress Building, home of the famous dime store.  Most of my pictures are from that tour.  We stopped and had a drink at an outside cafe (the weather was beautiful!) and then headed to the hotel for a bit, before going back out for dinner.  We’re looking forward to one more day here in this city!

Today started off with our first flat tire of the trip! (mine, front)  After a quick change, we were on our way.  We traveled along the US-Mexico border for most of our ride, passing many border patrol officers (and many who slowed down to take a look at us).  We stopped at one of the border cafes for breakfast and had a great egg and potato burrito and huevos rancheros!  We passed lots of pecan groves, cotton fields and corn fields.  We met a man, Bob Lindsey, who had traveled from Oregon and was on his way to Florida.  When we asked what he was going to do when he got there, he answered; “Turn around and head back.”

We got into El Paso, and with the help of the Garmin on the bike and Google Maps on my phone, we finally found our hotel.  We went by The Bicycle Company to drop off Rob’s bike, since he had a few broken spokes.  Then we had an AMAZING dinner at “The Garden” (I have really missed vegetables!)   We are looking forward to having 2 days off before we start riding again!

Stats:

Live Animals:  Miniature Horse, Cows, Burros, Horses, Yellow-Crowned Night Heron, Jack Rabbit, Dogs (getting a little tired of hearing squealing tires as these dogs come out to chase us!)

Dead Animals:  Snakes

This was one CRAZY day!  We started from Carlsbad, NM this morning and crossed back into Texas (where the sign said “no services for 130 miles”).  It was quite cold (about 50°) and we dressed in layers again.  We couldn’t understand why our legs were hurting so much, until we figured out that we were actually climbing into the Guadalupe Mountains.  We gained 2,600 feet of elevation over the first 12 miles of the ride!  It was slow and painful, but the scenery was beautiful!  Our pictures just don’t do it justice.  We saw lots of interesting critters, to include 2 tarantulas!

If the climb up was tough, the ride down was exhilarating!  We went 8 miles downhill at about 35 mph!  (and that’s because I kept putting on my brakes – I’m sure Rob would have gone much faster.  In fact, some of these pictures Rob took while we were riding down the mountain!)  We met Penny and Barb at the bottom of the hill, where they brought us sandwiches and drinks for lunch.  By then it had warmed up quite a bit, so we had shed most of our layers.  Unfortunately, we then had a rocky shoulder for the next 25 miles, which slowed us back down to 10 mph.

We stopped at the Salt Flat Cafe, where our phones kept changing from Central Time to Mountain Time, depending on where we were standing in the cafe.  The woman we met, and her husband, have owned the cafe since 1945.

We got the pictures from our meeting with President Bush!  They are in the album labeled “Austin to Dallas/Ft. Worth”.  Some people have asked where to find the photos.  Just go to the top of the webpage and click on “photos”.  It will take you to our Smugmug page, where the pictures are in folders by day.

Stats:

Live Animals:  Cows, Horses, Lizards, Tarantulas, HUGE grasshoppers (with cool red wings), Beetles that looked like green peanut M&M’s, Hawk

Dead Animals:  Snake, lots of tiny birds

Not much to say about today’s ride except – we were fast!!!  Our average speed was 15.5 mph!  At one point we were going 18-20mph with little effort.  The wind was at our back, the shoulders were wide and smooth, and there was no traffic (of course there were no houses, or people, or anything else, either!).  There were no towns, or gas stations, or stores between Hobbs and Carlsbad, which means, for the first time, we had to make our own bathroom.  I was also reminded how unfair the anatomical difference is between males and females!

When we left this morning, it was 49° and we were dressed in 2 shirts, jackets and I had on knee warmers and full gloves.  It never got much above 70° and then the wind shifted during the last 15 miles of our ride and we had rain the last 10 miles, so we were glad we had the extra layers!

Because we finished so quickly today, we had time to go see Carlsbad Caverns.  (Rob decided he needed a little “alone” time, without women, so he stayed at the hotel.)  Such a beautiful place!  We spent about 3 hours there, exploring the caverns and looking around the gift shop, before heading back.  All in all – a great day!

Live Animals:  Turtle, Hawk, Dogs, Geese, Ducks, Chickens, Horses, Cows

Dead Animals:  Coyote, Snake, Frog

The graphic above shows some of the major stops to come on the road ahead. Note: the program used to create this map assumes Rob & Kim will be going down major interstate highways. They won’t be, of course, but this gives a generic depiction of the road ahead.

WOO-HOO!!!  Thanks for all the prayers, and comments, and emails, and phone calls.  I was able to ride today with a little readjustment in my position.  We were also very grateful that the shoulders were wide, the road surface smooth (as you can see by one of the photos – they were also newly tarred!) and the climbs gradual.  The weather was gorgeous!  We started out in an extra shirt and a jacket but were able to shed those after about 40 miles.  We passed lots and lots of cotton fields and pecan trees.  We stopped in Seminole, but couldn’t find anything more exciting than a McDonald’s for our stop.  We passed into New Mexico (although we’re not yet finished with Texas!) right before stopping for the night.

We’re a little disappointed that we still haven’t received any of our photos from the meeting with President Bush.  We were assured that they would be on his Facebook page, but still nothing.

We drove around Hobbs for awhile this evening, but like most of the towns we have passed through, there is little to see or do.  It was IHOP for dinner.  Not very exciting, but breakfast for dinner is always a good choice!

The time has changed to an hour earlier, so we’re back to getting up at 5am!

Stats:

Live Animals:  Hawk, Cows, Horses, Goats, Llama, Dogs (2 that LOVED to chase bikes)

Dead Animals:  Mouse, Snake

So, I don’t like to think of it as losing.  He was just more persuasive.  Yes, I had to sit out today and Rob rode alone.  I know he was much faster without me, as he covered 92 miles in about 6 hours – and that’s with a lot of hills!  He left Anson this morning a little after 7am and said he froze for the first couple of hours.  He saw a couple of dead wild boars on the side of the road, but it was mainly just mile after mile of uphill climbs.  He saw a two Blackhawk helicopters flying in formation and four C130’s flying in formation at low level.  He found that quite motivating.  There were also lots of wind turbines as he passed through another wind farm.  A state police officer stopped to ask him if he was OK a few miles outside of Snyder.  When he said he was, the police officer commented, “We don’t get many bicyclists in these parts.”  The last 20 miles he put on his headphones because the ride was just so boring!

I, on the other hand, got to enjoy the “White Buffalo Days” in Snyder and shopped in a number of cute stores.  I got very excited when I read that they were having a “Bikefest”, but quickly learned that they meant MOTORcycle, not bicycle.  We all ate lunch together at the Big Apple Deli, housed in part of the historic Manhattan hotel (thus the name “Big Apple”), where the food is good but the restrooms are great!  (That’s what the menu says.)

For dinner we went to the Sky-Vue drive-in theater in Lamesa.  It was established in 1948 and is one of only 14 remaining drive-in theaters in Texas.  “The survival of this cultural landmark is largely due to the excellent food available in the snack bar. The “Chihuahua” sandwich (stacked fried corn tortillas filled with homemade chili, onions, shredded cabbage and pimento cheese with a jalapeño pepper on the side) is a specialty of the snackbar and many local residents order takeout even when they don’t watch the movie. Before he became famous, musician Buddy Holly once performed on top of the concession stand building.”

Stats:

Time:  6 hours

Distance:  92 miles

Live Animals:  Horses, Miniature Horses, Cows, Goats, Dogs

Dead Animals:  Boar, Hawk, Snake, Porcupine, Frog

We left Mineral Wells this morning on our tuned-up, cleaned-up bikes and headed west.  We kept going and going and going and going and 50 miles later we hit the first town!  We really didn’t see much of anything, but the shoulders were very wide and the drivers gave us plenty of room.  It was a beautiful day and we actually had to wear jackets for the first part of the ride.  We stopped for a grilled cheese sandwich at Beemer’s Buckaroo Bakery in Breckenridge (say that 3 times fast!) and while we were there John Thomas heard why we are riding and gave us a VERY generous donation!  That made it much easier to head back out.  The road was VERY bumpy and we never got over 10 mph all day.  Some of the hills we climbed had us going only 5 mph!  We went on a 1/2 mile bridge over the Hubbard Creek Lake, which was very pretty.  We also went through the Trent Wind Farm which has about 150 wind turbines.  We had a great dinner at Lytle Land & Cattle Company, complete with a “swirl” (Raspberry Margarita swirled with Sangria).

Right now Rob and I are having a “discussion” about tomorrow’s ride.  Since my tailbone is not completely healed, I had a hard time riding today and kept shifting around trying to find a comfortable spot.  This caused me to ride differently, which has made my knees hurt.  But, I think I can make tomorrow’s ride, as it will be only a little over 60 miles.  So, watch this space tomorrow to see the outcome!

Stats:

Live Animals: Lizard, Cows, Horses, Sheep, Goats, Too many dogs to count, Heron

Dead Animals:  Turtle