Day 18: Sierra Blanca TX to Van Horn TX

Before I get into todays activities I want to show off a great picture the kids sent me for my birthday.  I love them all and its great that they send the same my way. 

Thanks to all the kids, Love You

And the real angel in all of this is Sandy...

An Angel, Saint and Wife...
How did I get so lucky?    Sandy " I too am lucky!"


Today was scheduled to be an easy 35-mile ride to Van Horn, TX.  Well nothing works totally as planned.  I was thinking the ride would be 2.5 hours with little effort.  Well the winds picked up and it took 3.5 hours to do the ride.  Admittedly, this was still an active rest day but not nearly as relaxing as I would have hoped.  

We left camp this morning after spending the night in Sierra Blanca Town Park.  The park was not much but a good place to park Bessy and pitch the tent.  Unfortunately, there is no reason to visit Sierra Blanca.

Leaving camp for Day 18...

During todays ride the scenario was constant.  The most interesting thing was the train tracks vs. I-10.  I thought it was cool to see the old wood bridges and look the other way to I-10 and see concrete. 

On the left we drive trains...
On the right we drive cars...

Some other pics from the ride...

Sandy took this pic from I-10 as she drove by.


We are moving across the country...

Sandy found a wonderful RV park for us to camp in tonight and there is no camp cooking.  We went out to dinner.  The fresh peppers were wonderful and the hamburger perfect.  Of course, this had nothing to do with me being hungry. 



A few days ago, I posted the picture below asking for help on the name of the cactus.  Thanks, Claudio, for jumping in a letting me know this a Joshua Tree, a type of Yucca.  Now I need to ask, is a Yucca a Cactus. 

It a Yucca!!!!


The ride today was dominated by a bone crushing head wind.  The average speed was improved by a nice downhill coming into town. 

Start Time:  9:10 AM Mountain Time      Finish Time:  2:14 PM Central Time * we crossed a time.     

Elapse Time:  4 Hr. 3 Min.                        Ride Time: 3 Hr. 12 Min.

Distance: 34.6 Miles                                 Average Speed: 10.8 mph

Climbing/Descent: 755/1152 Ft.               TSS: 90

Average Power: 157 Watts                        Normalized Power:  167 Watts

Calories:  1812                                          Ave/Max HR: 110/127 bpm

During the ride I at one Cliff Bar and drank about 1 bottle of water.  The ride was too short for the traditional lunch.  The down time during the ride was spent fixing a flat about 2 miles from camp.  The flat is being caused by the liner that I put in for thorns.  The overlap of the liner is rubbing on the tube.  I pulled this out today and hope for no more flats.

Tomorrow is the final day before a real rest day.  We have 75 miles to Marfa TX.  As far as we can tell the town has some life and we will spend a rest day looking around.  It is TBD on whether we will camp or get a hotel.  The daytime temperature is great, but the morning is in the low 30’s with wind. 

Comments

  1. CourtneyMarch 7, 2021 at 4:14 AM

    I would also like a shout out for the marfa recommendation... as long as it’s cool. If it’s not cool, then I had nothing to do with it 🤣 -Courtney

    ReplyDelete
  2. UnknownMarch 9, 2021 at 11:20 AM

    Steve, I am glad you are enjoying the scenery! I yucca is not a cactus, but both are technically succulents. Yuccas have leaves and their flowers are different from cactuses. Now you know!
    -Claudio

    ReplyDelete

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