March 7, 2014
Day 62: Comstock to wild camp 25 km west of Langtry
8:00 a.m.
We both realized (in our sleep) just how much even yesterday's effort to get here took out of us. And here is nowhere, compared to what's coming. So rather than quickly pack and go, we took a little time to rest and think. Part of that involved finding the CGOAB blog of Bob Zlystra (Southern Adventure), who passed through here a liitle over a week ago. Bob was forced to hitch hike, basically from Del Rio to Alpine, and finally fought his way to Van Horne.
We realized that we can not do a model of hopping from town to distant town. So we will just go, and when we pass a town, we will restock. We hope to have enough water and food to support one or two days with no resupply.Even wild camp sites are are rare here, since there is little but fences, border patrol dirt road, and rough scrub beside US 90. Head wind, hills, and/or rain could also send the whole project sideways.
We borrowed a magic marker and made a sign that we last thought about having way back three years ago, for crossing the wilds of Saskachewan. We didn't need it then. Will we need it now?
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WHERE WE ARE AT thanks to Michael Fleurance
https://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/guestbook/message/?message_id=547192
There is a tail wind today, which is a big help. Before we could reaslly get on the road, though, we made two stops. The first was at the little store to see if there was any food there. Not really. Have a look at the photo of our "shopping cart".The sandwich was a big score. There was a fridge labelled sandwiches and worms. On first check, I came up (triumphantly) with a pork chop. But the lady said that was her lunch! The shelf then only held worms and chewing tobacco. Closer inspection turned up a sandwich, and I am writing this a mid day fortified by my half!
If you look in the photo(when photos are posted) you will also see the despicable sign at the register that says Speak English. Grrr.
Our next stop was the little post office. We threw the man a big curve by trying to send stuff to a foreign country (Csnada). He had to phone out for advice, twice. Meanwhile we had thrown a big curve into the daily routine, and the mail remained unsorted. The man was very nice, though, and warned us about the risks of the road ahead (no towns, narrowing road, hills). I was a little glad it took so long to send our package, because I used the time to answer some guestbook messages. Encouragement from friends (most of whom we have never met) on the Guestbook means an awful lot. Also super valuable have been tips about the route ahead and research into mysteries we find (like coloured plastic balls, two of which we hav enow shipped to Montreal!).
With the tailwind and a night's rest, Dodie is cycling up the hills very well. It also helps that we sort of have a plan, and that plan does not exactly require us to reach shelter at night at a certain place. Takes the pressure off - at least until we start searching the rocky scrub for a place to crash, among the scorpions and whatever!
Wow, have things ever come together! We cycled with tail wind, which helped immensely on the long and sometimes steep ascents of the ridges here.The highway builders hel;ped out a lot by cutting through the hill tops as much as possible. These cuts revealed the sedimentary nature of the rock, which is in neat layers of varying colours. All in all it makes for a y exciting scene. We ran into one fellow, Dick, who was chipping away with a rock hammer. We hoped he was a geologist who could tell us more. He wasn't a professional, but he did have a fossil in his hand that we snapped a picture of.
Soon we came to the Pecos River, on its way in a deep channel to join the Rio Grande. The water and channel were spectacular. Nearby, on a less grand scale, were desert plants, some in bloom and some forming natural rock gardens.
To the inspiring scenery and tail wind we soon could add some other great elements. It all happened in Langtry. Langtry is slightly off route, but we decided to have a look anyway. The main attraction is the Judge Roy Bean - Law West of the Pecos visitor centre, and Texas State visitor centre. The Roy Bean story of rough frontier justice from an obvious scoundrel is taken as very dramatic here. Dodie especially thinks the man was a disgusting criminal who should not be glorified. Read the signs and look at the displays (when posted) and see what you think.
Roy Bean was not the great element I was referring to. Rather, I had already noticed some suspicious little grey dots on the Texas offical map that I thought could correspond to the picnic sites we have been raving about. The lady behind the confirmed this, and gave the distance to the next one as 15 miles. Perfect! and now we have a sprinkling of grey dots that we know are great campsites, along our difficult route of the coming week. The visitor centre also had a zillion pamphlets, some for places on our route, and the complete set of nature "trail" pamphlets, covering each region of the state, with glorious colour illustrations. Because of weight, we only picked uop a couple, for the kids. However, they can be ordered by mail too.
The second great thing was REALLY GREAT. It was the huimble looking gas station at the end of town. First off, there are huge local stone picnic tables outside. But inside was Jordon. This young lady is maybe an owner, but certainly the cook and baker. We talked about what she could make for us, quickly, and we settled on two sloppy joes. Jordon went to the kitchen to prepare them, but we quickly realized we needed four. So I stepped back there to ask her to double the order. WOW, while there were some cookies and muffins out front that we had already grabbed, here on here table was a cut up chocolate chip /nut coffee cake. And it looked terrific. Beside it was a bowl where Jordon was mixing up some other miracle, with a wooden spoon, from scratch, as it should be. She then revealed a bowl of homemade muffins, under a cloth! And also on the table was real sauteed chicken.
42 well spent dollars later, we left with all the nutrition we will need for the next day or two! A more or less easy cruise to our now known quantity camp site, and bingo - this is suddenly fun again!
At the camp (picnic) site, one glitch. Our friendly tail wind had intensified to a forceful almost gale. So how do you set up a tent that normally relies on twelve pegs on concrete in a gale? This is where good luck becomes almost crazy. some inconsiderate person must have earlier come and dumped a half dozen or so buckets filled with concrete and with a pipe sticking out of each one, at the tourist oriented picnic site garbage. Each bucket weighs over 100 pounds. I know, because I can lift my 100 pound bike, but not these.
100+ pound concrete buckets, with pipes and handles. There could be nothing better to hold down a tent in a gale, and without them, there was no way. Can you imagine!
So right now, Dodie is snug in the tent and I am finishing this story at the stone picnic table. It is vaguely possible the tent could rip apart, but generally it is looking good. The forecast is for more moderate weather tomorrow, and from here we should be able to reach Sanderson. And for breakfast, real muffins, by the wonderful Jordon of Langtry!
Today's ride: 68 km (42 miles)
Total: 3,752 km (2,330 miles)
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