Day 65: Wild Camp to Marathon

March 10, 2014

We made the run to Marathon quite handily this morning, kicking ourselves gently for not having made it yesterday.

I tried to claim this was a scene from Dune, but dodie wouldn't hear of it

As long as the mountains stay over there, we are fine!

This pullout 10 km east of Marathon has no table or shelter, but one could put a tent there

The Marathon story - should be possib le to read some of it by zooming

Looking at the map, it was clear that there was no advantage in rying to go further than Marathon today. The next stop could have been a picnic site 35km further on, but then the stop after that would be a picnic site after Alpine or maybe after Marfa. Our basic choices through this area are to go motel to motel, in Marathon, Alpine, and Marfa before launching into the void, trying to reach Van Horn, 125 km from Marfaor to go picnic site to picnic site, before jumping into the same void.

Picnic site to picnic site would leave us with no power (since the failure of the rim on the wheel that had the dynamo). On the other hand, with no cell service or internet, why do we need power? Well, there is the camera, the lights and flashers, the ipod, the movies! We can theoretically, but not happily, do without those, and the solar panel could actually maintain at least the camera, so ..

Part of this issue was resolved for us when we found the most likely motel at Marathon filled up. Spring Break is the culprit. It could easily seal us out of motels in the other towns as well. We will try phoning ahead to find out. Meanwhile we are camped at the motel (and RV park) and actually the $10 fee feels a lot better than the $70-80 for a room would have.

With most of the day free now to be in Marathon, we are looking forward to lunch in a restaurant. Right now, I am parked - as usual - on a bench outside the post office. A little chastened by yesterday's failure to make it here, and maybe looking at the example of Elisabeth and Lukas, we are lightening the load, to increase speed for the jump to Van Horn.

The more or less only restaurant along the little strip that comprises the town was Johnny B's, and it was getting set to close in 1/2 hour. We zipped inside and got a table beside some Mexican guys, who in our nds really added to the decor. Actually the staff and most of the customers were also of hispanic background. The place itself was straight out of the fifties, so all in all it was a great package.

Sitting here we had a chance to check the sections of Steve and Cindy Weber's blog for the stages we will be going through. Their page for when they got to Marathon is href="https://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/page/?page_id=356876"> here . They were headed west to east, and it was the next day that Cindy was struck down 12 miles from here by a careless driver. We had thought that the accident happened west of here, on the way from Alpine, but no, we had just ridden through what was the accident scene. This was shocking to us, because we were preparing ourselves to be nervous, tomorrow. Dodie pointed out that in what was the true area she had been inexplicably nervous today and was taking extra care about where we were on the road.

Steve and Cindy's blog is still going, and was last updated February 28. Please check there to see how they are doing, and send Cindy a guestbook message.

The food in Johnny B's was slow in coming and of very low quality. Dodie says she liked hers, but she was so hungry her opinion could be biased. I ate mine - what is "Chicken fried steak" anyway. I could not really figure it out from mine, based on flavour or texture! On the other hand, when I found that a wiser patron had not eaten theirs, at at outside table as we were leaving and the restaurant had closed, I downed another one. Actually, this was the one billed as "steak fingers" but it was the same thing, just in strips.

The motel has a most lovely central garden, enclosed by adobe walls and with a fountain providing a lovely trickling sound. The water in it is ice cold, too, and since at mid afternoon it is really very hot, a splash on the face is very refreshing. We have been able to sit at a shaded table here, and have found two plugs to recharge our various devices.

We also pulled Dodie's back tire and had a look not only at the slash but also at another nice hole, from which I had pulled a glass shard. With the shard, it was the Rhinodillo that prevented the flat, while actually the Marathon Plus had survived the slash on its own. We put woven tire repair boots in both spots nonetheless, and put the whole thing back together.

We hope this tire patch will keep Dodie's bike going

Glass damage and the Rhinodillo showing how it stopped the flat

Dodie spent $50 on not much stuff at the grocery store. The cost of things here seems like it could be Alaska! She then reorganized our stuff to shift weight from her to me, refilling space that had been created by the mailback. This will go unnotivced by me, due to my great strength (!), but we hope it will allow Dodie to set a faster pace.

With the remaining time today, we will go online and order more tires and stuff that will be needed for Europe. That trip will begin pretty much as soon as this one is done, so we need the stuff to be there. The sun is sinking, so we will now upload and caption photos from today, and get on it!

Part of the lovely courtyard at the motel.

Chia, the very helpful postmistress at Marathon

Johnny B's cafe, Dodie sits with the more atmospheric customers

Our tablet tells us Cindy's story, as we sit 12 miles away from the scene

Today's ride: 35 km (22 miles)
Total: 3,887 km (2,414 miles)

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