Day 70: Fort Hancock to Tornillo to El Paso: Bonk!

March 15, 2014

When we made our fairly early stop yesterday, we told ourselves it would allow us to get on the road early today, like maybe 4:30 a.m. However as might be predicted it was all of 7:30 a.m. before we finally straggled up on to I-10. The wind had eased slightly in the night, but now was blowing very briskly. This as we know is what turns cycle touring into a slog on the equivalent of an exercise bike. So we got on our exerecise bikes and just kept cranking away.

Back on I-10. Mountains by Rio Grande in the distance.

We thought these officials might have stopped to advise us to get off the Interstate, but in fact they were attending to an overturned car. Note, the photo also shows I-10 to benot exactly flat at this point.

Over I-10, heading for the plain in front of the mountains.

That big bold ACA route line that wants you down on 20 rather than on I-10 continued to exert its magnetic attraction.Very quickly we told ourselves that I-10 was running along a slightly hilly ridge, while 20 was down in the dead flats. So we took the Acala turn off, to head down to 20 once more. The road to Acala turned out to be gravelly sand. That's just like giving the tension knob on your exercise bike an extra twist. So we just cranked harder, occasionally swerving this way and that, until we reached the sanctuary of 20.

20 was not really much of a sanctuary, since although it has a hard surface it had no shoulder. Moreover, the wind had either intensified or was just windier down here. So we ended up drafting, with me going straight down the middle of the lane and Dodie behind and to the right. With the wind buffeting the ears, it is not possible to hear oncoming cars. So I just told myself since there is no shoulder, I am in the road anyway, might as well be dead centre. And if a driver missed seeing me one way, maybe they would still hit me even if I were a foot to the right.

Drafting helped some. but as we have already learned, when a wind wants to gust to 50 mph there is not much you can really do.Our target remained Fabens, same as yesterday. It was just 40 km - you should be able to just walk that if necessary. Actually not true, pushing a bike into a wind can actually be very tough.

The spanish part of this notice is so short. Joni, does it say the same as the English?

Dodie found what we think is a baby goathead plant.

This is part of the irrigation system for the pecans

It's a long time since we have seen the rare and elusive green Bud, but how about this exotic variant!

Well readers, if you are getting tired of reading these wind based sob stories, think how we feel, trying to cycle them! Anyway, Dodie did pretty well, cranking or pushing for six or seven hours to progress 30 km. Finally she stopped, parked her bike, took off her helmet, and sat down on the road. That was pretty organized, but then she keeled over sideways.She did not collapse, exactly. OK, she collapsed, but not in a heart attack kind of sense. I knew she would eventually revive, but I was concerned that her helmet was off, so she was in the full sun. I sat down so as to cast shade on her, and waited for her to spring back to life.

A couple of pickups passed, without reacting to this scene, but the third and fourth were Jonathan and his cousins, brothers Richard and Art. They all were returning from a Saturday fishing outing to nearby Hideaway Lake. They had had no luck, and the wind was too high for the BBQ to cook their burgers in, so they decided to go cook at home, in El Paso. They turned around when they passed us and walked back to ask if they should dial 911. I tried to reassure them that this was not necessary. I had seen this before. On the other hand neither could I get any response from Dodie.

She did actually manage to get up quite quickly, aided by a potent Werther's Original. Meanwhile a Fedex truck also stopped. Dodie was then with it enough to ask the driver if she could be Fedexed home. Both pickup trucks (of Jonathan, Richard, and Art) were full of fishing and picnic gear, but we decided to just dump one bike on top of everything, in each one. So no Fedex home, but a lift to Fabens! When we got there we lifted the bikes off. Once out of the trucks, we were all blown by the still very strong wind. Richard or Art realized that they were continuing in the same direction that we were ultimately heading. So we transferred picnic stuff from one truck to the other, reloaded the bikes onto one truck, and sailed off down I-10 toward El Paso.

While I-10 was a goood cycling road out in the valley, from Socorro in it became increasingly what would have been cycle unfriendly. Construction took away the shoulder for significant stretches, and there were on and off ramps. Safe in the truck, the brothers took us to a motel on I-10. They refused any help with the gas cost, saying they were heading this way anyway. With exhortations for us to stay safe, they were off. Road angels!

We are actually about five miles past the turnoff for loop 375, the road we need for the Anthony Gap, the way through mountains we will take North toward Las Cruces. Winds for tomorrow are forecast from the North. These Grampies just keep banging their heads against the wall. Are they nuts, or what? Maybe just crazyguys on some bikes!

Oh no, the fifth time the bikes are loaded onto a pickup!

In the wind at Fabens, we all rethink the options

Closer in to El Paso, I-10 is definitely not bicycle territory

The brothers unload the bikes at Quality Inn

Our road angels recommended La Malinche restaurant, and they were right. Quality and flavour was great, service too. We hope the large quantities will still give us strength tomorrow, supplemented by the motel breakfast.

Rain and heavy wind still reign in el Paso tonight.

The lights of Juarez. This is pretty much as close to Mexico as we are going to get.

Juarez, of course, brings to our minds Bob Dylan's classic, which we prefer sung by Judy Collins:

When you're lost in the rain in Juarez
And it's Eastertime too
And your gravity fails
And negativity don't pull you through,
Don't put on any airs
When you're down on Rue Morgue Avenue;
They got some hungry women there
And they really make a mess outta you.

Today's ride: 31 km (19 miles)
Total: 4,101 km (2,547 miles)

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