Day 31: To Van Horn

March 27, 2012

The overnight low of 50F was warmer than I expected for 5800 feet elevation. The morning was warm and sunny. I relaxed a bit in camp because I was still very tired from yesterday. On the road at 9:30.

Walk in campsite at Pine Springs campground, Guadalupe Mountains National Park.

On US 180 I backtracked a couple hundred yards north to the Butterfield Overland Mail historic site. This site was the highest supply station on the nation's first cross-country stagecoach route.

The 6-horse/mule stagecoaches operated day and night, traveling 120 miles per day. St. Louis to San Francisco in only 25 days. Each luxury stagecoach carried 12,000 letters for the U.S. Mail, plus 9 passengers and some baggage.

It operated successfully starting in 1858, but the 6-year government contract was terminated in 1861 when Civil War made the route impossible to operate.

Ruins of the Pinery station of the Butterfield stagecoach line.

Heading south on US 180, the summit is very near the campground turnoff. I expected more climbing but the road is mostly level as it wraps around El Capitan. The road is a 4-lane divided highway for 10 miles as it wraps around the Guadalupe mountains.

The road descends steeply on the south side of El Capitan. A highway rest area has an impressive view of El Capitan rising 3000 feet above the desert. It's the south end of a 60 mile long escarpment that starts small near Carlsbad Caverns, and gets gradually higher as it runs southwest to the Guadalupe mountains. The Guadalupe mountains appear barren when viewed from the desert, but the inner canyons are mostly forested.

The south side of El Capitan is the abrupt end to a 60 mile long escarpment.

After US 180 finished descending into the flat valley I turned left onto highway 54 which goes south to Van Horn. 55 miles of chipseal with no services. The paved shoulder is narrow and somewhat rough but the traffic was only 1 car per 5 minutes.

I crossed into Central time zone. Sunrise and sunset will be much later now.

Guadalupe mountains in the distance. The ZipShot tripod makes a handy bike stand.

It's a beautiful route. The road climbs gently from 3700 to 4600 feet, with imposing mountains almost always visible in several directions.

Yesterday I could only go 8 mph on the flat because of a strong headwind. Today I go 16 mph on the flat thanks to a tailwind. That really improves my outlook.

Sierra Diablo mountains and highway 54 north of Van Horn.

The temperature climbed to 90F during the afternoon. No shade anywhere. For the first time during this tour flies were attracted to my sweaty arms.

I will pedal to the 3 highest mountain ranges in Texas.

15 miles from Van Horn the road climbs steeply to cross the Baylor mountains, then descends to a big valley. The last few miles are flat. I arrived in Van Horn at 6 PM and got a $34 room at Budget Inn. Van Horn has an abundance of cheap motel rooms, as cheap as $25. The town might allow camping in the city park, but the highway and train noise would be extremely bad. I have daylight past 8 PM now that I'm in the Central time zone.

I had dinner at Chuy's Mexican restaurant. I ate there once before-it's decent. Its claim to fame is that football announcer John Madden eats here while criss-crossing the country in a motor coach.

Semi-famous Chuy's Mexican restaurant in Van Horn.

Today was sunny with a high of 85F and a north wind. I started the day still feeling tired from the previous day. Today's route has no services, water, or shade. But it was fairly easy thanks to the tailwind and gentle terrain. It felt good to get out of the sun, in an air-conditioned motel.

Distance: 70.2 mi. (112 km)

Climbing: 1270 ft. (385 m)

Average Speed: 12.6 mph (20.2 km/h)

Today's ride: 70 miles (113 km)
Total: 1,710 miles (2,752 km)

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