April 7, 2012
Day 42: To Langtry
I got up at 7 and on the road at 8:04. Early for me, but I want to get a head start on the predicted strong headwind. The sky was overcast and the humidity was astonishingly high for such an arid area. The wind was calm at first, but a headwind was noticeable after 6 miles and it grew steadily stronger during the day.
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After 20 miles I took a long stop at an abandoned store in Dryden. The town of Dryden has pretty much died. All of the businesses are vacant and about half the houses are vacant.
Later I took a long stop at a picnic area. It has shade and a low wall that gives shelter from the wind. A huge motor home arrived while I was stopped. They said that their son, daughter in law, and two grandsons will be here soon on tandem bikes. The family is biking cross country, and the grandparents are tagging along in a motor home for a few days while traveling from their winter home in Mexico to their summer home in Canada. They told me that a trailer is available for rent in Langtry.
The headwind got steadily stronger as the day progressed. The high temperature was 87F, which is not very pleasant when the humidity is high. But the high wind made it tolerable.
I arrived in Langtry at 3:15 PM. I was surprised that all 3 stores were closed on Saturday afternoon. It seems to me that Saturday would be a busy day at a tourist place like Langtry.
I took the loop road to see the Judge Roy Bean stuff. It's a Texas Welcome Center run by the Texas Department of Transportation. Kind of strange because it's not near an entry point to the state of Texas. Normally a historic place like this would be run by Texas Parks and Wildlife.
The historic stuff is well maintained, with good interpretive signs. Judge Roy Bean was the self-appointed Law West of the Pecos in the early years of the 20th century. Lots of great stories, and some of them might even be true!
I was surprised that my wife already knew about Judge Roy Bean because she saw the 1972 movie The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean which starred Paul Newman as Judge Roy Bean.
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A bit farther down the road I found the trailer for rent and learned that the proprietor Keith is a host on the Warm Showers List. I am also a Warm Showers host. This was my first time to be a guest. The trailer is a 30-foot FEMA trailer that sleeps 4. Outside the trailer is a swimming pool that I didn't use. He keeps the trailer stocked with food that he sells at cost. Very nice! There is free camping at the community center, but I don't want to camp in this heat and humidity. And a storm is forecast to come through tonight, so it will be nice to have a roof.
Today I descended from 2800 feet elevation to 1400 feet elevation but it was a strenuous day because of the strong headwind and rolling hills. Langtry is very close to the Rio Grande but the river is down in a hole and I can't see it. I can see hills a mile away that are in Mexico.
The landscape is relatively green now but nothing grows more than 5 feet high.
The area has AT&T wireless service, but no Verizon service. Fortunately the trailer has a repeater that brings Wi-Fi from the highway rest area half a mile away. I had a long Internet call with my wife.
When I went to bed I could see lightning in the distance to the west.
Distance: 63.0 mi. (101 km)
Climbing: 1563 ft. (474 m)
Average Speed: 10.5 mph (16.8 km/h)
Today's ride: 63 miles (101 km)
Total: 2,235 miles (3,597 km)
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