Thursday March 19, 2015

What a ride we had today. We were up early and on the road by 9:00 am. The forecast was for sun and cloud, with a high of 28 C. As we left the motel we had our lights on and our high-vis jackets due to the overlying fog that surrounded the area. West of Del Rio is the Amistad National Park Area which is a large reservoir and river system – that, combined with the low cloud was causing the fog. I was hoping that the sun would come out and burn it off, but while the fog dissipated the low cloud stayed around for most of the day.

The back of my thighs were a little stiff from cleaning the bikes yesterday, but as soon as I got moving they eased up and we once again motored – we had a great tail-wind and took advantage of it.

We arrived in Comstock at a small motel at 11:30, it was our first opportunity to stop and we decided not to take it as we had cycled 48.5 ks and both of us were feeling good, plus the hotel wanted $60.00 +tax. We decided to carry on to the Seminole State Park for camping. When we got to that turn off (65.5 ks) Ralf said we could make it to Langtry at this rate. I agreed we were making good time, but did I want to cycle another 30 ks and miss the Indian Cave drawings?  It was still overcast and threatening rain.  If it rained we couldn\’t view the cave drawings.

The forecast is for rain tonight and early morning. Camping in the rain or motel in Langtry – no brainer other than the fact that it was another 30 ks to Langtry! The wind persuaded me to go for it.

The scenery today was a mix of hills and canyons, absolutely stunning.

As we cycled through the canyons you could see the layers of rocks that had been pushed up, incredible.

We stopped to chat to a group of geologists (oil company workers) who were looking at the way the layers revealed themselves on this section of the road.

I asked if this is the sort of rock they drill through for fracking. \”Yes, this is perfect fracking geology and that is why we are looking at it. This is usually underground, here it has been pushed up and we can view it\”. Ralf made his usual comment on how fracking creates its own problems. The oil company workers changed the subject and asked how far we were cycling and where we had come from.

We crossed the Pecos River where there was no water flowing, but in the event of a heavy rain, you could see where the flood water smoothed the canyon sides, the power of water.

We arrived in Langtry, home of Judge Roy Bean (Movie made about his life, Judge Roy Bean was played by Paul Newman) and went to the information centre. There are no motels in Langtry! The café does have rooms, but none were available. There is a warmshowers host, that I had emailed and requested a room for tomorrow night. He has a trailer on his property to rent to cyclists. We are a day early and could not get a hold of him.

I am sitting at the trailer while Ralf went back down to the Info Centre to try and give the warmshowers host another call. He is listed as a warmshowers host and on the ACA maps as accommodation, so I think we should be o.k. The trailer is clean(ish) and has water and gas.

Our only other option is to camp for free near the community centre, however there is no water and toilets. We can use the toilets at the Information Centre until 5:00pm.

The sun has come out and it feels really good on the back.

Another cyclist joined us at about 4:00. Ethan is cycling the southern tier from west to east. We chatted for a while before having an early night, another long day tomorrow.