Saturday March 28, 2014

We had a great breakfast, cooked for us by David’s Dad. We said our farewells to David’s parents and we were on the road by about 9:30.

David cycled with us along the Mission Trail and showed us the other two mission churches and the cultural centre for Yselta.

The Ysleta del Sur Pueblo (\”the Pueblo\”) is a U.S. federally recognized Native American tribe and sovereign nation. The Tribal community known as \”Tigua\” established Ysleta del Sur in 1682. After leaving the homelands of Quarai Pueblo due to drought the Tigua sought refuge at Isleta Pueblo and were later captured by the Spanish during the 1680 Pueblo Revolt and forced to walk south for over 400 miles. The Tigua settled and built the Ysleta del Sur Pueblo and soon after built the acequia (canal) system that sustained a thriving agricultural based community. The Tribe\’s early economic and farming efforts helped pave the way for the development of the region. The Tribe maintains its traditional political system and ceremonial practices and continues to flourish as a Pueblo community. Tribal enrollment is over 1,600 citizens and 1,500 descendants.

Although David had a wedding to go to later on today, he took the time to cycle with us and show us his area. David assisted with the rebuilding of the second mission church in Socorro. He said that the parking lot was full of home made adobe bricks. We would definitely like to see David again in Canada.

We carried on to downtown El Paso – the area we came into was mostly car dealerships about 10 miles.

We had lunch and called our warmshowers host. They were home and we made our way up the hill to their house.

Before we got to the hosts house, we spotted a great bicycle shop and stopped in to buy new back lights, and some extra electrolyte tablets. Great bike shop, we spoke to Rebecca about our trip. Her friend had bought a new road bike. She should have bought a touring bike, because I know these two will be planning a tour in the not too distant future.

We arrived at our warmshowers host, and had a nice chat with Alanna about week-long organized rides. They are moving to North Carolina in June.

We went down to the local grocery store to get our dinner. We found a quiche, finally a quiche – it was made in Canada! We had a lovely dinner, quiche, salad and avocado. Alanna and Larry were watching two of their daughters in a play tonight.

We reviewed our route for tomorrow and contacted Janet and Stephen who know of a place in Mesilla. We will be meeting up with them tomorrow at the Pecan House, a place just outside of Mesilla (Las Cruces, New Mexico).

Farewell Texas.