Texas Photos

Fort Davis, Texas

Dawn and I at Davis Mountain Indian Lodge State Park

Tom Pinske and his 45 foot coach in Van Horn

March 25 - 57 miles from Marathon to Sanderson. After our miserable night of wind and lack of sleep, the day turned out fine. The wind was mostly in our favor and we hauled down the road. We met up with 3 different cyclists traveling the same route as ours except from the south to the west. They were self support (carrying all their gear including camping supplies). We also met a young gal who has been circumnavigation the USA on her bike for the past year. I can't even imagine doing that solo. The big excitement for the day is that Dawn and Mike almost hit a javinlina on their tandem bike going down the road. That's all for now.

A Better View of Texas

March 22 - Dawn and I chose wisely; to ride in the motor home to Ft Davis State Park and avoid the 2300 foot climb. Hilly, headwinds and a long day was in store for the guys. They averaged 6-8 mph over 23 miles. Rode highway 118 and ended the day riding 52 miles. That is Denise's description of the ride. Here is mine. Mike and I rode three miles up I-10 to Kent, where we turned onto Texas 118. The best way to describe that road is, "the worst chip seal road Yakima County has to offer." On top of that, we faced a 10 to 15 mph head wind that ripped down the valleys, not minding the direction you were riding. But that's not the topper. I rode 15 plus miles with a semi-flat that I wasn't aware of, making the journey feel like I had the drag brake on. Yes, we did fix the flat after several attempts to refill the innertube. Bonked to the top is what it felt like. The best view of the day was the McDonald Observatory. It seemed that I had a new lease on life, at least my legs felt that way. Then came the 2500 foot decent into Ft. Davis. What a ride, just let it rip and fly with the wind. That's a better description of Mike and I's ride.

March 23 - Rest day at Ft Davis - We spent the day touring the fort which was active in the 1800's. Its the best remaining example of a frontier Army Fort left in the country. It was home to the 10 Calvary Regiment, also known as the "Buffalo Soldier's". Then across the road to an ice cream parlor made from an old railroad caboose. Then in the evening we went to a "star party"at the McDonald Observatory. The night ended up being a little cloudy but we were still able to see the moon, saturn, Orion's nebulus, and star clusters. It was pretty interesting. We are seeing beautiful starry nights.

March 24 - 60 miles from Ft Davis to Marathon, TX. (the middle of nowhere) Strong tailwinds made the going great. On my share of the ride, I averaged 20.4 mph. It is hard to describe the vastness of Texas. You ride along and see an entrance to a ranch and wonder how far removed from the road the ranch is and how many thousands of acres it encompasses. We also have never seen such long trains. Each train has over 100 double decker cars chugging down the tracks.

Last night we pitched our tent and we thought the wind would die down. Boy were we mistaken. Winds close to 20 mph blew all night. Russ had it staked well but it rattled all night. It seemed like I didn't sleep a wink, however, at some point in the early morning, I awoke to calm skies. Everything was covered in grit when we took down the tent. At least we survived another night. There is nothing between here and our next town 60 miles down the road. I am starting the day driving and will switch with Dawn halfway down the road. We are in the Central Time Zone so it doesn't get light until 7:30 or so in the morning. Then it takes a while for the sun to rise and warm up. We hit the road by 9:00 yet still rather cold out. Ya'all take care now.

The Lone Star State

Everything is big in Texas

Trains, trucks, sage brush, cotton fields, pecan fields and long roads are our first impressions of Texas. Oh - flat and windy also, both head winds and tail winds. And did I mention dust.

March 18 - Leasburg State Park to Canutillo. Strong head winds made the going tuff today. The guys managed 48 miles and I did 24. We crossed into Texas. Can't say that I am impressed. Miles and miles of not much but small dusty towns that are mainly deserted.

March 19 - Canutillo, Texas to Tornillo - 55 miles. Today we had to ride through El Paso. It was stressful negotiating the city. We had to ride right through the core of the city and it seemed that we hit every red light. We stopped at a Burger King to eat our sandwiches later in the day and to take a needed rest break and I asked the gal what city we were in and she said "El Paso". I couldn't believe that we were still in the city. Side winds and tail winds allowed us to ride fast once we left the city. We followed a route that took us beside the Mexican Border and the Rio Grande. Our secondary roads are surrounded by miles and miles of cotton fields. Finding camping is becoming more difficult. We ended up at a fishing lake campground that was a real dive. That evening, our strong tail wind turned into a wind storm with gusts up to 40 mph. It was pretty scary especially since folks have mentioned that this is tornado season. (Another thing to worry about.)

March 20 - Tornillo to Sierra Blanca. 54 miles. This morning it was so cold that everyone was miserable for the first few hours. The head winds stayed with us all day. I lucked out because it was my turn to drive the motor home. I left the same time as the bikers and pulled over at Ft. Hancock to wait. Good thing I did because Dawn was frozen and she joined me inside for the rest of the way. Our campground in Sierra Blanca was just as bad as the previous night. Got down to close to freezing again. The good news is the guys have now biked 1000 miles.

March 21 - to Van Horn, Texas - 66 miles. I rode the first 34 miles with the guys and it was perfect riding conditions, long straight roadway and flat. We had to go 15 miles along the interstate and with a tail wind, got upwards of 30+ mph. My kind of biking! We are staying the night in Van Horn because it has the only campground. Things are few and far between here in Texas and it will take us a good 2 weeks to get across the state. It has been a lot colder than I had expected and I hope weather conditions improve.

We had an interesting evening last night. A 45 foot long motor coach pulled into the campground pulling a toy trailer. We struck up a friendship and he kept us entertained but best of all is that he invited us to tour his 1.2 million dollar motor couch. His name was Tom Pinske and he was from Minnesota and he had a tool manufacturing business. One of the things that he developed was a tool to cut corrian counter tops. Entering the coach, you walked up marble stairs to a floor that had small filament lighting, (like a disco dance floor), tiger and leopard couches, a kitchen to die for, ceiling lighting that flashed with the beat of music (I think you get the picture) flat screen TV's, tiger sinks and a built in outside BBQ. The previous owner had filled it with bling. Russ said that it was like something you see on the Travel Channel on coaches. Inside his toy trailer he had two $20,000+ Harley's among other things. Anyway, it was fascinating to see.

Cell service and internet are scarce here across Texas. We will try to stay in touch when we can.

Gila Cliff Dwellings

Day 15 - (March 15) Of all things; we woke up to snow flakes this morning. Our plan was to get up early and drive up to the Gila (HEE-La) Cliff Dwellings. We started up on Highway 15, a 44 mile route that they say takes a good 2 hours to drive. We got partway up and there was snow and ice on the roadway so we turned back disappointed. We drove back down to Silver City and found a place in town for breakfast and to wait out the weather. Silver City has a historic downtown founded in the mid 1800's as a mining town. Now it has small art galleries and shops. I thought it would be a small tourist town but it seems to have held its old charm with murals and local hangouts. Unfortunately, it was Monday and all the galleries were closed.

Late morning we called up to the cliff dwellings and not a drop of snow there so we headed back out. A long drive but boy was it worth it. We had about a mile and a half walk up to the dwelling and I was surprised when they let you climb up into all the caves. It is hard to believe that over 700 years ago these cliff dwellings were built and inhabited. The people who built the cliff dwellings were part of the Mongollon culture. The dwellings were built with rock, mortar, and timber and some of the original timber (Ponderosa Pine) still remain. Here are some pictures.

Day 16 - Biked 72 miles from Silver City to Hilsboro, New Mexico over Emory Pass (8200 feet).

Dawn and I shared the 40 or so miles on the flats but chose not to ride the pass (which was a good choice). Switchbacks all the way up and back down. A lot of snow at the top and it took forever for both the motor home and cyclists. It was not the kind of road that you would take such a large motor home on with no guard rails nor shoulders. Fortunately for the guys, there was very little traffic so they could take the whole narrow roadway. We waited for them at the top and when they arrived they bundled up with jackets and gloves for the descend. Everyone was tired and stressed. They flew down the 8-mile descend which dropped 3000 feet in elevation. In fact they made it to the bottom before Dawn and I did in the motor home. They thought that was a great descend and clocked upwards of 30 - 40 mph. The motor home was going about 15 mph. At Hilsboro they jumped in the motor home for a lift to the state park where we planned to camp. I think everyone was glad when the day ended.

Day 17 - St. Patricks Day. Hilsboro to Radium Springs. 70 miles. Dawn shuttled the 3 of us back to Hilsboro which was a charming small town. As we were unloading our bikes some locals came and chatted with us. It appears that folks just find their way to this small town and fall in love with the slow pace and peacefulness. The pictures of the busses, turned homes, were taken there. Started with a long climb which warmed us up and then it was rollers and open roadway all the way back to the campground where Dawn and I switched biking. I drove the motor home to Leasburg State Park and the bikers arrived about 3 hours later. That night to celebrate St. Pattys Day we went to dinner, wearing our Irish Bike Jerseys, to Las Cruces and the Texas Roadhouse BBQ.

New Mexico Pictures

The picture of the two guys is when I dropped them off to do their big climb. If you look closely you can see the roadway way up in the mountain pass. The picture of the solo biker is Russ starting his climb and the long road picture shows New Mexico scenery.

Riding, Riding, Riding

March 11 - Day 11: Globe to Safford - 70 miles. A strong tail wind made the day a breeze. The scenery was beautiful and on my share of the ride (32 miles) we averaged 18.7 mph. We camped the night at Lake Roper State Park and it had a hot springs hot tub which we all jumped into after the ride. The park was a bird sanctuary and I was taken with all the Yellow Headed Blackbirds.

Day 12 - Safford to Black Jack Pass. 47 miles/3000 ft climb. Russ was struggling today and bonked at 47 miles which ended the day. The climb was really steep. Dawn and I drove the motor home and we would pull over along the route and got out our lawn chairs and enjoyed the sunshine. We had to drive a ways to find a campground and ended up at Buckhorn, New Mexico.

Day 13 - I shuttled the guys back up to where they left off the day before. It took an hour to get them back to the starting place, back up over the pass. Today they had a 3000 ft climb again with 6 miles of climbing switchbacks. It was difficult driving, yet alone riding a bike. There was no way that I was doing the mountain pass. The pass was over 6500 feet and patches of snow were along the roadway. It took them almost an hour to climb the 6 mile pass. They then had to descend a good 1500 feet. Once into New Mexico, the terrain changed dramatically from desert to wooded pine forrest. Then it became scrub grassland. In many places the creeks were flooding the roadway from recent rains which made passage challenging and exciting at the same time for the bikers. You could see for miles. The good thing is that there was very little traffic. If you look on a map, we are following highway 180. Here are some more pictures.

They crossed into New Mexico before noon and ended up going 60 miles for the day.

Day 14 - We are taking a rest day in Silver City, New Mexico and are staying at a nice campground. Today we went to the Western New Mexico University Museum which has the largest collection of Mimbres pottery. The Mimbres were Native Americans who inhabited the area from 200 AD to 1200 AD. They were the first to use animals and figures on pottery in North America. They were coil built pots. Tomorrow we are going to the Gila Cliff Dwelling National Monument.

More Pictures

On The Road Again

Day 10 we hit the road again. Mesa to Globe, AZ. The guys rode 70 miles and I rode the last 45 miles. We were on Highway 60 for the whole day. Shoulders were small and rubble strips were big. It was very stressful with trucks and lots of traffic going fast. Could not enjoy the beautiful scenery. Not my idea of a good ride. To make matters worse, we had to climb a mountain pass higher than 4000 feet. Russ figured our cumulative elevation gain was 4000 feet. It was slow and long and included a half mile tunnel which was very scary, especially the noise in the tunnel by the passing vehicles. I couldn't figure out why I couldn't get any speed and finally figured out that my front brakes were rubbing the wheel. So I took off my brake and it was easier. Before the long downhill, I put back on my brake. I would say it was one of the hardest days that I have ever ridden. To add salt to the wound, when we were on top of the pass, the temperature dropped to the low 40's. By the time we decended the 7% grade we were freezing. We hadn't brought along coats and gloves (won't make that mistake again.) Russ said he got up to 40 mph. It started to rain our last 4 miles so we just pushed faster to beat the storm. We were so cold already that a few drops didn't make much difference. Never been so happy to end a day.

Here are a few pictures. I haven't figured out how to put captions with pictures yet. The red golf cart was at the RV park, the bikers we met in Superior, AZ (They thought we were nuts) and then us up on the pass.

Follow Those Wheels

Day 5 - Palo Verde to Quartzsite. 53 miles. We were anxious to see Quartzsite. We had heard that it was motor home/flea market city, however, that is in January and February. What we saw was big gravel/dirt parking lots that fill with trailers in the winter. It was pretty stark and barren. A lot of dry camping. However, where we stayed was fine and we had coffee with the local guys who were full of BS and found it hard to believe that we were biking to Florida. One of the best parts of the trip is meeting the locals. Everyone has a story to tell. Had a good biking day even though we had to bike the freeway for a good 12 miles. (that is where Russ finds most of his collection) Today we crossed over into Arizona via the Colorado River.

Russ' collection so far: Dozen+ bungie cord, 1 hack saw and a truckers hole pin!

Day 6 Quartzsite to Tonopah. Russ = 86 miles (Denise 46 miles) with strong head winds! Today we were on the main freeway for a total of over 20 miles or more throughout the day. There was such a strong head wind that it took us forever to get to our destination. However, we kept going forward little by little. We were glad when we finally reached our destination.

Day 7 brought the biggest challenge so far - a driving rain storm! The guys had 70+ miles to Tempe (we were camping in Masa, another 20 miles further) The girls bailed, however, driving the motor home through the Phoenix area was a challenge in itself. Seven hours of biking with rain hitting them at 45 degree angles. They left the campsite in the rain by 11:00 AM and within an hour the storm worsened to a huge downpour. Arizona has no trees to hide under on the road so the guys just kept peddling. When it started to get dark at 6:00 pm, they called for a pickup at the local REI store in Tempe.

Day 8 and 9 = A rest day so the motor home can get an oil change. We are staying at a really nice RV park that has over 1800 spots. It is called Valle Del Ore and the Harris' have a friend staying here in one of those really fancy rigs. Most people here are in Park Models and upscale motor homes. They have full slate of activities going on. Since the weather is marginal we haven't hit the pool yet but did join their friends for dinner and dominos. It seems like we all wasted the day with bike repairs (Russ has already had to replace a tire and align a wheel) and Dawn and I had computer problems and I finally had to locate an MAC store to rectify my problem.

We are doing a taste test with Ben and Jerry Ice Cream. Our goal is to try as many flavors as possible while going across country. We have a rating of 1 - 5 and so far my favorite is Cream Brulee. I wonder how many samples we will try and what the best will be. If anything, it gives us an excuse to eat ice cream. We also have an ongoing dominos game and I joked that the winner gets a free plane ticket home from Florida. So far Mike is ahead by a long shot.

Here are a few pictures. The wild turkeys were in our campground and the catfish heads were hanging at another campground that was along the Colorado River. We were told that they were around 65 pounds each. Hope all is well. Will keep in touch.

Week 1 - March 1 - 7, 2010

Russ and Mike managed to get through San Diego without any mishaps. When you are biking it is challenging to get through towns because of all the traffic. There was a lot of stop and go and asking directions. The day ended at Pine Valley, CA. San Diego is at sea level and Pine Valley is at 4000 feet and when you look at an elevation chart it shows a steady climb with little downhill. The climbing took its toll on the bikers. Total Day 1 milage = 48. Total elevation gain = 4000+ ft.

Day 2 took us from Pine Valley to Live Oaks, CA. I rode with the two guys and again it was a steady climb. I would guess that the cumulative elevation gain was around 1500 feet. The ride was 27 miles which does not seem long except for the 4 big hills which were long and steady. I was exhausted at the end of the ride. So far we have had great riding weather, not to warm or to cold, just right as they would say. Beautiful scenery and not to much traffic on the roads. Russ has gotten in the habit of collecting things along the highway that might be of interest. He wants me to post his "find of the day". So far it has been a lot of bungie cords (at least a dozen) that he has picked up, however, he reminds me that he has left many more along the road for the next biker to gather.

Day 3 to Seeley, CA. I got my first lesson in driving the motor home. It belongs to the Harris' and is 32' long and hauling a car behind. To me it was more scary driving this big rig than biking on the roads. We had to come down the hills with 6% grade with blowing winds. Russ and Mike had to bike down the same highway. He said that he got up to 40 mph and when the the bike started to shimmer, he realized that he better slow down. (I am sure that was more scary than driving) The scenery was beautiful, when I had a chance to look, with large granite and sandstone rocks. We have been camping, if you can call this camping, at some interesting RV parks. This park have over 300 motor homes and a lot of recreational activities. The guys joined in water volleyball and I soaked in the hot tub and pool. In the evening we joined the locals for Bingo (it is as much fun as watching paint dry!) Dawn won a Bingo and got $8.50. It was fun talking to the snowbirds who winter there and in fact I ran into a gal who graduated from the same high school as I did, just a few years later. She thought that her brother graduated with me and the name sounded somewhat familiar. Dawn ran into a couple that she babysat for many years ago. Sure is a small world. However, the exiting thing about this RV park was that it is located close to a naval base where the Blue Angels fly. So we got a free air show. That was pretty exciting seeing the planes fly overhead. Total miles = 50 with really bad roads and shoulders all day long.

Day 4 - Seeley to Palo Verde. The day started with Dawn biking with the guys and I got my chance to drive alone. Made a few wrong turns and fortunately I was able to turn around and get back on track. The plan was to switch in the middle, however, we missed the town, it was in the middle of the sand dunes and not really a town. I finally pulled over and waited for the bikers. They had a strong tail wind most of the day. The route took them through miles of sand dunes with winds blowing across the road. The part I rode was rollers and a couple of climbs. Overall, it was a great riding day with wind at our backs. Total milage for Russ = 80 miles and Denise = 25 miles.

It is becoming more difficult to read email and post on this blog because of lack of good internet access. I will keep trying.

Hello Friends

This is our first posting on our blog so we can track our progress across america by bike. I hope you will follow along.

We left Green Valley on February 28 to drive to San Diego to meet up with our friends Dawn and Mike Harris from Washington. Russ and Mike have both had this strong desire to bike the Southern route and now they are finally getting the opportunity. Dawn and I will take turns biking/driving the motorhome.

We left to pouring down rain in Green Valley but weather improved the closer we got to San Diego.

The ride began by dipping wheels into the Pacific Ocean on March 1. We actually were at a beach close to Sea World. Mike and Russ rode 48.5 miles the first day with very challenging hills (upwards of 4000 feet marks) Also, it was very frustrating managing traffic through San Diego. They were really spent at the end of the day. I don't know how you train to get in shape for this type of riding.

We tried to toast the start of the ride with sparkling cider while we put the bike wheels into the Pacific Ocean. I set the bottle and glasses in the sand as I worked on posing the big picture, and all of a sudden, a huge wave came in and swept away the bottle and glasses. The same wave also got our shoes soaked. We retrieved the bottle and glasses and each took a small swig and tossed the rest. (It didn't taste to sandy)

The second day I rode with the guys and even though it was only a 29 mile ride the climbing, again upward of 4000 feet, really took its tole. However, we were done by noon and now can spend the day relaxing in the campground. (At this pace it may take us longer than expected to reach Florida.) But we keep reminding ourself that we are all about the journey and not the destination.

That is all for now. Denise