Day 21 - Van Horn to Marfa (aka F'ing Wind)

Arrrgh! Wind, wind, wind. Today was a day with nothing, but wind. No scenery, no trees, no hills, just wind. 20 mph sustained, 40 mph gusts. All head wind, all the time. Oh Yeah, slight up hill grade too. The day ended 1000' higher than it began, but with no climbs, just a constant slightly up hill grind into the wind. Miserable.

Wasn't this supposed to be the direction With the prevailing tail wind?

There were a couple of bright spots though. Last night we stated with Gary and Bethany in Van Horn and they treated us very well. Gary works for Blue Origin north of Van Horn. Blue Origin was set up by Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos to develop commercial spacecraft. Cool!

After a breakfast of scrambled eggs we set off and the weather wasn't too bad, but it wasn't long before the winds started to blow. I flatted before too long and while I was working on that a German couple ride by in the other direction, they had gotten rid of everything they owned and were traveling around the world on their bikes. Soon they'd be riding south toward Patagonia. Yikes!

Wind!

We also hit a rather significant milestone, we passed 1100 miles, the one third mark. I guess we really are making some progress.

Wind!

At about the halfway point on the day we stopped at the Prada Marfa on route 90. I ate lunch sheltered in the doorway. Prada Marfa is an artist's installation designed to resemble a Prada store. There are even Prada shoes and handbags on display inside. No admittance though, window shopping only.

More wind, is it getting stronger?

While perusing the Prada finery Gary and Bethany drove by on their way to Marfa to go shopping (no grocery store in Van Horn). The stopped to see how we were doing. We were fine, but took them up on their offer to refill our water bottles. No water on today's 73 mile route.

Just wind.

The only adventure for the rest of the day was another flat for me. This was a slow leak so I just stopped every 10 miles or so to put air in the tire. I'll deal with inner tubes tomorrow.

Once in Marfa, which I hear is a neat town - didn't see any if it, we stopped for Easter dinner. At Dairy Queen. Not as good as dinner at Brooks and Marilyn's. But at least I got a root beer float for dessert.

Lodging consisted of camping at El Cosmico, a campground/motel kind of thing where you can rent a teepee or a vintage trailer to sleep in for the night. Neat idea, but we just camped. Open air showers. Went to bed early.

Hope the wind doesn't blow the tent over.