Day 18 - Fort Hancock, TX to Van Horn, TX

76.4 miles today
971.8 total trip miles
13.1 mph average
1,627’ climbing
FF - 4
MP - my sister-in-law “Sunshine” Patti Skirvin & family.  She regularly takes a positive outlook on life, even in the face of personal challenges & encourages others to look at the bright side of life. Today was the perfect day for her to be my MP because the sun was shining all day.  That means I needed to get on plenty of sunscreen.

Today started out great, except that I overestimated the temperature & was cold until the sun came up enough to get me warmer.  The first 20 miles were smooth & fast with very little traffic.  Saw a goat farm along the way & some horses, but the horses were too far away to get a good picture.

Then came a 10 mile climb with grades between 2% - 5%.  Needless to say it slowed me down quite a bit, but those grades I can handle by gearing down. Kept chasing toward this mountain, hoping I didn’t have to climb it.

Had lunch at a diner in the ghost town of Sierra Blanca.  The road we were on used to be the main route through the area, but when the interstate highway was built south of town, the community died.
Pretty much all that is left is that diner.  The owner of the diner was interested in all the bikes, but when she saw my recumbent, she had to try it.  I let her sit on it, but I knew she wouldn’t go anywhere.  She was about 5’ tall & couldn’t even reach the pedals.

We are camping tonight in Van Horn, and there is a beautiful full moon.

WDYLT - ILT  Just north of Van Horn, TX is where Jeff Bezos, owner of Amazon, has his space ship headquarters.  They were supposed to be offering regular citizens space travel this year, but are behind schedule.

Day 17 - El Paso, TX to Fort Hancock, TX

62.9 miles today
895.4 total trip miles
12.2 mph average
931’ climbing
FF - 5
MP - Anyone who has attempted to complete an Ironman event.  An Ironman consists of a 2.4 mile swim + a 112 mile bike ride + a full 26.2 mile marathon run - all in the same day.  I never expect to attempt that, but I am motivated by those who are willing to try it.

Today’s ride was an interesting combination.  We started out riding through the city of El Paso.  It sits in a valley & almost the first thing we had to do is climb out of the valley.  It was at least a mile long climb & that served to spread the group out pretty quickly.  When we reached the top of the hill there was a pretty nice overlook of El Paso.  Here I am celebrating the climb.

I was surprised how big the city was.  We had biked about 25 miles before we got out into the country again.  Lots of stop lights, industrial areas & downtown buildings.  As soon as we got back to a more rural area, there were about 20 miles of pecan groves.  I didn’t know El Paso was a big pecan area. The other thing we had again was the cursed headwind.  I think this is the year of headwinds on Bubba’s C2C.  Everyone hopes it ends soon.

Here are pictures of pecan groves in various states of maturity:

And here is a tree along the road.  I don’t know what it is, but it looked picture worthy to me:

The roads were pretty decent & we are spending the night in a high school gymnasium in Fort Hancock.

WDYLT - ILT Fort Hancock, TX is the city where Andy, in the movie The Shawshank Redemption, crossed over into Mexico.  I think that is the only claim to fame it has.  Not much going on here.

Day 16 - Columbus, NM to El Paso, TX

77.1 miles today
832.5 total trip miles
13.4 mph average
757’ climbing
FF - 5
MP - my 3rd oldest daughter Julie & her husband Angel.  Growing up, Julie was nicknamed the “gamer girl” in our home because she enjoyed & was good at just about any game we could think of. As an adult, she is the perfect example of someone who found what she is passionate about in life & has made a great success of it.  In her case it is archaeology & she is now a professor at NC State University.

It started out cold again this morning (35 degrees), so I put my 4 layers on & headed out.  By the time I arrived in El Paso, TX it was almost 70 degrees & it was sunny all day.  I lathered up with suntan lotion & made it through no problem.  This was very much an average cycling day without too much climbing & a headwind, but nothing like last Friday.  For some reason I was ready earlier than normal this morning, so I ended up riding with a different group of folks today.  It seems like the same people always leave early & I am usually in the later group.  Nice to get to know some other riders on the road.

The scenery really didn’t change all day.  Here is what I saw for 90% of the day

Except for this Christmas garland on some scrub brush along the road.

That mountain just kept getting closer all day.  El Paso is in a valley at the foot of the mountain.  The Rio Grande River is sure not much to see right now.  Looks like a muddy gully.  Didn’t get a picture because the road there was busy & I didn’t want to stop.  You aren’t missing much.  Texas is our 4th State & we will spend 40% of our total trip here.

Here is a picture of me on the bike taken by a friend in a vehicle coming up from behind me

Definitely a nice day to be on the bike.

WDYLT - ILT one of the early methods of controlling turns on an airplane involved attaching cables to the pilot’s arms above the elbow.  Moving their arms forward & backward moved the rudders on the wings causing the turn.

Day 15 - Off Day

We are in Columbus, NM for our off day, which is very near the Mexican border, so Bubba took us into Mexico (we could walk across the border after a 2 mile shuttle from the school we are staying at).  Went to a place called The Pink Store for lunch & shopping.  We also heard a talk at Pancho Villa State Park on the history of air flight (Columbus, NM is the original home of US Military air operations).

I know the last off day I didn’t blog, but I had some more thoughts I wanted to share with those of you interested about the riding experience from yesterday.  I had a little trouble falling asleep last night because the whole day was on my mind.  That was unusual for me - I have generally been sleeping well whether we are in a hotel, in a tent, or on a gym floor.

My thoughts revolved around whether I made the right decision to stop riding at lunch yesterday. Using the famous “Tevye” method of decision making from Fiddler on the Roof, here is my reflection:

On the one hand - I signed up for this trip to ride my bike all across the country, not to stop in the middle of a day and get driven to the destination city.
On the other hand - This was a day like no other with persistent headwinds of 20 mph+, and gusts up to 35 mph.
On the other hand - 5 other riders kept going, 2 of them made it the whole way before dark & I was ahead of them at lunch.
On the other hand - I am not as experienced a biker as any of them, so I really didn’t know how my body might handle a 10 - 11 hour sustained effort.
On the other hand - I had an advantage riding my recumbent bike because it is more aerodynamic & handled better in the wind than a traditional upright bike.  I was passing riders in the morning that I have never passed before on this trip.  Less than half the riders even made it to the lunch stop.
On the other hand - my legs were feeling more stressed than I have experienced even when I was going all out at some of the duathlons I have done.  If I injured myself, it could jeopardize the rest of the trip.

There was more, but you can imagine how this kept me awake for a while.  Eventually I worked through it & slept well.  Here is what I decided:

It was appropriate that my MP for the day was the Kettle Moraine Hardwoods family.  The decision I made biking followed the same pattern that we have used for over 30 years in making business decisions & that has served us well.  We don’t over reach & take unnecessary risks, but we aren’t afraid to do something out of the ordinary.  That has made us successful, but not rich.  Many business owners take larger risks - sometimes they get rich, sometimes they go bankrupt if everything doesn’t go perfectly.  I like the method of taking reasonable risk & working hard.  I think it will serve me well biking across America, as it has served KMH in business.

Day 14 - Rodeo, NM to Hachita, NM

47.1 miles today
755.4 total trip miles
9.2 mph average
1502’ climbing
FF - 9
MP - the Kettle Moraine Hardwoods family - my best career move was selling Built-In Home Systems in 1989, and joining my dad & brother Bob at KMH.  I am grateful for our employees & customers.

Anyone following the map on my blog page will notice that I was supposed to ride to Columbus, NM, but the title of this blog says I rode to Hachita.  That is only 47 of the 92 scheduled miles.  Why?  Because of the worst headwind anyone on the trip has ever experienced.  It really felt like we were going uphill all day, and the wind was pushing bikes all over the road.  Of the 43 riders, only 2 made it the whole way.  They were on the road for 11 hours.

When I arrived at the lunch location in Hachita, my legs were getting sore & no one who arrived before me had decided to continue.  I decided to stop also.  After me there were 5 riders who decided to continue & 2 made it.  I’ll never know if I could have done it, but I think there may be a trip to New Mexico in my future to ride those 45 miles from Hachita to Columbus.

I left extra early today and got this nice picture of the sunrise

We also crossed the Continental Divide again & it was a good time to take a rest break for a picture

and here is a picture of the town sign where my ride ended today

A great learning experience today.  I don’t really regret stopping because if I would have gotten injured it might have jeopardized the rest of the journey & there is a lot more biking to do.

WDYLT - ILT sometimes it is good for the soul to have done your best even if your goal is not accomplished.

Day 13 - Douglas, AZ to Rodeo, NM

56.5 miles today
708.3 total trip miles
14.3 mph average
928’ climbing
FF - 2
MP - The Franciscan Peacemakers Family - I am a member of the Board of Directors of this ministry for women trapped in prostitution, drug abuse & human trafficking.  Breaking free from that lifestyle is much more difficult than my cross country bicycle journey.  I admire the women who take the brave step to freedom.   Learn more & purchase our 'Gifts for the Journey' social enterprise products at www.franciscanpeacemakers.com

Today was what I imagined about when I signed up for this trip.  It was a bit cool in the morning, but I just put enough layers on & all was well.  There was a little bit of climbing, but nothing steep, and a lot of downhill or flat riding.  This was fun.  The scenery was nice, with some low mountains in the background.  Here is a picture of a mountain that hasn’t had snow on it in the past 10 years of C2C, but this year has a coat of snow.

We also entered our 3rd State & here is proof I was there

Had lunch at a wayside which marked the location where Geronimo surrendered

And here’s a picture of an abandoned fieldstone building along the road that I thought was picture worthy.

WDYLT - ILT in Germany judges aren’t elected or appointed, they are hired like civil servants by bureaucrats (learned from the German rider on our trip)

Day 12 - Tombstone, AZ to Douglas, AZ

51.2 miles today

651.8 total trip miles

11.8 mph average

2132’ climbing

FF - 7

MP - my firstborn daughter Linda - nurse practitioner extraordinaire (soon to be PhD in nursing), she lived through Joanne & I learning to be parents.  I have always been able to have intelligent conversations with her & that has taught me a lot.

I feel like I’m repeating myself from yesterday, but today was another day of 2 distinct rides. Fortunately there was no rain, but like yesterday, the morning was a tough ride.  We climbed up to the Continental Divide near Bisbee on a cold & windy morning.  Here I am at the stone marker that shows the spot.  Notice the snowball on top of the stone.

We were told that a week ago they had 12” of snow.  Here is a picture from the Continental Divide down to the highway.

From that point, it was miles of downhill.  It reminded me of the planned bike ride down a mountain in Switzerland that I was never able to complete.  Long & winding, never pedaling, but using the brakes a lot.  It would have been more fun if there wouldn’t have been some sleet that made me nervous the road would get slick.

After that adventure we were in Bisbee, AZ, a town built around a huge copper mine.  Here are the remnants of that now defunct mine.

We had lunch in Bisbee, and after getting back on the bike had a 20 mile downhill into Douglas, AZ. That was the easiest riding of the trip so far.  Douglas is a border town & a local historian told us that 70% of the revenue in town comes from across the border.

WDYLT - ILT Honda is so serious about getting the defective airbags replaced in their cars that they have hired folks to go directly to people’s homes to do the job.  One of our riders does this as his retirement job.