Long and Winding Road...into West Texas Wilderness

Wednesday, March 8

It is official. I have now completed 4 of the 7 maps for this route.  Only 1384 miles to go!  Of course, 452 of those are still in Texas...

Today, I made good time.  I started a little after 7am from Uvalde and made it into Del Rio by 2pm.  I ran into a group of three young guys heading east who started from San Diego on the 16th.  Unfortunately, I forgot to ask them how the roads and accommodations were further west.  It's so exciting to see fellow bikers on this route--heck, anybody!--that mundane and practical questions don't get asked.  You know, questions like: "Will I survive the next few days?" or "Is there any water for the next 80 miles?" or "Did you have to camp by the side of the highway like the association map said you might have to?"

Although I'm not in the wilderness yet, this section was pretty barren country as well.  There weren't any towns with services between Uvalde and Brackettville (40 miles) or again between Bracketville and Del Rio (another 30 miles).  It was also a bit more rolling, so I'm glad I didn't attempt making it to Brackettville the day before.

Luckily there was a bike shop in Del Rio.  I stopped by Lakeside Sports and picked up a couple of tubes and some tire liners.  While I was there I also had them check out my bike since I've put over 1600 miles on it and I'm hitting some sparsely populated areas soon.

Wouldn't you know it, but about halfway between the bike shop and my hotel, the front tire got a flat.  Same problem as before: the stem failed.  This has been a very painful lesson I'll not forget soon--bring all new tubes on a bike tour!  Every flat I have had so far can somehow be traced to using old tubes.  4 failures from old tubes that the stem failed on.  I wouldn't have gotten the nail puncture if I hadn't gone off route to look for tubes.  This last flat was probably due to a bad tube I bought in desperation as the other tubes were failing.

I now have 4 spare tubes along with some tire liners to help prevent punctures.  I hope I don't regret using the liners.  Some reviewers complained that they can cause chafing of the tube and make it go flat.  I decided to hedge my bets.  Since I had to fix the front tire today anyway, I went ahead and put in a tire liner.  Depending on which tire gets a flat next and what kind of flat it is, I'll decide how to proceed.  If the puncture is in the back tire, I'll put a liner IN.  If it's chafing failure in front, I'll take the liner OUT.  The reason for my paranoia is that New Mexico is notorious for goat-head thorns.  These little devils are such that no matter how they land, there is always a thorn pointing straight up, ready to puncture a tube.

I finally had some Texas BBQ today.  Rudy's is a well-known chain in Texas, and I enjoyed their food a couple of times before when I was in Texas on business.  Luckily, there was a Rudy's about a half mile from my hotel, so I strolled over there for what might be my last decent meal for the next 3-4 days.

I'm still trying to figure out the best way to do this next section.  Unfortunately, the towns are spaced such that bikers either have a 60-mile day (too short) or a 100-mile day (too long for me).  There will also be some climbing involved, 2000-2500 ft (though this is still less than the 3000 ft elevation gain I had going to Vanderpool).  Currently, it is looking like two 60-mile days, then an 84-mile day, followed by a 99-mile day.  I wish I could intersperse the 60-mile days between the longer days, but that is not an option.  This is pretty desolate country, and there are 40 and 55-mile sections with no services, and an 89-mile stretch with limited services.

In preparation for my foray into the wilderness, I popped into another Walmart and loaded up with food along with the spare tubes for this next week.  I'll also be using my spare 2-liter container for extra water on those no or limited services sections.

Day: 21
Time: 7 hours
Distance: 72 miles (Uvalde-Del Rio, TX)

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Thursday, March 9

Today was the first day when I was officially in the heart of West Texas.  Soon after I left Del Rio signs of civilization disappeared, especially after I crossed over the Amistad Reservoir.

Amistad is a reservoir on the Rio Grande that is jointly managed by the US and Mexico.  The cycling route, at this juncture, is paralleling the US-Mexico border.  Unfortunately, I couldn't see the Rio Grade (other than the Reservoir and the cliffs).

I had to pass through an immigration inspection border patrol station, but all they did was ask if I was a citizen and waved me through.

About 30 miles outside of Del Rio, I rode through the town of Comstock, but there really wasn't anything to stop for.  It was another 30 miles to my destination of Langtry.  I amused myself for a while by counting how long I could go without seeing a car.  The maximum time was about 90 seconds.  This is comforting in case I do have any serious issues...

The town of Langtry is famous for its most notorious resident Judge Roy Bean, "The Law West of the Pecos."  It also has a Texas Visitor Center now.  Otherwise though, it doesn't have much else to recommend it.  And, really, signs like the one below aren't exactly the most welcoming...

One lodging option was the community center which didn't have any facilities--other than access to the Visitor Center bathrooms between 8am-5pm.  The only other option was a motel right on Highway 90.  Despite the fact that it was no bargain for what it offered, I opted for the motel as I have a 60-miles ride with no services the next day.  I figured I might as well take advantage of whatever bit of creature comfort I come across, whenever I can find some.

I hope I don't regret the decision.  The trucks sound and feel like they are driving straight through my room!

Day: 22
Time: 6.5 hours
Distance: 60 miles (Del Rio-Langtry, TX)

(post by Will)