Day 15 Fabens, TX to Van Horn, TX

May 24

Fabens, TX to Van Horn, TX

98 Miles
1885 ft of climbing

Map:

http://www.mapitpronto.com/index.cfm?fuseAction=routePlanner.viewDBRide&rideID=1702

Phew! Today went on for a long time. It wasn't too bad on paper at just under a hundred miles and shy of 2000' of climbing. The first fifty miles went by pretty quickly too. Just over three hours. The wind never got too bad either. I think it had everything to do with nutrition. Our Raman dinners were followed up with oatmeal for me and cold cereal for Chris in the morning. It was not a protein rich twenty four hours.

Our lunch stop was fifty miles into the day and I was very, very hungry. We were so glad to see the truckstop over the final rise. They had a real diner to boot. I had two lunches and told Chris I'd be moving kind of slow after eating but I needed to feel full. Chris had a single lunch and I think he is feeling it this morning. He did have two dinners though. I explained at lunch and dinner that pushing it like we did deep into caloric deficit, I have always found it very important to try and make up for it if you can. Most especially if protein was largely missing.

We left lunch and rode to the next town of Sierra Blanca. It has a classic main street that runs past an old train station that's been converted to a museum commemorating the spot where the Southern Pacific met the Texas and Pacific railroads in 1881.

We Stopped for water at the local market, hardware store, tack outfitter. The proprietor, Joe Bustamante, was a nice, friendly fellow and wanted to hear about our adventure. He said he gets a few cyclists through town and was familiar with the Adventure Cycling maps we're using. He commented on how pleasant and interesting he found the riders that came through. He asked if we were riding thirty five to forty miles daily like most of the tourers who came through and was floored when I told him we had been averaging eighty five miles daily (including the short days).

We exchanged information and he said he looked forward to checking out the blog.

We got to Van Horn at what we thought was going to be 7:00 PM or so but as we rode down a mild descent to town we crossed the Culberson County line which also marked the Central Time Zone. Realizing we were arriving closer to 8:00 than 7:00 I started worrying about dinner. We asked the woman who checked us in at the hotel and she said the restaurants stayed open until 10:00. Most notably Chuy's across the street.

Chuy's was made famous by John Madden apparently (former football head coach and currently a TV commentator).

I'm getting pretty tired of Mexican food and I'm ready to shift gears to BBQ. I think that and steakhouses are in our future.

I slept like a baby last night but I think it was Chris's turn to run too long in the red yesterday and when the alarm went off at 7:00 AM (really 6:00 for us) he said he hadn't slept at all. I figured I'd write a little before getting him up.

Today it's 88 miles and around 4000' of climbing to get to Ft. Davis. There really aren't any bailouts either. We'll have to see how Chris feels.

West Texas is wild and beautiful. Yesterday was the Rio Grande Valley in the morning and mesas in the afternoon.

More to come.