Blazing Saddles: San Diego to (hopefully) St. Augustine: Sara: Day 16

Today was a great day, in spite of the biking. The 82 mile ride from (22 miles east of) Sierra Blanca to Marfa, TX was tough – long ride, wind in our faces for most of the day, road surfaces that left a lot to be desired, and unchanging, painfully boring terrain – but it was still a pretty entertaining day.

I learned how to draft. I have to admit, I felt a pang of guilt riding my dad’s wake all day, but he assured me that I was actually doing him a favor by not riding in the wind and wearing myself out. That’s me – always taking one for the team.

About 15 miles into the ride, we passed our first historical marker of the day. It was next to a “no dumping” sign and, almost directly in front of the sign, was a giant, seemingly-skinned, mutilated cow carcass. We smelled it before we saw it. I’m no expert, but it looked like dumping. I made my mom go back to take a picture.

45 miles into the ride, still in the middle of nowhere, we passed a Prada storefront, Prada Marfa. It was filled with actual Prada purses and shoes, but there was no one else there, no signs, no entrance. We knew we’d pass it along the route today, but the scene was much more wonderfully random than anticipated. The folks in Marfa have quite the sense of humor… and, apparently, deep pockets.

A few miles beyond Prada, still in the middle of nowhere, we noticed a little tornado (like, an actual funnel cloud) whirling around in a dusty field. We watched it snake its way through the fence, along the road, and up to the pavement, then heard an audible “pop” as it disintegrated when it hit the road right next to us. In that same stretch, we saw our first, live, bigger-than-a-breadbox, wildlife – two pronghorns running through the field. They stopped when they noticed us (we had stopped too), actually approached the road, and, after we’d all sufficiently looked each other over, carried on playing. I’ve seen my fair share of wildlife from the road, but seeing them on a bike was a really special experience.

Our stop for the night is Marfa, TX. I cannot say enough wonderful things about this hidden little oasis. Approaching it, it looked about the same as every other small town we’ve peddled through – dusty roads, dilapidated homes, broken-down cars, forgotten storefronts. I was feeling underwhelmed and sad for my mom since she was particularly excited about this stop, but a couple of miles into town, everything changed. It turns out this place, with a population of 2,000, has a big, elegant hotel, restaurants that serve fresh vegetables and cater to vegans and vegetarians, art galleries (one currently housing an Andy Warhol exhibit), a yoga studio, etc. In the little time we had here, we hit up the hotel happy hour, ate as good an Italian meal as I’ve had, drove out to (unsuccessfully) witness the Marfa ghost lights (but in failing to do so, saw the best sky I’ve seen in years), used maybe the best towel I’ve ever encountered, and slept in definitely the best bed I’ve encountered. I need to find a reason to come back to Marfa!

Our ride today put us over 1,000 total miles on the bike. Only 1,700 to go!