Today we rode 60 miles from Marfa
to Marathon. It’s shocking to me that we’ve reached a point where riding 50-60
miles is considered a “rest day”, but it is – and it was.
The ride from Marfa to Alpine, the
halfway mark for the day, was particularly awesome. The scenery was in my top 3
of the trip so far, but it was all the additional things you don’t notice in a
car that really made it fantastic – tailwind, smooth road, wide shoulder,
frequent shade, changing landscape, more down than up, light traffic.
At a population of ~400, Marathon
is much smaller than Marfa, but certainly didn’t lack character. We decided to
forego the fancy hotel in town, The Gage, and stay at a little B&B that is unlike anything
I’ve seen. The property is centered around a home built in the early 1900’s,
which has been redecorated with bright, colorful paints and a plethora of
eclectic knickknacks. Off the main house, the two women running the place have
built several guest rooms of varying sizes, an indoor lap pool, a communal “coffee
house” (with free beer, among other things), and an open-air rose garden filled with flowers, butterflies, and a
couple fat cats – all handmade in a brightly colored, psychedelic, adobe style
architecture and all out of “papercrete” (basically, paper concrete). They have plans to
expand the property over the next few years to include space for yoga, pottery,
and papercrete classes, and I plan to return when it’s finished!
Tonight we ate pizza in one of
the two restaurants in Marathon, dessert in the other (the Gage Hotel), played a few
hands of Euchre, and drove around the town. Between this stop and the last in
Marfa, I’m worried it’s all downhill, figuratively, from here!
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| 9am departure from Marfa #detroitcafe #represent |
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| Racing a train into Marathon |
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| Center of the Rose Garden at the B&B |
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| View of the B&B from the top |
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