It was a great day to ride a bicycle. A confluence of
events made it so. We had fresh legs from our day’s rest. The thermometer
cooperated providing us with a balmy high of 91. Funny how that sounds so, ever
since I experienced the heat tourniquet known by the epithet Arizona. We had
good roads and wide berms. The drivers were uniformly courteous. And Sara was
at my elbow as we lopped off the miles. Did I tell you that it was a great day
to ride a bicycle?
We pulled onto the route a little after 7:00, having
eaten the complimentary breakfast. We had it for two days, so we know the
script. It was not long and we were out of town riding on a wonderful cycling
road. Our passing at least a hundred riders coming north as we drifted south
supports that claim. We even had a few riders pass us by. The riders came in
groups of a dozen or so. The road sliced a path through miles of pecan orchards
and vineyards. The homes revealed the prosperity of the inhabitants. We even
saw a corn field way out here? All of this beauty would have been missed had we
used my planned route riding along the Rio Grande River. But the dirt road made
me reconsider. I wonder what we missed
on “the road not taken?”
At the 22-mile mark we met the Black Oasis, refueled
and made an immediate turn onto O’Hara Road, heading east, crossing the Rio
Grande, then facing an ominous collection of foothills. Somewhere on this route
we had 950 feet to scale, and from the looks of things, we were going to get it
all in one bite. I have to tell you that the ride down the backside of that bad
boy was payback.
We turned right at the bottom of the hill via a
traffic circle of all things. There was nothing around for miles and miles, so some
traffic engineer had a great idea? We crossed the border between NM and TX to no particular greeting, unless you consider fixing two flats a greeting? Sara and
I simultaneously flatted, she on the rear and I on the front. The ride through
El Paso consisted of neighborhoods with corner gas stations and 7-Eleven shops.
It was not long that we were traveling through suburbs in its southeast corner.
Finally the road got rural before guiding us into Clint, our host town for the
night.
A remarkable coincidence occurred to me today. At 9:50
this morning, my brother Bobby sent me an email. He described an extended
family situation involving a friend of his (Anthony), and a friend of ours from
Akron (Tom). Anthony and Tom through of series of divorces and deaths are
stepbrothers. That is my calculation based on the email. Anthony lives in
Marfa, TX, our host town on Tuesday. Out of the blue, at 11:01am, Tom called
me. I had not spoken with Tom in over a year. I was on the road so I did not answer. When I
arrived at the hotel, I knew nothing about the email and had not spoken with
Tom. I called Tom and we talked. Then I called my brother. In the course of
conversation, I mentioned that Tom C. called me. He was silent for a moment. Then
he said, “Read the email I sent you.” I did and I am floored! Remarkable? It is
a small world.
We will try to make up for the rest day by turning the
next three days of riding into two days. Stay tuned.
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| Our wonderful cycling road, SR 28 out of Las Cruces |
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| Corn and pecan trees |
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| Our second of three Rio Grande crossings on the tour |
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