El Paso - 44.91 miles

The winter sun, stunted by the clouds, peered through the tips of the bare pecan trees. Pen and paper are hardly handy when pedaling down the road. These were the words I kept repeating to myself in an effort to drive them in to my memory shortly after leaving Mesilla. On the way out we met a group of cycling retirees that called us sturdy. Shortly thereafter, we met the Rio Grande again; this time we saw it in the daylight. After a half hour stop to take pictures and listen to the daily rant from Jon regarding water, we left the pathetic excuse for a river behind. Amidst the pecan groves/orchards (the jury is still out), we came upon our first loaded tourer on the trip. His name is Peter (note the link to the right) and he started in Florida about a month ago. We all chatted for about 45 minutes. By we I mean Peter and Jon, while I interjected occasionally and leaned on my bike. I was waiting patiently to get to a bike shop in El Paso where I could aquire fresh tires. Mine were tired. They were so tired that within an hour we pulled into the grocery in La Mesa and I had a flat in the front. This, being the fourth in the last week, was nothing more than annoying. After I turned my bike upside-down, two gentlemen of the grandfatherly persuasion showed up on bikes and treated us to cold Sobe. The picked the orange-carrot for me. I told Jon to take the "Power" because even with a flat I was easily keeping the lead. The one of the two I was chatting with said he would offer to change the tube, but I would probably be offended. Without further mishap or delay, we climbed into El Paso and found Crazy Cat Cyclery. After much searching, they suited me up with the touring tires off of a new bike for sale and filled the tubes with slime (free of charge). I called the warmshower contact, West (see link to right),informing Jon that he shouldn't make a joke about East, North, or South in relation to siblings. It was after dark and West drove behind us giving cover all the way to the house. It is the house of a non-profit that provide border awareness education for groups. Good home cooked food, small children doing chocolate science experiments, good fair trade coffee for the first time on the trip, and a picture upload punctuated the evening. I still need to change my tires, but somehow I've worked "punctuated" into yet another post.






802.3 odo - 4:39:12 time - 9.6 ave - 30.3 max