28 March 2014
El Paso to Fort Hancock, TX
55 miles (Total Miles = 900)

I look down at my speedometer and read a number I rarely see: 24 mph. Now I know what it must feel like to be Marlin, scooting along in double digits and not just your average double digits but double digits that begin with a number higher than 1. The really crazy part is that I’m not going downhill and I’m not sitting on anyone’s wheel. Instead, I’m simply enjoying the benefits of a massive tailwind. Yes, mph and tailwind. Two of the things us cyclists like to talk about that bore you non-cyclists to tears. So forgive me for my digression and note that at least I didn’t tell you all about the banana I ate for breakfast.

Today’s ride has brought us to a small church in a small town where Gina and I are bunking in the small foyer. We have access to the rope that rings the church bell but I’m not sure if that’s something we should really be playing around with even though it is something fun to do in a town that ain’t got much else going on. If the parking lot suddenly fills with volunteer fire fighters, we’ll know it was a bad idea. I think for entertainment’s sake, watching the local high school baseball game is probably a better choice.

As for what’s around us on our second night here in Texas? Well, the landscape surrounding this here Fort Hancock is both flat and mountainous, open and arid, and fully fenced, keeping us on one side and Mexico on the other. Strange to think this is the same fence we first encountered so many miles ago in Southern California. Admittedly, I am on the fence about the fence, not knowing enough about it to spout an educated opinion, and I’m sure there are compelling arguments both for and against. But from my personal, visual perspective, it is an odd and rather harsh looking sight. Perhaps a white picket here or there would have been a nice touch.