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Day 18- El Paso

 We woke to another bluebird day which warmed up quickly. Our route today was short-ish, only 44 miles, with 214 feet of climbing if you can call it that. It took us through La Mesilla, a town whose ownership was disputed until US soldiers planted a flag in the town Square in 1854 and called it good. It’s also the site of Billy the Kid’s ultimate demise. He was hung in the same square in 1881.


We found a terrific restaurant called The Bean. We all stopped for second breakfast. No one left hungry or disappointed. There is nothing wrong with a breakfast quesadilla. I think it went right to my legs.


A few easy miles up the road we stopped at the City Market which has been in operation since 1925. The current owner’s father opened both it and the Dancehall next door, and it was quite the place to be back in the day.


I’ve noticed the road signs and many other things (houses, license plates, memorials,) all have a ring with lines running out from that ring at quarterly intervals. It’s the red sun symbol of the Zia people. It represents the four seasons, the four cardinal directions, the four phases of life, and the four periods of the day.


We rode through the worlds largest pecan grove in San Miguel. They water the trees by flooding the area underneath them.

New Mexico did not want to let us go easily. About 10 miles from the border, we stopped for a lunch break in a winery parking lot. Kelly and Adam pulled in right after us. Kelly complained that there was something wrong with the back tire of the tandem. And indeed there was. The bead was ripping away from the tire. They did a quick inspection and decided it was OK to ride just to the end of today. Ankur got up to leave with us and he had a flat tire, and by the time we hit the Texas border Ann was pumping her tire up every 5 miles.




Texas greeted us with the field of horses. We did our best to take a picture of a spelling out TEXAS with our bodies since there was no “Welcome to Texas” sign- just an “end of state services” as we left New Mexico. We were somewhat successful. We then had a lovely concrete bike path for 5 to 6 miles that kept us off the busy road to the Motel 6 that we are in for the night.



Things I learned today:

  • Second breakfast just might be the best part of retirement.
  • Flats will happen no matter how careful you are.
  • Cotton looks like yellow roses before they puff out.

  • Motel 6 might leave the light on but you’ll have to lie down under the bed to plug in the air conditioning.


Comments

  1. AnonymousOctober 12, 2022 at 5:58 PM

    Looks like the Transmountain Pass. You are living big AND everything in Texas is BIG!

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousOctober 14, 2022 at 6:19 AM

    Loved you Texas picture. It would make a great welcome sign. I'm going to make a breakfast burrito. Debbie

    ReplyDelete

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