March 26: Fort Hancock to Van Horn, Texas

Whoever said the prevailing winds blow from west to east has never been in west Texas.

Yesterday, we rode south south east and the wind was at our face. Today we rode east south east and the wind was still in our face. It makes for a long hard day!

Left Fort Hancock, saying goodby to the border fence for a while, though we saw plenty of Border Patrol cars most of the day.

. Brown line across photo is the fence.

First 20 miles took over 2 hours, due to the force of the wind. We stopped briefly in Esperanza (Hope), hoping for relief, but no such luck.

And there was occasional dust blowing.

We spent 2.5 miles on I-10, discovering that the shoulder had been grooved – not a pleasant experience. The remainder of the route into Sierra Blanca was along a frontage road, with good surface and virtually no traffic, alas still headwinds.

Enjoyed the stop for a Subway sandwich in Sierra Blanca before facing the final 32 miles of the day, 24 along the frontage road. While my head was mostly down to fight the wind, I did notice this mountainside silhouette, and wondered if that was a smile or a smirk?

Just before heading back onto the interstate, passed American Talc- we had been able to see this facility from several miles back.

Nine miles on I-10 to get into Van Horn, about 2 of them uphill, then a nice gentle downhill to end the day. This shoulder was smooth, with occasional debris. Did lose an hour along the way!

My roommate tonight is Marilyn from New Zealand. She is traveling in the U.S., Egypt, England and Spain for the next 9 months!

Total 75 miles today, average 9.1 mph.