Day 23
West Texas
Today we faced a steady head wind, it turned out we were only doing 55 miles, not the 70 that I had expected. (I don’t always pay close attention in map meetings. I’m good at some details, poor at others. I call it selective cognitive dissonance.) I ate lunch in a small town at a Mexican restaurant called “Lucy’s. I had two tacos, chips and salsa, and an orange soda for $5. The food was excellent, and the salsa was hot! I ate every last bit of it! My tongue was burning. The last 15 miles I got into a pace line with one other rider. We are heading thru mostly flat country now. Being in a pace line didn’t seem to help very much, The wind was hitting us between head on and 45 degrees right. There was no shoulder on the road, so the person behind couldn’t really sit on the left side of the leader’s wheel.
I knocked dinner out of the park (again). The little Mexican grocery where I stopped to shop had everything I needed and the owner was a joy to talk to. It turns out he has vacationed in Washington so we had a lot to talk about and many laughs. He had everything we needed in his store except Starbucks coffee. I’m kidding there, actually I didn’t expect Starbucks. For coffee I had to go with instant NesCafe. The best part was the home made tortillas he sold, and the excellent chorizo. I picked out some tomatoes from his produce and he told me I couldn’t have them. He took them from me and went into the back. A minute later he came out with nicer ones!
We stayed at a community church with a kitchen. That always makes food prep much easier, rather than having to cook over small camp stoves (we carry three). I made Spanish rice, white rice, chorizo, hot pinto beans, hot refried beans, a sauté of poblano, onion, and jalapeño, fresh tomatoes, fresh cilantro, and of course the excellent tortillas. I got a couple of votes for best meal so far!
It’s not late at all, but I’m tired, so I’m going to bed. I have a great story from the bar in El Paso, but I’m too tired to write about it now. Hopefully tomorrow night I’ll be able to get to that story.
The next two days will be 74 and 75 mile days, respectively. Wind optional.
Miles: 55
Steady head wind all day.
