We all seemed to be up late ‘taking care of business’ and morning came early. We wanted to get on the road early today because we had a big day. Looks like about 90 miles with several thousand feet of climbing. As I got my gear arranged, I went to move my bike outside and  . . . the back tire was flat!!! Dan had had one on his bike last night.

Wonder if the wire I found in the tire was a remnant of the tire explosion my friend with the pickup had. If it was . . .he had the last laugh!!

We are in the VERY western part of the Central Time Zone and it seemed like it took forever for the sun to come up. Once there was enough light to see by, we were on the road. Nice colors in the early AM as we left Van Horn.

We were up so early even the rest stops were still full of snoozing truckers!!!

The first twenty five miles was on a a continuation of our ‘frontage road’ we had most of yesterday. Soon it ran out at this service station and we were on the freeway again.

50% chance of rain today after 3:00pm so we are hoping to put some miles on before then. There had been some showers earlier in the morning and you can tell on the interstate by the volume of water in the rumble strips!!

Fifteen miles down the road we got to Kent, where we happily exited the interstate.

On the way to Fort Davis today we would climb up the the McDonald Observatory. The ACA maps designate VERY LIMITED support on this stretch but surprisingly the Observatory has a café. I guess maybe McDonald’s is trying to find a niche market.

The school at Plateau had obviously seen its hay day. Not much left. Seems to be a similar situation with many building in small towns of less than 4,000 population.

It’s dry out here in the bush!!!

Plenty of time to study the geology as we pedaled along on a gradual 3-5% uphill for the first part of this afternoon.

First signs of color we have seen in a long time along the roadway . . .

Looking for the little doggies . . .

Interesting gateway to this ranch . . .

Along this highway, the county or the stat,e has taken a lot of effort to make these elaborate walls and road pull offs . . out in the middle of nowhere!

This was one of many, many, I guess they were are some type of water controls structures, we biked by.

I think this driver may have fallen asleep while driving down the road. With a all the problems we have been having with goathead thorns, I didn’t venture off the road to see the result of the crash. Hope the car wasn’t still there!

This fella had a beautiful coat of fur. shhhhhhhhhhhh . . . just sleeping!!

Tom was at the start of our big climb up to McDonalds’ Observatory. We all watered up. As I road away, I notice my front tire was flat!! A quick tube change and I was on the way. Good thing tomorrow is a rest day, I have three tubes to patch!

Linda rides ahead on ahead and you can see two of thee many observatory’s located at the summit.

I pulled into the visitors center to learn  more about the whole mountain top. Very interesting!!! Wish we were camping here and could take in one of the evening programs.

Observatory domes where ever you turned!!!

Soon I was on the 12 mile descent to Ft Davis, our home for the next two nights. Here was a little road side park that I had a hard time determining what it was. All the signs had been removed. I was puzzled by all the effort put in to get to the ‘tower’.

Here was a neat way side rest area built right into the side of the mountain.

Just outside of town I came upon this ‘Deadman’s Curve’. It was very easy to see where how the vehicle had continued straight off the curve . . .

. . . and unfortunately three people perished. Drinking involved . . . who knows?

 

We pulled into the Ft Davis RV & Motel Park for our two night stay. Rest day tomorrow. We need it after our 90 mile day today, with over 4,100 ft of climbing, and the miles we have put on during the previous week.