We all woke with no hangovers . . .yippee!!! We are only about a 1/4 of the way into the city, so much of the day would be urban riding just getting out of the 600,000 populated city of El Paso. 50% change of rain predicted with strong, 9-14 mph winds, and gusts to 25mpg from the  . . . you guessed it EAST! We have a standing joke that if we ever a experience a tailwind during the day it means we are going the wrong way.

Out usual morning gathering as all last minute tasks are taken care of . . . you can see Margie in the back checking her bike . . .

. . . only to find out the tire was flat due to two goathead thorns!! Dan helped by ‘calling it in’!

The girls were so tired form changing the tire they had to take a cat nap in the boys room. Gina is up to her usual antic’s even at 8:00am!!!!

Mark had the breakfast sandwich which with potatoes might be enough for the whole day . . .

. . . my pork scramble may not have been as pretty . . .

 

 

. . .  but as you can see, the , had about every kind of pork one can imagine. A REAL Iowa thing!!!

On the way out of town we stopped at a Mexican supermarket.  Just like the Supermacharo’s in MSN, the sweets are right by the front door!!!

Assorted peppers by the pound!!

Saw this old billboard on the way out of town. Evidently the concept didn’t quite catch on . . .

Rain . . cold . . . wind . . . I want my Smoochie !!!!

We stopped in Faben for lunch, at Pa’s Famous Burgers, celebrating their 30th Anniversary.

Everyone pulled off their wet clothes and tried to dry off and warm up.

We met a pair for riders heading to FL, too. They are from Kent, England.

One of our friends from MI head out towards Ft Hancock . . .

. . . as did the other two.

The water in this area must be REALLY bad. This small town had four of these water kiosks around town. 25 cents/gallon or 5 gallons for $1 !!!

Of course  . . . if you wanted a few ‘additives’ in your water you could go next store!!

Was the weather starting to take it toll???

Linda buys her new best little friend Lynndae a ring from the middle machine.

Dirty legs contest, from wet road grime, at Pa’s Famous Burgers!!! I bet they were happy when we finally left.

No one wanted to leave until we were warm, so we made an excuse to crowd into the kitchen for a photo with Nancy, the head chef. It was toasty in front of the flattop.!!!

You can easily see into Mexico on today’s ride. mmmmmmmmmmmmm . . . did we run out of fence money again? It stopped here, right in the middle of the desert!

One could easily see the spires of the local church in Praxedis G. Guerrero, located right across the border.

Downtown Ft Hancock  . . . not much left.

Our MI friends beat us to the Ft Hancock Motel, the only one in town, and were already cleaning the Grime off their bikes.

We’ll be eating at Angie’s tonight, the only restaurant in town. I check and she is open until 9:00pm . . . but said she might close at 8:30am. We’ll be their at 6:00pm!!!