![\"1026\"](\"https:\/\/travels.wohu.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/st\/03\/10261.jpg\" "\\"1026\\"")
<\/a><\/p>\nGina, Margie and I were at Angie\u2019s by 6:30am having a great breakfast. Then we heard on the TV authorities found a decapitated body in South Padre last night!!!<\/p>\n
The three of us headed out at 8:00am since we were \u2018locked and loaded\u2019! We were back along the border. This Farm\u2019s description was no exaggeration as you could see \u2018the fence\u2019 right in his back yard.<\/p>\n Today would be an easy 74 mile day, mostly flat with a headwind in the afternoon. Plus we would have our own road for most of the way!!!<\/p>\n First we passed through Tommy\u2019s Town and congratulated our TommyH on what a great place to have named after him . . .<\/p>\n . . . mmmmmmm looks like his town has fallen apart. Good thing he hasn\u2019t as he rolls along the Southern Tier!!!<\/p>\n The first 25 miles were on what Texas calls a, Farm Road. Paved, no shoulder BUT really no traffic. Just a few pickups from local farms. You can see the tumbleweeds piled up along the fence line. Oh . . . those tumblin\u2019 tumbleweeds.<\/p>\n Lots of different types of homes along the way. This one may have been delivered by Menards, from the back of a truck . . .<\/p>\n . . .these folks look like they are doing just fine. You can see \u2018the fence\u2019 running in the background.<\/p>\n What . . .\u00a0 trouble ahead?\u00a0 No, just Gina warning of a \u2018Tinkle Timeout\u2019.<\/p>\n The girls were ahead of me as I stopped to take photos. When they got to this point there was a mother and two young Rottweiler’s out in the road to greet them. They were not a problem. By the time I arrived,a few minutes later, the two pups were gone but mom was still in the \u2018yard\u2019, behind the fence, looking at me as I biked by . . . probably thinking, \u201cThis one looks a little meatier. . . where are the children!\u201d.<\/p>\n Flash flood gauge in the foreground . . . it really must come gushing down from the watershed, at times.<\/p>\n After 25 miles we reached the interstate and took a break for a fashion show as two of our cowgirls made the rounds of the display racks trying things on. Good thing we were the only customers at the time!!!<\/p>\n I bought Moon pies for the three of us and you can see Gina\u2019s reaction . . .<\/p>\n . . . they didn\u2019t last long!!!<\/p>\n It was on to the interstate for about 3 miles before we came to the\u00a0 . . .<\/p>\n . . . \u2018frontage road\u2019 that you can see from the wavy fog line might need a little repair.<\/p>\n But soon we came to a much smoother surface and rolled to our lunch spot, Sierra Blanca, twenty miles away. NO TRAFFIC! We think \u2018the frontage road\u2019 is the old highway the interstate replaced.<\/p>\n We did roll through a Border Patrol station. Lots of noise, lots of BP officers running around in olive drab uniforms, and many officers with leashed very excited Dobermans that are used to sniff vehicles for drugs or\u00a0 \u2018human cargo\u2019. It really gave me a bad feeling in my stomach. I guess being in the Midwest I am isolated from these types of things.<\/p>\n We pulled into Sierra Blanco and literally took over the Subway at this gas station . . . Bikers in town!!! Here was part of the group ready to head out.<\/p>\n Our frontage road changed to the north side of the interstate highway and we would ride it until the last 8 miles before Van Horn, our home for the night. This entry way may double as a drainage ditch!!!<\/p>\n We no more got going when I stopped to talk to Adam, from Reno, Nevada, who has been on the road since last June. He is hiking the three primary trails in the US: the Appalachian, Continental Divide and the Pacific Crest, getting from one trial to the next on his bike that he has shipped to him. Nice young fellow. Does a half hour bird survey every morning of UC-Davis. Good luck in your travels, Adam!!!<\/p>\n Here was the staging area for the Border Patrol in this district. LOTS and LOTS of hardware.<\/p>\n Across the interstate I could see these two guys standing behind their van with the 4 way flashers going holding these two sign. Wish I had been closer to read them. Wonder if they said . . . NEED GAS. If so, sort of funny they would have pre-made signs!<\/p>\n I rolled up on Julie and Mark who camped in Ft Hancock last night near out motel. Great couple from Kent, England celebrating their 30th anniversary this summer. Tomorrow night they are overnighting in Kent, TX!!!<\/p>\n I had been admiring Mark\u2019s wide brim hat the last couple of days and since it was not raining today took a close up shot. He said it\u2019s made in the US. Good idea . . . really like the name of his helmet too!!!<\/p>\n As we biked along you could see more flash flood signs near the interstate. A five foot flood would just about hit the interstate surface!!!<\/p>\n The last 8 miles we were ,off the \u2018frontage road\u2019 and back, onto the interstate as we travel to Van Horn. You can see some of the gang on the entrance ramp.<\/p>\n I was in the middle of the pack and as I rolled along I could hear a vehicle hit the rumbles strips right behind me. Not sure if the guy driving fell a sleep, was on his cell phone or what but as he pulled back onto the roadway I could smell an INTENSE rubber burning smell. In another 100 feet, I suddenly had pieces of failed tire raining down on me from above. He obviously had crossed onto the rumbles strip and his tire disintegrated. I watched him stop about a half mile ahead . . . and then roll off onto the road again.<\/p>\n A mile down the road I could see him pulled over again into a shoulder pull off and as I rolled up on his truck I could see the tire was just about gone . . .<\/p>\n . . . not much left and I could see his running boards and rear quarter panel had been damaged and he had tire marks on the side of his truck bed.<\/p>\n As I rolled by his door he was on the phone, probably calling for help, and he smiled at me. I said, \u201cA**h**le, You, almost F**ck**g killed me!\u201d.\u00a0 (sorry Mom). Seemed like the appropriate thing to say at the time!<\/p>\n Soon we were at the motel, which square footage wise, is probably has the smallest rooms where we have stayed. It was TommyH\u2019s turn to be on the floor tonight and he decided to get his own room The girls are, all three, staying in one room. Smoochie . . . I will never comment about you being \u2018messy again!<\/p>\n I seemed to have been carrying some extra gear the last week or so and checked with Linda and Margie to see if it was theirs. No. I thought I had brought along some of emJay\u2019s gear from our biking closet by mistake. BUT . . . today I found out they were Gina\u2019s!<\/p>\n Here she is \u2018sheepishly\u2019 admitting she put them In my bag to lighten hers!!!! FUN!!!! (She bought lemon cake tonight so all is good!!)<\/p>\n Tonight we all needed protein for the big day tomorrow, 94 miles and 2,250ft of climbing, so we headed to the local steak restaurant . . .<\/p>\n . . . I had a \u2018healthy\u2019 steak.<\/p>\n Funny sign on the way back to our motel. We shared the lemon cake that Gina had bought and yummy Tim chocolate chip cookies!!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Today\u00a0 we passed into the Central Time Zone. . . . one day and an hour closer to my Smoochie!!!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Bikers took over the town of Ft Hancock last night . . . that\u2019s bicyclist’s. Twelve us overnight at the Ft Hancock Motel where there was no hot water for showers! It was quite a group. Our gang of six, two Brits, three Michiganders and one from Belgium.\u00a0 Every group got a $5 discount because … Continue reading Day 18<\/span> <\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n