Day 23 - Fort Davis, TX to Marathon, TX

Our leader, Mitch, has lent his name to several features of the ride. First were "Mitch miles" (one day he said we would ride 45 miles, turned out to be 61, as noted in Rhodri's post). Now we have "Mitch mix", a tasty, home-made variant of GORP with Brazil nuts, almonds, peanuts, dried banana and apricot slices, M&Ms and Honey Nut Cheerios (see photo). Am eating some now.
I am writing this at 3:15 pm sitting in my tent, with rain pouring down and a gusty wind. Our first real rainstorm on the ride. Reminds me of the Stevie Ray Vaughn song, "Texas Flood", with the words "raining down in Texas".
We rode 54 miles today. The map shows a 1000 foot drop, but there was some uphill. It never got warm; wore my jacket all day.
The first 24 miles to Alpine were straightforward except we hit bumpy chip seal after leaving town. About seven miles later the road turned to smooth asphalt. I was so happy I kissed the road (photo). Linda took the photo and the one showing the pavement change.
We passed the Chihuahuan Desert Research Institute (photo). Am considering applying for a grant to study desert road surfaces!
Alpine is not alpine - it sits in dry desert and not a ski slope in sight. The town is an artists' colony, and we tanked up at the requisite coffee and donut shops. See photos of painted postcard and my boyhood TV show "Bonanza" hero Dan Blocker who played the character "Hoss".
Outside Alpine is Sul Ross State University. On its campus is the Museum of the Big Bend. Many riders stopped here for 30-60 minutes, for an overview of the history of the Big Bend area, including parts of present-day Mexico. Items of interest included (see photos)
- a replica of the world's largest flying creature (35' wingspan), a pterosaur, whose bones were found in 1971 in Big Bend National Park by a geology student
- a replica of a carreta, a 1590 Spanish two-wheeled cart that was the first wheeled vehicle to enter what is the present U.S.
- the earliest cattle brand used in Texas
After leaving the museum we had a 30 mile ride to Marathon (pronounced mare-a-than). It was a trifecta: uphill, more rough chip seal, and a steady headwind of 10-15 mph most of the way. So I composed a song, "Texas Chip Seal Blues". Flynn is a professional guitarist, so maybe he can find an instrument and play bottleneck blues for me! Here's a photo of the Texas Dept. of Transportation, the chip seal guys.
(Later) The rain stopped after an hour and the ground dried quickly. I made the dinner salad; Terry mixed up sun-baked chocolate-oatmeal cookies; and Linda cooked beef stroganoff. No wonder we can't lose weight on the ride! Enjoying our meal in the sun are (clockwise from left) Linda, Jerry, Bob Pedersen, Ken, Andre, Rhodri, Julianne, Bob G, Julie, Bob Plant and Carol. (Terry, Flynn and Mitch were out of the picture.)
After dinner Julianne gave each rider a hard-boiled egg to play a game. The first and second riders tapped eggs and said "No rain". The rider whose egg did not crack goes to the third rider, and so on. Linda had the magic touch (or egg) and was victorious. As a prize, Julianne will set up Linda's tent one evening!
Bob Plant is from Marathon, Wisconsin. So he is pictured below with the Marathon, TX town sign.
Bruce