I really enjoyed the ride from Las Cruces to El Paso. Right outside of Las Cruces was a quaint little historic village called Mesilla. It is supposedly where Billy the Kid was tried and hanged. I was fortunate enough to be able to watch a wedding ceremony with traditional music of this area. It was great. My campsite was only about 1/4 mile away, so I got lucky. It was a Sunday. Just as I was leaving the little village I looked up and saw one of those signs indicating a group that adopted and picked up trash along that part of the road. It was the Unitarian Univeralists of Las Cruces. Reminded me of all of those back home making a new life in our little Casper church.
Crossed the Rio Grande. It was surprising to me that all there was flowing under the bridge was sand.
Spent quite a few miles riding through what I would consider a pecan tree forest. Miles and miles of trees lining both sides of the road. If I were a farmer I would probably say acres and acres. The other main crop that I saw was cotton. There were signs indicating that there was to be no plowing on the shoulder of the road. Having just recently been in a place that was plowing snow, without thinking, I naturally assumed that they were referring to snow. It took me half the morning to realize that the signs were a warning to the farmers. There weren't any fences between the road and the crops. They were telling the farmers to keep their plows off of the shoulder. Evidently there had been issues with farmers plowing and sowing on the road right of way.
Getting into and through El Paso was challenging, but aided by a very long and nice bike path. The first panic moment of the day came after the bike path ended. I got on the road that was supposed to take me all the way through El Paso. Road closed! No detour signs. Luckily enough it was a Sunday. No construction going on. So I made my way through the baricade, picked my way through several blocks of construction and ended up where I needed to be. It was a great day, but a long one. I ended up going about 70 miles to get out of the city and find a place to stay.
The head winds finally slowed down today. I felt a tail wind for about 15 minutes. The challenge here in West Texas is going to be taking enough food and water to get from one place to another. The towns are spaced a long way from each other, with a lot of businesses closed down. The landscape is vast with plains and mountains for as far as you can see. It is not what I would describe a beautiful, but it certainly does have its own beauty. Tomorrow I will take it a bit easy. I went about 67 miles today. Two long days in a row and I need to recoup a bit. Tonight I am in Sierra Blanca. Tomorrow, maybe Van Horn. Feeling good. Doing well. Til later.
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