Day 18: Tuesday 03/22/16, Ft. Hancock, TX to Van Horn, TX

Day 18 distance: 76 miles

Total miles:  1002 miles

Elevation gain: 1879 feet

Map of today's ride:

I ended the 18th day today with 1002 total miles bicycled on this year's C2C ride, what I consider a ride milestone. That means that the ride is slightly over 1/3 complete. I am looking forward to the next 1900+ miles to go!

Today's 76 mile ride from Fort Hancock to Van Horn went well. The weather was warm enough for only arm warmers when we started this morning, and it had heated up to 82 degrees by the time we reached Van Horn.  The wind for the first 34 miles or so was at times a light headwind or a side wind, but right before we reached Sierra Blanca for lunch, it became a strong tailwind that was forecast as high as 30 mph. It resulted in a fast ride for about the last 40 miles! The wind also completely changed housing plans for tonight, as winds up to 50 miles per hour were forecast in Van Horn. Bubba was concerned enough about his riders being in tents, that after many telephone calls, the principal at the Valentine School District said we could spend the night in their gym. That resulted in Bubba shuttling all of the riders some 36 miles down tomorrows route for the night. We will be shuttled back to Van Horn after breakfast for the ride from Van Horn to Marfa. Tomorrow the wind is forecast to be 30 mph out of the west, meaning we will be riding in an extreme side wind for 73 miles.

Garmin computer update: I reloaded my Garmin 1000 with the remaining ride routes last night and it worked perfectly today. I am including a pictures tonight of two computer screens that I regularly view when riding. It sure beats being distracted by a cue sheet! Also, I started carrying my older non-mapping Garmin 510 with me on my bicycle, rather in my luggage, so I will have it with me if I ever have another issue with the Garmin 1000 and need to use the cue sheet.

Sunrise this morning in Fort Hancock at 7:00 am.

A group of riders stopped to take pictures this morning on a lightly traveled Texas farm road.

This was the view that all the riders stopped to look at and photograph.

An empty irrigation canal in a parched part of Texas.

Nice looking herd of cattle along the farm road.

A tall wire gate in front of two "formal" rock gate posts with lions on top. When I walked up close to the fence I could hear a bunch of dogs barking but then realized it was coming from a recording somewhere. It would be a very effective deterrent for anyone thinking about trespassing!

Although this picture was taken from a frontage road, we were forced to ride on the busy I-10 freeway for about 10 miles.

This flood gauge along a frontage road gives real meaning to not entering a roadway when flooded, when the sign right before it says: "DO NOT ENTER WHEN THERE IS WATER ON THE ROADWAY"!

Heck, even with a 25 mile an hour tailwind, I could only get my bicycle up to 32 mph!

Two sets of train tracks run along I-10 in western Texas.

We crossed into the Central Time zone a few miles before Van Horn today. Hard to believe, but the CT zone extends all the way to Tallahassee, Florida.

Our home for the night. The Valentine Independent School District has a total of 47 students in grades 1-12, but there are no seniors this year.  

All set for the night!

Tonight's dinner menu.

Not the clearest picture, but this is the Garmin screen set up for the parameters I primarily view on my Garmin. Note the box that tracks the "Dist. to Next" turn.

This is the Garmin screen that appears when getting close to a turn.

 LINK to Day 18 of my 2015 C2C blog.