I've riden my bicycle from California to Texas in 11 days.
That's amazing.
In another 11 days, I'll still be in Texas.
This is new to me. The landscape has changed. Gone are the mesas of Arizona, the scrub brush of New Mexico. Farmland everywhere. There are different bird sounds. I'm pretty sure I won't be able to get the Hatch chiles much longer (but I'm planning on getting elote corn for dinner!)
The slow fade out of urban El Paso to rural border towns of Fabens and Fort Hancock told many stories of this corner of the state. Old and new pecan groves, old and new border fences, old and new railroad lines. Our ride took us along a local highway with Interstate 10 on the eastern horizon, Mexico on the western horizon, and agriculture on either side, criss-crossed by the train tracks.
Traveling at 11 miles an hour on the road with farmers driving diesel pickup trucks and tractors is a world away from the 75 mile an hour pace of the Interstate with truckers and travelers. On the Interstate, it's easy to go another 60 miles to the next Big Town. What's another hour of driving, really? On a bicycle, 60 miles was our entire day's ride.
60 miles of Texas down, 740 more to go.
WOW. My parents always talked about a road trip they took across Texas, how it took 3 days of straight driving. Considering it from a bicycle seat really puts that into perspective.
ReplyDeleteYour posts are thoughtful and inspiring.
Thank you! I have lots of time to think about how it was traveling across by horse or wagon or on foot.
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