I must admit that, but for this trip, I would never have set foot in Marfa, TX, but it’s quite a cute town. Everything is repurposed. The coffee shop we had breakfast in is a former gas station. There is an art exhibit of beat up trucks and there are colorful murals on many of the buildings.
Yesterday was the exact opposite of Saturday’s ride. Where Saturday was 50 miles of gentle downhill riding, yesterday was 50 miles of gentle climb. But it wasn’t gentle. Welcome to the TX chip n seal roadways. They lay down chips and tar and then roll it out, and then rely on the road traffic to smooth it further. Except that we were riding in the shoulder, where it is never rolled out. For 50 miles, I felt like I was running a jack hammer. At one point, we were about a mile from lunch, and I told the leader I had to take a break, he said, but we’re only a mile a way, and I said, sorry, I can’t feel my hands or my legs — I need to stop! The new song in my head is a modified, “Let Your Love Flow” — changing the words to “Let Your Blood Flow”! I have discovered that if I take a 2 minute break about every 9- 12 miles, I can get the blood flowing again and take off with more strength. In any event, for the last 15 miles of the ride, I said screw it, and biked in the roadway – what a relief!
There were a few oddities along the way. We are riding on state highway 90, and will be for the next 4 days (no chance to get lost!), and, as with my earlier post, there are lots of abandoned buildings and storefronts. But, in the middle of Valentine, TX (pop. 73), along the roadside, is, of all things, a Prada Outlet storefront. It’s just an exhibit, but, how bizarre! And, further along the road, about two hundred yards off, was a very odd looking blimp – who knows what it was there for.
So, we have today off in Marfa. First up was coffee, then much needed laundry, and next we’ll be charging our batteries (physical, mental, and mechanical), cleaning the bikes, and just enjoying the day.
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