Marfa Lights

We did see some lights last nite. it was spooky and very intriguing the way they appear, disappear and then reappear again in different area...wow!!! They are so fascinating! The town of Marfa built a viewing stand strictly for people to watch for the lights. They don't appear every nite but sounds like quite often.

Today we are in Marathon, TX and it's quite nice. We are taking a van trip to the Big Bend Mountains tomorrow. It was a 55 mile ride today with some "hills" - I think of them as inclines... I'm sure I will be changing my mind when I get to Utopia and Kerrieville from what it sounds. I also took a pic of the Hotel Gage when Elizabeth Taylor would stay when filming the movies here. This part of Texas is really pretty with mountains arounds.

Today on the road we saw quite a few Prawn Tailed Elk (I think that's what Mike called them). He seems to know all the birds and animals around. Other than that - it's been a few cows, a few coyotes and that's about it. Hopefully we'll see some more animals tomorrow at Big Bend. Tonite it's bbq hamburgers for dinner...last nite roast pork.

A Typical Day of Riding

Igot a request to describe a typical day of riding and what tent life is like.
We usually have coffee around 6 or 6:30 and breakfast at 7 or 7:30. And then we all get ready to ride. We leave camp when we want to - not as a group but when we're ready. Usually Roland and R.O. are the last ones one. Judy, Mike and I are either the first ones or second ones out...
Tent life is fun... I have no problems with it. We have great mattresses and you only need to make sure you are warm through the nights so far. It usually gets down into the 40's. The crew sets are tents up and brings our bags to our tent. They feed us - usually really good food - not gourmet - but good! Some of the riders like their beer after the ride and we all sit around with either, beer, wine or soda... not many drinkers on this ride though. I guess last year everyone drank their share. When your ready - hit the tent to sleep. I'm totally enjoying this whole adventure of mine - from tenting (which I thought might be a challenge) to the riding... I find the riding not as challenging as I thought it would be as it is more flat than hilly. I understand it changes when we get to the Texas hill country. We have sag stops every 18-25 miles with lots to drink and eat. It just depends on the length of the ride... I'm trying to think of what else you might want to know... let me know if I missed anything or anything specific that you would like to know. This is the 2nd post I did today so make sure you read the Marfa Tx post.

Marfa, TX

The road on the way to Marfa today was filled with lots of stuff... It was a 73 mile ride with tailwinds the last 15 miles.

First you should know that this area in Texas has seen a lot of movie sets with many celebreties staying in and around this area. Giant back in the 550's was filmed here plus many other movies - So for that reason, Marfa has a Prada Shoe store - who would have thought that...

On the way to Marfa we stopped at the Library in Valentine - so named because the first railroad stopped there on valentines day. The Travel club in the school was having a fund raiser selling burritos and brownies. We, of course, helped them raise some funds. Awesome burritos and the brownies were full of pecans - to die for....

Here we are in Marfa RV park and you have to see our "outside shower" absolutely an adventurous fun shower. We were cracking up... Steve, Harry and Ted were on their side and I was trying to take a shower on my side and we were hysterical... It is so open that when the wind blows it can be not only cold on you but the water is going away from you...you only need to see the pic to understand.

Tonite after dark we are going to see the strange lights that appear in Marfa. They say they cannot be explained and they've been showing up for years... pretty spooky... could be aliens!!! Will let you know tomorrow nite.

Van Horn, Tx

Well, there is one thing I can say about Texas so far... TREES!!!

I thought this picture was pretty cute. We all came in from the 75 mile ride to Van Horn, took showers and were hanging out in the only shade we had....
I call it the Rogue Gallery!....

Van Horn was a railroad town - a stop off at one time for the stagecoach. It's a nice little town with a large Dairy Queen...where a bunch of us went. Hot fudge sunday for me!!!

Fort Hancock

This was a 75 mile ride -flat and fast.... not much to this town except this is where they filmed part of the Shawshank Redemption. Also, the town was named for this man Hancock who was on the south side of the Civil war and his best friend was on the North side of the war. They fought against each other at Gettysburg.

We tented on the church grounds and our showers were at the school gym. For a small town they had a beautiful school and gym. We went to this small restaurant where they fixed beef brisket for the group. It was excellent and fun and very loud.

Just a reminder I'm in Texas now and Verizon doesn't hit all the areas like AT&T does so if I don't blog - just know it's because I can't.

El Paso, TX

When leaving Columbus this morning I snapped a pic of the old Columbus Jail. Sure would have hated to spend any time there...

Hi ya'll...reporting from the grand state of Texas... It was a great ride today...some tailwinds and mostly flat 75 miles. Saw more Yucca plants. I don't think of stopping to take pics but it reminds me when we were kids laying on the grass looking up at the clouds and reminding us of different images... Here's a pic of the first group to Cross the Rio Grande river.

Dan the runner who was in so much pain at the beginning of the ride... he healed -they moved his bike seat forward. Today he rode with me and Mike. I think he will be in the fast pack by the end of this week. He over analyzes everything and has a hard time making decisions. He is reading about Buddhism and embracing whatever situation you are in at the moment. He's a lot of fun and we all embrace him and his quirkynesses.... Dan is on the far left of the texas pic - he's from Asheville, NC.

Yesterday was Gopher's 29th birthday. We had a great dinner of grilled salmon, baked potatoes and green beans. then we surprised Gopher with a cake and noise makers. He's such a nice guy...he and Erica are expecting their first baby in August. I don't know what Bubba will do without them as they don't really want to continue this lifestyle after the baby is born.

Columus, NM - off day

So today we went to the Pancho Villa Museum...really interesting. In the middle of the nite March 9, 1916, Villa's 485 troops crossed the border and attacked Columbus, NM. There were 70-75 raiders killed, 10 american civilians and 8 US soldiers. They think Pancho was raiding to get supplies as they were not interested in killing the civilians. they have the original car with the bullet holes, a Curtiss JN-3 bi-plane and a armored vehicle and many other artifacts from that time. The place was pretty cool!

We then took a ride to Palomas, Mexico - had lunch. some stayed over to shop but some of us decided to come back. There were federalis at the gates going into Mexico - just the standard process returning to the US. The lunch place was called The Pink Store and of course they had the mariachi band playing to the tables. The town was really clean and I don't think they get many tourists - not much shopping, etc for the tourist.

Here we are at the statue of Pancho Villa in Palomas...

Just some other thoughts that I forgot to write about last nite. yesterday on our 95 mile ride - there are Yucca plants everywhere. they are like a fern growing up with stalks standing upward. It seemed like everyone one of these plants reminded me of something... one was an ostrich, another a laughing face and then there were 2 together and I swear it was 2 old men that looked hunched back walking.. there was also a porcupine... so many images - cracked me up then and still cracks me up but maybe it was all about the 95 miles (smile).

When Mike and I were racing to lunch at the 50 mile mark yesterday - we were both flying... Mike slowed down and said he couldn't keep up with me and I just laughed and said I was trying to keep up with him... we both slowed down - reminds me of an airport in Dallas, heh Marian??

Tomorrow we're on our way to the 4th State - Texas. We'll be in El Paso for the nite - 75 miles...don't know what the terrain will be like - will let you all know. I can't believe it's been 2 weeks on the road already! Time seems to be flying by...

Hey Phil, so glad to hear from you and that you're enjoying my blog...

Columbus, NM

Today was a 95 mile ride to Columbus... it was said to have fantastic tailwinds but the earlier riders like me and Mike didn't get much of them. We had headwinds which weren't bad and cross winds Towards the end of the day we did get our tailwinds though but not very strong. The route was slight inclines throughout the day...

We stopped at a rest stop in Hachita... check it out....

We crossed the Continental Divide somewhere on our route....

A little bit about this town... The mayor and the chief of police have been indited for selling guns and ammo to the drug cartels.. they are in jail as I write. It was quite interesting for us all as the mayor had originally set up the site for our stay here in the gymnasium. Everything was pretty much in the air when Bubba got here this morning as he wasn't sure we still had the site. Well we did - only the pipes had frozen in the gym and we couldn't use it so they opened up the school that no longer is in use. We all have our own classrooms - I'm in Room 12 and I have a sink but no bathroom.. We use the class bathrooms down the hall. We took showers over at this B&B which was a really cute place. The owner of the 3 Salsa restaurant gave us a combination dinner tonite that was excellent. We took up the restaurant! Will write more tomorrow on this place as we are going to the Pancho Villa park and then over to Mexico for lunch. It is safe for an early lunch.

Thanks to all of you for all your comments. I'm loving it!!!

Welcome New Mexico

What a great day for a ride...76 miles with the Chiricahua mountains to the right...Mike made the comment that there were no houses, no cattle, no people but it's all fenced in...crazy!!
We made it to New Mexico... Yeah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We stopped and took a picture of the monument where Geronimo surrended out here in Arizona. For some reason I can't get it to load... sorry!

You will be happy to know that your federal dollars are at work as all we saw on this road was Border Patrol. They are in trucks and on horseback. I guess they did have 7 or 8 standing along side the road cuffed and ready to take to the center (wherever that is). They check to see if they are wanted for anything in the US...if not, they take them back across the border.

Tonite Rick a border patrol captain came over and chatted with us about the job they are doing out here. He said for 1000 illegals they catch, 100,000 get into the US. He also said that it's really not the mexicans that are coming over but illegals from all over the world - China, ecuador, slovakia, etc... not the mexicans.. interesting, heh?!!?? He also said that in years past it was the mexicans coming over to get a job but now it is all about the criminal aspect-Drugs! He was saying how they have these ultra lite planes with the load under the belly and they have prearranged drop spots and they drop it so the Border Patrol can never catch them.

There was a sign outside Douglas, Az that said "Trade Policy" Drugs in, $$$ Billions out!!!

We are staying at Mountain Valley RV place. The proprieter is DiAnne who I think might be lonely sometimes but very very nice! RV parks can be a real wonder as to what you are going to get or not get.... We have one tiny shower and one bathroom for the group of us... somehow we make it work.

As I ride along I always think of the things I'm going to write on my blog and then when I start writing I forget most of it.... like in Catalina State Park - the coyotes that first nite...you could hear them on one side and then others answered them. Maybe they were warning the others of the big wind storm we were going to have..

Rand is having a lot of trouble with his medical issues. I hope he can continue riding. His wife has flown in from Virginia and will travel with him to El Paso...not sure what they plan on doing after that. They will be staying in motels along the way. Phil and Lora are also getting tired of the camping...they are staying in a motel also tonite... me? I don't care - it's all about the adventure!!!

Bisbee, AZ

Today we cycled a mere 25 miles but it was almost all uphill I think we are just short of 6,000 feet high. We came to this cute little historic town called Bisbee. I would like to come back one day and spend a couple of days here. antique shops, cute little shops, restaurants... The owner of this bicycle museum had a wine and cheese reception for us and gave us some info on the town. We're staying in the city park and it is supposed to be very cold tonite. I guess they talked to Bubba a couple of days ago and they had a freeze and the pipes froze in the women's bathroom. they finally got the water going for the shower but no such luck for the bathrooms - so we are sharing the men's bathroom.

We were left to our own devices for dinner and so we all kind of split depending on what we felt like eating. 6 of us ate at a restaurant called Cafe Roka and it was delicious. For $17 I got 1/2 roasted chicken - so succulent...

Do you realize I have no idea what is going on in the world today. Last nite at the motel we had a tv and neither Dawn (my roommate for the nite)
thought of turning it on... now this is what I call a real vacation - away from reality!!

Tomorrow we will be in Rodeo, New Mexico... Our third state!!!

Tombstone Az

It was a great ride today from tuscan to Tombstone 72 miles with 2,600 feet of climbing. Finally the scenery changed and we had great hills, mountains, plains.... it was beautiful!! 72 miles of ups and downs with one 9 mile climb. Can't ask for more than that - although they say tomorrow is a 30 mile ride all climbing.

I guess we're having pizza tonite as something was wrong with the camper and they can't cook in it. We are also being treated to a nite in a motel and that is very nice.!!!

Last nite's rain stayed outside the tent - no leaks and I am very grateful!

That's about it for today!

Today - traveling to East Tuscan

So after our crazy nite of wild wind we think we have a flat 30 mile ride to East tuscan...naught!! Bubba has asked a friend to take us as a group to Tuscan and show us around before getting to camp. We traveled the road where the Gibbins was shot and where 6 people died. Just a strip mall off the hiway- how sad is that!! Jim took us to University of Arizona which the buildings are pretty cool architecture on the campus. Then we rode through part of tuscan and he showed us where we were going to meet in 3 hours. well, that didn't set too well with us but we didn't have route sheets so we had no idea where we were going and had to wait for him. He took us past the airplane graveyard which i thinkt hey called it the bone yard or something like that... thousands of planes that are no longer in use from the army navy airforce marines. there is also a couple of old Airforce 1 planes... all planes that were used in previous wars - it is quite awesome to see. here is a pic but it just doesn't do it justice.

I'm in my tent right now and it is raining hard. So glad we made it in before the rain started. It's supposed to be clear in the morning though with sunshine...

The riders were upset with Bubba tonite and let him know it. He apologized to us all... after a long hard nite and then to make us wait for 3 hours before riding to camp and we had 35 mile an hour headwinds for almost 20 miles. Riders were very upset. I just say it's part of the adventure... but some didn't see it that way!!

Catalina Mountains dayoff

Yesterday was a day off from riding so we went to the Sonaron Desert Museum. It's quite interesting as it is like a small zoo. All the animals you would find in a desert...you find there along with stuff. There was a group of us that went and afterwards we went shopping.

That nite we had a cowboy nite...Chili and chips, a bonfire and Cowboy Joe came along to entertain us. Bubba gave us all cowboy hats and scarf to wear for this momentuous occasion. Cowboy Joe had some really cute funny poems he created from life happenings. Everyone got a big kick out of him until he got political about immigration and then we all started leaving....

Last nite also - the wind was so wild it was unbelievable. I couldn't sleep as everytime i dosed off part of my tent would wack me awake. I've never had a nite like that before...My biggest fear was that the tent would come down and I wouldn't be able to find the zippers to get out. Check out my tent before and after last nites wild wind storm. We all got up this morning laughing and exhausted as no one had slept. Our tents and everything we had was full of sand and grit... this is a crazy adventure.

The routes

For those of you who want to know mileage,etc on the ride.
8 days riding;
San Diego to Alpine - 43.3miles, 2089 feet of climbing
Alpine to Live Oak Springs - 31.8 miles,2,644 feet of climbing
Live Oak to Calexico - 63 miles, 973 feet of climbing
Calexico to Yuma - 56 miles, 88 feet of climbing...flat!!!
Yuma to Dateland - 76.5 miles, 656 feet of climbing
Dateland to Gila Bend - 52 miles, 460 meet of climbing...flat!!
Gila Bend to Casa Grande - 79 miles, 1192 feet of climbing
Casa Grande to Catalina - 60 miles, flat except for a 5 mile climb - mostly 4-5% grade. we changed the route. it was supposed to be an 80 mile ride but David living here in Tuscan knew of a shorter route and all of us riders wanted the shorter route. Yesterdays route was rather rough and really hot!
All for now.....


Y

Moon over the Catalinas

What an awesome site to see tonite. We all sat around and watched the moon come up over the Catalina Mountains. I guess it's the largest moon in 20 years or so it said in the Tuscan Daily. Check it out!

To Catalina State Park

I had to laugh when Mike said wasn't it amazing the way the scenery changed on the route. I told him to please make sure to point it out to me cuz all I see is tumbleweeds and cactus....

Here is a pic of Jumping Cholla - it's real fuzzy but it can land on you really quick and they say it is very painful...like getting a fish hook into your skin.

Here is David all dressed up to see his wife. They live here in Tuscan and she baked us pie for dessert tonite... apple, blueberry and peach.. was it ever good.!!!

SomeThings I didn't mention

Yesterday was a long day but a site we saw was amazing. John Wayne had 50,000 acres of land here with cattle lots on it - not all 50,000 acres but anyway if you could have seen the lots with the thousands of cattle - amazing - I've never seen anything like it. The highlite of my day!!

Coming into Gila Bend here is the welcoming sign. Under the 5 crabs are the 5 names... must be some local politicians.

On the way to Casa Grande

An 80 mile ride today...what can I say? Long and tiring. we're here at this campsite in the desert. I am glad I don't live in the desert. We stopped for lunch at this little taqueira and I had Carne Asada Tacos! Yum and then Judy had a flat about 1/4th away the spot and our mechanic was there so we walked her bike back. I realized if I wanted to finish this ride I would have to slow down some - so I'm riding with Judy and Mike now. Course the others have also slowed down but they still leave me in the dust after a few miles.


Rand has MS and it has not stopped his bike riding yet. He is grateful to be able participate in this. His friend Dan is a runner but agreed to ride with him. I think he is really regretting it as he is really having some painful problems. I feel so bad for him. He didn't ride today as he needed some time to heal.

Dawn has diabetes and has vision trouble. She is out here every day and finishing the ride. I am really imnpressed with her determination. She rides a recumbant tryke. She does like her wine when she comes in though. The other nite there wasn't any available at the moment and she made sure they knew there was none. She's a neat lady!
Tomorrow is another 80 day ride and then we get the day off. Looking forward to that!!

Dateland-Gila Bend

Last nite I was given the honor of being the first female to read from the Book of Bubba... so of course as I finished reading about Yuma I turned around and told Bubba about the war camps. He said, "Lady Diane (my nickname)when you read from the Book of Bubba - you read from that.. you don't add anything to it." They were all laughing and bubba said now you know why I've only let the men read... It was pretty funny.

Todays ride was hot and flat... same as yesterday. I've decided I would rather climb a mountain then ride flat... and I guess that will happen in Texas. Hopefully it cools down some for tomorrow. It was 90+ today.

We stopped at sofia's mexican cafe for lunch today - the place is really popular with very few tables. but it was good!

Yuma to Dateland

Today we rode 76 miles from Yuma to Dateland. Very flat but with a nice tailwind... You couldn't ask for more. Check out my pic- these are the 4 guys I'm riding with. They are strong hard riders and I start out with them and usually halfway through the day I lose them... But they are fun to be with and they usually wait for me at the rest stops. today we stopped at this little cafe for lunch...

Calexico to Yuma and some drama

The ride yesterday was hot! So was today but with a tailwind today!! Yesterday on the way to Yuma Border Patrol would drive along the side of the shoulder looking for footprints in the sand. They either went up and back again or they had more than one pickup going at different times.

My morning started off yesterday with me spilling my coffee in my tent! What a mess that was but I got it cleaned up and my tent is even cleaner than before.

To get to Felicity - fhe Center of the World we had to go 4 miles on this horrible bumby road. Our names were sent in with our sandwich request and we could take a tour of the place if we wanted to. 3 guys were ahead of me and when I got to the center - they weren't there. I thought they had gone on to Yuma. I asked for my sandwich and the owner said I had to wait for the rest of the riders. Well tired and hot as I was - I wasn't about to do that so I told her to forget my sandwich - just give me some cold water and I was riding to yuma. she got very upset with me! Then here come the 3 guys - they had gotten lost! Anyway to make a long story short - I stayed and ate my sandwich but said I wouldn't take the tour. She wanted me to pay for it anyway which I refused...! I think she was just a confused lady who wanted to take care of us and I wouldn't let her. I do plan on coming back and taking her tour. She was very insistent that we do that. It was pretty funny!

I finally got to Yuma and called Craig (my son) to pick me up as I was going to stay with them for the nite. I picked up my phone and it broke! We had to run down and buy a new one and that is nuts! They have you coming and going with their phones, their contracts, etc. You may think you're getting a good price but trust me - they got you!!! ButI got a new phone!

It was great seeing my son and daughter-in-law. I was going to take them out to dinner but instead we ended up at Kentucky Fried because of the time. Craig brought me back to the camp in the morning. Our camp was actually in a 100 year old church and everyone slept in the auditorium.
I guess everyone now knows who snores and who doesn't.... crazy!

Did you know in Yuma besides having a Terretorial Prison back in the cow boy days that back in World War II there were 2 german POW camps. There is still one camp standing and a bridge with swatiska (spelling).

We rode through the Imperial Sand Dunes and those dune buggies running up and down the dunes look like ants. There are hundreds of RVs everywhere as the snowbirds come down from all over the US and stay the winter. Many go into Mexico to get their medicine. I heard that in Mexico now - just across the border they have the Federalis with machine guns to keep the drug cartels away. Not the best place to be anymore....

Another Fun Day

Last nite we stayed in A Frames at Live Oak Springs. They cautioned us to lock up our bikes so my solution was to stand it up in the small closet - it fit perfect.

Tonite we're in Calexico staying at the Fire House. What a kick that is. They feel honored to have us stay here. They bbq'd beef brisket and beans for us. Delicious!! We were given Fire Chief hats and were made honorary Fire Chiefs of the Calexico FireHouse Bicycle Club. We had to promise that we would do the nite shift... you can imagine our reaction to that - too funny!!!

What is pampering all about? They do our laundry for us on Mondays and Thursdays... What a treat that is!

The Route

Ithought some of you may be interested in the route. today we were on old historic hiway 80 for most of the day. in 2 days we've climbed 4733 ft in 72 miles.

I'm saving my route sheets for Curt in case he and friends want to do all or some of the route. there's a few that live in Del Webbs around the US.

A bit of stuff

Here is Bubba getting his aura on... we were having breakfast at the casino this morning and his head fit into the light fixtures... he's a character. He is all about pampering his cyclists and his crew does it well. I'll get a picture of them one of these days.

Our routine at nite is finding our tents or cabins, getting a shower and then at a certain time there's a meeting to go over the next days route and to read from The Book of Bubba - which is actually something about the area we are in. He's quite clever.

This is really a fun and nice group of cyclists. I find myself riding with 3 guys that go a little faster than me but always wait for me after a big climb...other than that - I keep up with them. I'm quite impressed with me and my riding. It must be because of all the training I did... my personal trainer and my cycling with Team Alameda and during the week with Fred.

Day 1 - dipping the rear wheels

This morning we rode to the ocean at Dog Beach in San Diego to dip our rear wheels into the water. Today was a good ride - we had quite a bit of tailwind which made cycling even easier. For a while there I thought I was a faster rider than I really am. It was fun and a couple of us stopped before camp and had tacos and burritos. Tonite we eat buffet at the Casino...Yum!!

See my home for the next 51 days. this will be the challenge for me especially in the mountains like tonite - it's supposed to be cold!!! I must be a little crazy!!!!

Coast 2 Coast Riders and Staff

Tonite riders and staff met for the first time and then went out to dinner. There are 15 riders and 8 staff members. 4 women and 11 guys from Virginia, Illinois, Texas, California, Florida and can't remember if there are more states. Bubba had sent a message asking not to overpack and what does he do? Gave us another bag,water bottles, 2 hats, shower bag, 2 tshirts, polo shirts,fleece top - I think that, 's it. This is going to be a lot of fun.... the riders are close to the same age and all retired. and we are all looking for the same thing- a great ride across the US, new friends and a lot of fun.

BBQ Paradise - Lockhart Tx

Sitting here at my son's home watching BBQ Paradise on tv when Lord and behold - Lockhart Texas appeared. It is day 30 of the trip - It says I will be in BBQ heaven with no sauce. I will sample and let you know if it's as good as they say on tv. sooooey! sooooey! sooooey!!!!!!!!