Reunions, Headwinds, Hills, Killer Chihuahuas...And Cujo

Riding Day 18

The team awoke early and was out the door by 7am for the 50-minute drive to the starting point in Langtry, Tx. Judge Roy Bean died there, and there’s a small museum in the town dedicated to him

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As we drove over the same territory we’d soon be riding on, albeit in the opposite direction, I became acutely aware of all the hills we still had to deal with to finally get to Del Rio, and we were also going to have mild to moderate headwinds the entire day. Nothing to be done about it other than climb aboard Hank and push the pedals around. At least we had fresh legs after two days off, but still…

We arrived in Langtry right at 8, and were joyfully surprised to see Jamie Lee, and the brothers Wendell & Von! Our tribe was partially intact once again, and after warm greetings and hugs, we spent 20 minutes or so catching up. The three of them had spent the night in Langtry in a very small and rustic motel. The proprietor, a quiet, weathered man named Jesse with a sullen but kind face, must have treated them quite well as they were all hugging goodbye. They looked rested and had been able to take hot showers, and it was truly great to see them again. We offered them treats from the OREM, but they had everything they needed, and soon we were all back at it on the seemingly never-ending shoulders of Highway 90.

Odie and I, intent on making it to Del Rio and perhaps beyond, put our heads down and loosed our fresh legs to do their thing. The hills weren’t massive, but they seemed to be like links on a never-ending chain, and the wind caressed and tormented us in equal measure. Within the first few miles we caught up to all the other tribe members, and soon they were no longer in sight, which once again made me wonder if we’d ever see them again, but I hope we do.

The plan was to ride 15 miles, take a break, do 15 more, etc…, but the wind and relentless hills forced us to reduce the distance between breaks to 12 miles. I was running through Hank’s gears nearly constantly to maintain RPMs, gearing up for a few seconds only to have to gear down because of wind gusts or another hill. It kept me alert, and over the course of the day probably cut 20 minutes or more off our overall time, which is significant when you get near the end of a hard day.

At one point there was a large herd of goats in a fenced pasture close to the road. I did my very best bleating goat impersonation as we rode by, and every single goat paused what they were doing to look at the silly humans passing by. A few miles later, two Chihuahuas saw us and rushed in our direction, yapping like the alpha males they longed to be, before stopping several feet from us, still full of bluster, but apparently willing to let us pass unscathed.

We made it to Del Rio around 3pm and decided to continue riding until we hit at least 70 miles for the day. It had been grueling, but Odie and I still felt reasonably strong, and after a quick break, we pushed on. We soon left Del Rio and it’s busy-city vibes behind, moving patiently toward Laughlin AFB. We were still on Highway 90, and as we were approaching the boundaries of the airfield, I saw a dog inside a fenced yard running parallel to us…then I noticed it was running toward an opening in the fence…uh oh! But then the dog slowed to a walk, obviously not terribly interested in exerting the effort require to catch and maul us. But just as I started to breathe a small sigh of relieve, I caught sight of the second dog, a much larger, rust-colored brute who was sprinting all out and was just coming through the opening in the fence. I don’t know why I didn’t shout something to Odie, but I started pedaling as hard as I could and quickly felt Odie doing the same. The dog was gaining rapidly on us, and within just a few seconds had pulled even not more than 3 feet away. I started yelling as loud as I could and so did Odie, but for what seemed like eternity, the dog kept pace with us, his being full of snarling menace. This episode probably lasted 10 seconds tops before the dog slowed and let us go, but the adrenaline rush we both felt lasted for several minutes. We had been struggling to maintain 11mph at this point, but right after the dog let us go, I looked down at the computer and saw we were traveling just shy of 25mph! Obviously adrenaline is some very powerful stuff…We stopped for the day a few miles later, having covered 69.87 miles and surviving certain death…well maybe not death, but we might have been bitten or crashed, two of the things at the top of our list entitled “Things to Avoid!”

As we were only 20-minutes from Deborah’s house when we ended for the day, we came back for one more night of comfort. Tomorrow, we hope to be riding by 8am, and we’ll finally get to leave Highway 90 behind as we turn Northeast and head into the Texas Hill Country, which as you might have already intuited, will involve riding up and down hills! At least we can take comfort in the fact that once we get beyond Navasota, TX, the terrain becomes comparatively level, but by then it will be bugs, humidity and wild weather dominating our days, so bring on the hills for now and we’ll figure out that other stuff later. Good night all, sleep tight…