Motel City (Or Town, Actually)

Sometimes geographic limitations dictate the day’s itinerary. Today was one of those days.

Essentially there were two potential destinations for today’s ride. The first was Van Horn, the destination I had originally targeted on Friday before the wind scuttled those plans. The second option was Marfa. Van Horn was only 60 km away while Marfa was a much more ambitious 190 km. With a favourable wind I would’ve considered setting a new personal record by reaching Marfa. But with more 20 km/h winds in the forecast for today, attempting an 190 km ride didn’t sound particularly enjoyable.

Despite getting up early again this morning, the Texas wind was waiting for me. It’s certainly very persistent. Not at all charming. But persistent.

Today’s ride ended up feeling more difficult that it really was. For much of the ride I felt like my progress was very slow and difficult – that was probably due to the headwind and the gradual climb that spanned the entire ride. In reality, my average speed was more than reasonable and, when I think back on the ride, I really didn’t have to work that hard to achieve it. It felt tough at the time but a persistent headwind tends to mess with your mind a bit.

While my progress was better than I thought, today’s ride was far from the most scenic of the trip. Quite frankly, it wasn’t particularly scenic at all – which would explain the lack of photos during the ride. Essentially, today’s ride followed two roads. It would’ve included more than that had I followed Google suggested route but given Google’s penchant for dirt roads I opted to follow my own route. Hardly surprising.

The first road was an access road that ran parallel to Interstate 10 – it was actually only about 25 metres from Interstate 10. It was a decent road and it didn’t have nearly as much traffic as the Interstate. In fact, I was passed by more trains than cars while I was on the access road. The second road on today’s route was Interstate 10. The one thing that is VERY apparent while travelling through Texas is that the roads are very long and very straight. I’ve yet to decide if that’s a good thing or a bad thing.

The most significant moment of today’s ride (other than deciding NOT to follow Google’s directions) occurred when I crossed back into the Central Time Zone. In the grand scheme of things, it’s not all the significant. But given the limited highlights of today’s ride, crossing a time zone suddenly becomes newsworthy. The last time I was in the Central Time Zone was in late June. That seems so long ago. And far away.

With my crossing of the time zone I suddenly found myself arriving in Van Horn an hour later than planned. Fortunately, it was a short ride so it really didn’t matter much. But it was a bit amusing to be cycling along thinking, “I should be in Van Horn by noon.” only to suddenly have an hour vanish without a trace. It would seem I would be in Van Horn by 1:00.

Upon arriving in Van Horn, one thing became abundantly clear. There are a LOT of motels here. Despite being a town of approximately 2,000 people, there are more than 15 motels in town. Plus at least two RV Parks. There are a handful of restaurants, a Dollar General, and I’m guessing there’s a grocery store somewhere but I didn’t see one. That said, Van Horn is centrally located between places like El Paso, Fort Stockton, Marfa, and the Guadalupe Mountains. Given it’s proximity to all those places, Van Horn has become a popular place to stop for people passing through. Tonight, I would be one of those people.

Originally I had planned on camping tonight but with a bit more freelance work to do I opted to stay in one of Van Horn’s many motels. The motel in question was the Desert Inn and, in addition to being appropriately named, it was also in close proximity to Wendy’s. Did I mention there’s a Wendy’s in this small town? Well, there is. And yes, I had a Frosty.

The rest of the evening was pretty uneventful. Although, I will say this is the first time I’ve stayed in a motel where the building actually shook when the train went by. And it went by rather frequently. Fortunately, I’ve grown somewhat accustomed to sleeping near trains so I didn’t anticipate any problems sleeping.

I ended my day channel surfing through the motel’s cable options and I stumbled upon John Oliver’s show “Last Week Tonight”. It’s not the first time I’ve ever seen the show but it’s definitely the first time I’ve seen an episode on its original airing. It was an appropriate episode to see as he did a feature on tomorrow’s Federal Election in Canada. I have to say, it was pretty amusing … so much so that I’m including it here in case you want to end this update the same way I ended my night – watching “Last Week Tonight”. If you’re old enough to vote, you’re old enough to watch it.

Today’s totals:
Distance travelled: 64.53 km
Ride time: 3:11:04
Average speed: 20.26 km/h
Maximum speed: 36.59 km/h