That’s us at the big blue dot.

Over the next week or so we head towards Phoenix, Arizona, passing briefly through New Mexico en route.

We won’t slavishly follow the American Cycling Association’s Southern Tier Route as some of it doesn’t make sense. We really don’t need to cycle circuitous routes through anonymous hills when we can take a pleasant and more direct route.

So tomorrow it’s Las Cruces.

Recently the weather has been relatively cloudy and cool (25c /77f) and we have not been troubled by wind. We much prefer the cloudy skies but feel our luck wont last.

1997 miles down. A lot less than that to San Diego.

Leaving our guest house in Fort Davis the road climbed for 18 miles at a 1% gradient and we eventually reached 6,000 feet altitude.

The next 62 miles was either downhill or reasonably flat until we reached Van Horn. We made great time and at a ‘banana break’ en route, Susan caught me returning from a quick shopping trip.

As you can see the weather is still quite cool. Long may it continue.

Actually, the shop is a sculpture’ called ‘Prada Marfa’. I’m not even going to offer a comment or wonder how much it cost or even ask what’s the point?

From Van Horn we had a short (34 miles) to Sierra Blanca which is a lovely town that’s been bypassed by the interstate. It’s slowly declining into a ghost town.

We were told that the ‘State’ cinema, in the photo directly above, is one of only two adobe (mud brick) cinemas in America.

Apparently it closed in the 1950’s and inside is pristine and looks like the day it closed with all the old equipment and movie posters. Unfortunately, the current owner isn’t caring for the outside. Sad.

Leaving the decayed elegance of Sierra Blanca we cycled 72 miles to the south east of El Paso followed by a short and uneventful 24 miles into the city centre the next day.

We met some fellow cyclists who were travelling the same route in the opposite direction. Lovely people. Good luck with your journey and be safe.

So that’s where we are now – El Paso.

Right on the Texas and Mexico border. We have been staying at a lovely Airbnb house near the city centre but, after three nights of accommodation luxury, a new bottle of bourbon, numerous bottles of local craft beer and more Mexican food than is good for us, its time to hit the road again. I will be glad to get back to my burgers 🍔

Hasta la proxima.

Adios.

From our camp in Langtry we headed 60 miles to Sanderson over hill and canyon, climbing over 3,000 feet in the process. A hard day with a puncture thrown in for good measure.

The motel was crummy but the Ranch House for a burger was damn fine. Wish I had been counting how many burgers I’ve had this trip. It’s an easy choice when you’re tired but packed with protein and carbs – just what a cyclists needs. Sometimes there’s even a few vitamins if a salad is included.

You wouldn’t complain about the burger in the Ranch House even if it was bad. You see the young waitress has a gun strapped to her waist. That’s Texas! And I can’t even begin to tell you what was written in sparkly letters on her T shirt! Really I can’t. I was like a 5 year old child who sees something strange he shouldn’t be staring at. Ranch House – thoroughly recommended.

Over the next few days we pedalled steadily through Marathon (55 miles), Fort Davis (55 miles), Van Horn (80 miles) and climbed 5,000 feet. It wasn’t so rolling but a steady 1% gradient mile after mile. Now these 1% hills are relentlessly slow and our speed suffers. Give me the pain of a big uphill and downhill any day.

Approaching Marathon we had a triple puncture whammy! Yes its time to talk wheel issues again. You love it!

Following ‘Spokegate’ in Florida we thought our wheel issues were behind us. We had both wheels rebuilt and Susan lost some weight so all was fine or so we thought!

Five miles from Marathon. Front wheel Puncture. Quick change (Susan and I are so practised we’re now like a formula 1 team pit stop team). New inner tube in. Pedal one mile. Second front wheel puncture. Change inner tube. Pedal one mile. Puncture!

No spare inner tubes left so we inflated the deflating inner tube and kept on pedalling, stopping every mile to re- inflate. We made it to our rather nice motel cabin and turned it into a bike workshop.

Now you’re thinking we didn’t check the tyres for a sharp object but we did. It was only when we got the the motel when I examined the burst inner tubes I found the punctures were on the inside of the wheel. Without getting too technical and boring the culprit was the rim tape.

Cyclists know what I’m talking about and for non cyclists who are still reading let me explain – inside the tyre, the rim tape stops the rubber inner tube catching on jaggy metal bits on the inside of the wheel. Our rim tape was like myself – well past its best!

The plastic tape appears to have deformed in the heat at the earlier part of our tour and hardened in the cold of the latter part of the tour. It now presented hard sharp plastic edges to the inner tube.

Now if you’re not interested in tubes and rims then please move on to the nice picture of Susan smiling at you. You’ve had all that salacious storytelling about Jersey Lilly and the Jack of Hearts and now its time to cater for people interested in cycling.

So what did we do with our deformed rim tape in the middle of Marathon which is in the middle of nowhere? I went to the local general store and bought some masking tape and lined the rims with a bit of a diy bodge. Do you know? Sometimes I sit back with a beer and congratulate myself for the ingenuity. Well, nobody else is going to do it 🤠

Before we move on from Marathon – the town was a filming location for the 1985 Kevin Coster film ‘Fandango’. Another movie reference for you Brian – you’re probably the only one that may have even heard of that movie! 🎥 🍿

The following day was wind and rain and 1% gradient. You’ve seen Susan in her summer gear so now its her cold rain gear. Still smiling – what a trouper!

We passed a rather sad sight on the road – a ghost bike to commemorate a cyclist killed on the road. Ghost bikes are part of an ‘unofficial’ worldwide movement.

We also passed some lighthearted sights.

Eventually reaching our lovely guest house at Fort Davis.

Self check in with no manager/owner present and no other guests. The whole ghostly place to ourselves. Sweet. The beer? Oh that’s me still congratulating myself for solving ‘Rimgate’

Bye y’all 🤠

Jersey Lily eventually made it to Langtry, Texas, the town named in her honour, and found that her admirer Judge Roy had recently died. During her short stay she was asked to cut a pack of cards. Fittingly she drew the Jack of Hearts.

Lily was a princess, she was fair-skinned and precious as a child,

She did whatever she had to do, she had that certain flash every time she smiled,

She’d come from a broken home, had lots of strange affairs,

With men in every walk of life which took her everywhere,

But she’d never met anyone quite like the Jack of Hearts. (B.D)