Departure: Columbus, NM Finish: El Paso, TX Distance: 72.7 miles
Elevation gain: 1,093 feet
Winds: Mostly light. Occasionally, 8 mph crosswinds
Weather: Sunny again. Departed with 42 degrees. Arrived with 68 degrees.
On bike duration: 4 hrs, 34 minutes.
Average speed: 15.9 mph
Total Accumulated Miles: 843.3
I love Texas! Happy to enter the state today. We will, however, be in Texas for the next 17 days. So, we’ll see how enthused I am by the end of March.
Before we departed Columbus, NM we breakfasted at Irma’s when she opened at 7:00am. We were the only people in the restaurant to have English as our primary language. Irma is a jovial woman who looks like she has not left her establishment in 30 years. I thought of getting a picture with her, but it would have been something an “ugly American” would have done while on a foreign vacation. (Weird - I’m in America!) The food was good, but I mostly mention the place because I thought the photo of Irma’s establishment was interesting.
Irma’s is on the road that leads to Palomas, Mexico. I took the following picture while standing in front of Irma’s. I was interested in where Palomas would be. It’s an 8 minute drive - 3.5 miles. We learned from the hotel proprietor than “many” school children cross the border each day to attend classes at the Columbus schools. They go back home at the end of the day.
We got on the road in the cool, dead-calm of the morning. The route stayed on NM Hwy 9, arguably the loneliest paved surface in the country. When the Sun rose well above the scattered buttes the wind picked up from our right side. The cross-wind generally slowed the progress, but wasn’t bothersome until we rounded a right-hand bend and faced it head-on for several miles. Descending into El Paso on congested city streets was a challenge. We road that Highway 9 from end to end. It began when we entered New Mexico from Portal and terminated just before we entered El Paso; about 165 miles across the southern portion of the state.
A cattle guard, across Highway 9.
The border wall followed us most of the day today. The highway remained two to three miles north of the wall, until we got close to El Paso. Then it stopped. As far as I can tell, there is no wall between El Paso and Juarez.
I took another photo of the desolate road.
Our lunch stop was adjacent to a thorny, desert bush that had been adorned with Christmas Tree ornaments. I spotted it glimmering in the Sun from more than a mile away. Initially, I thought it was an emergency vehicle with its lights flashing.
Tonight we are in a plain, vanilla Holiday Inn, in West El Paso. Its most outstanding feature is that someone positioned a Baskin Robbins right across the 4-lane, busy street. Two of my companions joined me in the crossing, for a double scoop of Pralines & Cream.
Added bonus of expending so much energy and burning calories every day! No guilt carbs and ice cream. Enjoy!
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