Day 15 - Third Week Begins

Departure: Fort Davis, TX      Finish:  Marathon, TX       Distance:    53.9 miles

Elevation gain:  1,171 feet 

Winds:   5 to 10 mph. About 10 miles of headwind. 20 miles of tailwind. 20 miles of calm.

Weather:  Departed at 42 degrees. Arrived with 65 degrees.                                                                 Rain before departure - then mostly sunny. 

On bike duration:   3 hrs, 36 minutes. 

Average speed: 14.9 mph

Total Accumulated Miles:  1,118.2

We had a deserved - and needed -  rest day in Ft. Davis yesterday (March 18th). Laundry and napping were the primary activities. There wasn’t much going on in Ft. Davis, but it had some very interesting buildings on the Main Street. The mountain in the background of the photo below is called “Sleeping Lion”. 

As we walked to dinner, I saw this door. I really don’t know what it was about.  There were so many vacant buildings in town, it could have been anything. We were there after 5:00 pm, but we didn’t deposit any brains.

Later, I learned it is a movie reference from "Young Frankenstein" - as shown in the photo below.  These folks in West Texas sure have a sophisticated sense of humor.

This morning we woke to a brief, local rain shower, and a very cool overcast. We delayed our departure to 9:00 am to allow the roads to dry. The clouds parted and we had a beautiful day for riding! From Ft. Davis, we descended to Alpine, Tx, an attractive town of 6,000. As nice as the town was, it didn’t resemble “alpine” towns I have ever seen. It is the hometown of Dan Blocker - Hoss Cartwright, from “Bonanza”. It’s also the home of Sul Ross State University.

Once again, the remote scenery was spectacular. The conical mountain in the photo below is called Mitre Peak. I spotted it about 10 miles before we passed it, and could still see it when it was 20 miles behind. It is called a “volcanic intrusion” because it never exploded; never spewed lava. It was named Mitre for its resemblance to a Catholic bishop’s hat.

We came to our water stop at the entrance to a ranch - evidently owned by the Meriwethers. I was able to zoom the camera for a snap of the ranch house. Looks quite comfortable.

We rolled into Marathon in the early afternoon, and were met by delightful temperatures and fragrant smell of spring in the air. Tonight, we’re in the Gage Hotel. It was designed and built by the same El Paso firm Trost & Trost, owned by brothers Henry and Gustavo’s. They also built the El Capitan (in Van Horn). I learned today there is a thing called the “Trost Trail” in far west Texas. They built all these elaborate hotels in the 1920’s - in the following Cities:

El Paso - The Paso del Norte

Marfa - The Hotel Paisano

Van Horn - El Capitan

Marathon - The Gage

Alpine - The Holland

It’s probably worth traveling around here, just to stay at all these locations.

This is my room for tonight. I hope that Texas Longhorn doesn’t stare me down all night.