Urban riding.
Today we rode from El Paso to Fort Hancock, TX. This was rather fun because we had a complete change of scenery doing some urban riding instead of the past endless miles of desert.
It was an average day in terms of mileage, 62 miles, but the first 22 miles were riding through the city of El Paso heading east to exit the town. There were places where the traffic was uncomfortable, but it was at a relatively slow speed and most drivers were considerate.
And a nice viewpoint of the city.
Once we made it through the city, we stopped at a Mexican grocery store, which had a huge rack/wall of Mexican pastries. Needless to say, we all (over)indulged.
This area of Texas is apparently known for pecans, and for the next 20 miles or so we passed huge pecan tree groves.
The remainder of the ride was back to the flat desert with the distant mountains that we have become so accustomed to:
We stayed at a beautiful little church this evening. About half of us were able to set up mattresses in between pews in the sanctuary and in the attached vestibule. The rest camped right outside the church. Somehow – luck, I think – I caught the sunset between some pine trees on the property at its most colorful moment the evening. A good end to a good day.