A much brighter day. Some fun sights along the way.
Today’s ride was so much better than yesterday. We did still have the wind in our faces and the Texas “chip and seal” road surface. But today, we had some fun sights and, most importantly, some sunshine!
There is a large man-made lake in Amistad and a narrow bridge across it.
The bridge across was too dangerous to ride across without some help as the lanes were narrow, there was no shoulder and the traffic was fast. We solved this problem by having one of the support vehicles follow small groups of cyclists across the bridge, running interference from behind. Next to the road bridge was a railroad bridge as well.
Warning – you might get a little seasick from the beginning of this video as I was having a hard time orienting the camera as I rode!
We are still paralleling the Mexico border so the US Border Patrol is everywhere. In fact, they stopped one of our riders, Tim and his dog Bella, to encourage him to ride on the shoulder instead of the traffic lanes. He refused and showed the Border Patrol officer the difference between the two surfaces and how the shoulder was often unrideable. The officer admitted he had never noticed the disparity of surfaces and backed off.
One of the things the Border Patrol does is to drag big heavy tractor tires behind a pickup and smooth the ground between the border side and the road. This way, they can see foot prints of people – most likely illegal immigrants – crossing the dusty road as a detection method. Today was the first day that I actually saw them doing this.
We ended the day in Ft. Clark. An exceptional experience, though short (only one night.)
Today’s Ride Statistics:
