Week 3 -Ft. Davis Tx to Fredricksburg Tx

Hello Friends and Family,

Week 3 of my USA bicycle trip is in the books and can be recapped as Texas,Texas, and more Texas. Beginning in the western desert, following the border for many miles, we ended up in Texas Hill Country with rolling roads and trees !

Day 17- Ft. Davis to Marathon Tx. (54 Miles, 1175 Ft. Elevation, 3hr 54 min in seat) As a perspective most of our ride today was in Jeff Davis County. This county is over two times the size of Rhode Island yet only has 3000 residents. Think desolate. A good part of our ride was also through the Permian Basin, the highest producing oil field in the USA at over 4 million barrels a year.

Day 18- Marathon Tx to Sanderson Tx (54 Miles, 600 Ft. Elevation, 3 hr 15 min in seat.) We cruised eastward all day on Texas highway 90 on perhaps the most desolate road we have been on. Of course someone had to be funny and put up a small Bucees to tease us along the way !

Day 19 - Sanderson Tx to Del Rio Tx. (119 Miles, 3543 Ft. Elevation, 7 hr in seat.). The morning started before dawn and with lots of aniexty as this was the longest ride ever for nearly everyone in the group. The ride was through the desolate Chihuahuan Desert and Pecos Canyon and there were no towns along the way. We did the ride in twenty mile intervals with our support van meeting us at each stop. Fortunately we caught a favorable wind for most of the day. Our day ended in the border town of Del Rio. At our hotel I met a contingent of young ( in there 20’s )National Guardsman called up to patrol our border.

Day 20 - Del Rio Tx to Camp Wood, Tx (80 Miles, 1985 Ft. Elevation, 5 hr 30 min in seat.) The ride through the desert continued yet we ended at the beginning of Texas Hill country.

Day 21 Camp Wood, Tx to Ingram, Tx ( 80 Miles, 5658 ft.elevation, 6 hours in seat.) This was an epic climbing day in Texas Hill country. We followed a popular motorcycle route called the Twisted Sisters . Link The middle of the ride includes three steep hills called the three sisters . The day ended with a casual ride along the Guadalupe River.

Day 22- Ingram, Tx to Fredericksburg, Tx. (40 miles, 1700 ft. Elevation gain 3 hrs 30 min in seat.). A roll and recovery day into Fredericksburg took us through some low traffic country roads with open cattle grazing and beautiful wildflowers along the way. It was nice to see some family upon arrival !

I would like to introduce you to a fellow rider and friend, Hugh B. Hugh and I have ridden together many days on this trip and I am sad to say he will be leaving us next week, but with a job well done! Hugh actually started this cross country journey last year bicycling eastward from St. Augustine Fl. To La Grange Tx. Near La Grange, he unfortunately had an encounter with a big downhill and a dog at the same time that resulted in a broken elbow. I am happy that he decided to finish his ride with us in 2024. Hugh’s career included 14 years working in the US Congress as a committee staffer for Budget and Armed services. In that role, he personally met Presidents Clinton and Obama. Hugh is riding in honor of Autistic Children, including his nephew Joey through an organization called Bridge to Healing. Here is a link:

bridgetohealingin

See You Next Week -Peace Jim

/