Circling the U.S. Chapter 69: West Texas - Penance Complete

Saturday, January 18 - Thursday, January 23, 2020

We rode 88 miles from Sanderson to Comstock on Saturday, passing two empty towns along the way. Dryden used to have a convenience store. Now it's deserted and there is nothing else to show it is even a town. Langtry used to have a convenience store and campground. Both are closed. The historic part of Langtry is just off the highway and there is still a visitor center and the Judge Roy Bean Museum supposedly open. I was looking forward to visiting the museum, but we didn't make the detour. We were too pressed for time, especially when Rob had another flat tire. 

With no towns and everything fenced off, I looked forward to these signs.  Picnic areas provided our only comfortable breaks from riding.

Most of the great scenery was behind us, but we still had a few good views.

We crossed the Pecos River, really our first big water in a while.

We arrived in Comstock after the sun set, around 6:30. The town has one motel, a bar & grill, and a convenience store. After the Fort Hancock Motel I wasn't expecting much, but the Comstock Motel was a pleasant surprise, clean and modern with a coffee maker, fridge and microwave. We couldn't handle a motel room dinner with our present dinner selection so we went across the street to the bar and grill and had burgers, fries, a salad, and cheap beer. Evidently nobody ever asks for a burger cooked medium rare so I got mine the same as Rob. I was too tired and hungry to care.

This stretch of highway was my biggest worry as we looked ahead to crossing west Texas and we nailed it! Sadly, the best part of west Texas was in our rear-view mirrors. What came next was trash littering the side of the road, strong headwinds, rough chip seal, barren scrub, and animal carcasses in all possible stages of decomposition.

After our long day we were happy to take it easy on Sunday, January 19, and ride only 29 miles to Del Rio, a town big enough to host a real grocery store. The miles went by quickly enough - no headwind and no big hills - but they were not fun. Rough chip seal made the shoulders almost unrideable. I'd sneak over to the left of the white line where the road was smoother, always listening for the traffic that was going 75 miles an hour. When I heard something coming I'd get back into the shoulder.

Crossing into a new county the road conditions changed and I could ride the shoulder for a while. Then another county line and it was rough again. Rob got "smoked" twice by pickup trucks hauling ATVs.

On the outskirts of Del Rio we found a Motel 6 Studio for $46, tax included, with a kitchen and living room. How could we pass that up? Rob was happy as a clam at high tide, being able to watch both NFL playoff games. We walked to a Walmart Supercenter and picked up a rotisserie chicken, just about our favorite on-the-road dinner.

On Monday, January 20, we were aiming for Uvelde, 75 miles east on Route 90. It didn't happen. What did happen was 15 miles of happy riding out of Del Rio on a beautiful smooth shoulder. Then came rough chip seal. The main traffic lane wasn't bad, but now there were too many cars and pickup trucks racing along at 75 mph to dance back and forth across the white line. So we persevered in the shoulder, hating it.

Then came the headwind, which slowed us down to eight miles per hour. When we arrived in Bracketville before noon we had to make a decision. Once we continued on, the next lodging wouldn't be until Uvalde, another 40 miles away. Could we ride that in six hours with a headwind? Rob said no and I agreed. I suggested we try to hitch a ride to Uvalde but Rob said, no, "I want to get back into the Every F-ing Mile Club." 

The motel listed on our Adventure Cycling map was part of the historic Fort Clark. The rest of the fort appeared to be a gated community, with a golf course, swimming pond, and museum.

After lunch and naps we took a long walk. From the motel we walked downhill and across the highway into the town proper where we saw numerous historic buildings and ruins. Many of the homes appeared to be abandoned or were surrounded by trash, likely several generations worth.

It was a good thing we had enough food for dinner because there were no eating establishments open and only a convenience store. The owner of Ziggy's, a barbecue place, closes as soon as he sells out and he obviously had sold out by mid-afternoon. Other proprietors are open when they feel like it. We saw a lot of cars driving around the old fort who we assumed were residents. I wondered why there weren't more businesses to support them. And what work did these people do anyway living in the middle of nowhere? 

We spent $53 to sleep in a room in the old barracks of Fort Clark. We figured it was a pretty good deal to get a break from riding in the headwind.

There was a sign across from our room warning people that if they park there they might get hit by a golf ball.

I woke up on the morning of Tuesday, January 21, in a bad mood. I dreaded the day's ride on Texas-style chip seal with a strong headwind. I was tired of riding through towns with no coffee shops, riding 30 and 40 miles at a stretch with no place to stop and take a break, not even a place to pee, staying in towns where there were so many buildings in ruins, homes surrounded by rusted out car and truck parts, old bicycles, and other assorted trash.

But Rob's good mood and a hot shower got me on my bike and a smooth road improved my mood. Even a headwind didn't slow us down. Then, after 19 miles, the chip seal returned and the headwind got stronger. 

The mountains and mesas had all disappeared and we were left with barren scrub with trees devoid of leaves, and lots of trash, mostly paper and plastic bottles and cans. I didn't stop to take a picture of the desk chair randomly sitting on the side of the road, an old tire, and a construction hard hat.

Thankfully the last five miles the road smoothed out again as we came to the outskirts of Uvalde, a small city of over 15,000 people. With the next town 42 miles away, we were done riding for the day.

Before arriving in Uvalde Rob saw a billboard advertising Billy Bob's Hamburgers and that was all he talked about. But his love for me won out when we arrived at the town square and he pointed out a sign for a Tea Room. 

When I walked inside I couldn't have been happier. It It was filled with an assortment of old tables and all sorts of useful antiques.

On the blackboard they listed pablano soup as the soup of the day. "What is pablano soup?" I asked, and the owner, a short, plump woman, got a couple samples for us, explaining that a pablano pepper is what is used for chili rellenos. I said, "I've always liked chili rellenos but the last time I ordered it, it was too hot." She said that the heat is determined by the temperature when it is growing. The hotter the temperature, the hotter the pepper.

Rob and I both ordered a bowl of the pablano soup and shared a cobb salad. Then we had a piece of chocolate cake, which we didn't share, and tea.  Everything was delicious.

The owner mixes her own teas. I had a black tea and Rob chose a green one. 

The owner was delightful. I told her several times how thrilled we were to find her place as we'd ridden a very long way without a decent coffee or tea shop. When I mentioned that we'd stayed at Fort Clark she said, "I've  been wanting to open a shop there."

I asked, "What do people who live there do for a living?"

"There's a thriving community of military and border patrol personnel and some retirees."

"We saw a lot of abandoned homes."

"Some vacation home owners just stop coming."

I said, "It's discouraging to see so many deserted buildings all around the United States." 

She said, "In a previous job I worked for the tax assessor. I was surprised to find homes that looked abandoned that still had people living in them, albeit some of them squatters." 

We talked about how people just let trash pile up outside their homes. She said, "Where I live, when the fire ban is lifted people will dig a ditch and they just dump their trash in and burn it."

So much for clean air.

Before leaving the tea shop Rob insisted on posing for a picture with a cowboy hat. This was Texas after all.

With rain in the forecast for Wednesday, January 22, mostly in the morning, we decided to sleep in and get a later start. We were on the road at 10:40, under a light drizzle, and I quickly discovered that wet roads make riding on chip seal just a little smoother. That and no wind made the riding more bearable. However, there was still trash everywhere and more animal carcasses than I could possibly count, all in varying stages of decomposition. We’d passed many freshly killed deer in the past few days, a couple armadillo, skunks, owls, raccoons, and a cat, also freshly killed. Some animals were hit so hard their parts were scattered over several yards. Some carcasses have been there long enough that they are flatter than pancakes, becoming one with the chip seal. Rob has noticed a smell emanating from these dead animals and has said that he sure wouldn’t want to be riding these roads in warm weather when the stench would be unbearable. We just hoped that we would make it through Texas without any drivers turning us into roadkill.

There wasn't anything worth stopping to take a picture of. Dead animals are not very photogenic.

We spent the night in Hondo, a nondescript town where we stayed in a local low-budget motel.

The riding on Thursday, January 23, just like the rest of the week, was not stellar. But an unexpected coffee shop and historic town gave the day a glimmering shine.

We started out on chip seal on a 4-lane highway with lots of traffic speeding by. At least the shoulder was wide. I was hoping to find a local cafe or diner for a second breakfast; it had been a long stretch of riding since Rob and I had shared an omelette. I passed Billy Bob’s Burgers and a DQ and a donut shop that promised to be opening soon and a number of drive-throughs for I don’t know what.

When I saw a sign for “September Square” in front of what looked like a small green, and a sign for shops, I thought, “That looks promising.” I waited for Rob and we crossed the highway and rode down one of the side streets.

After a couple hundred yards we came to a little coffee shop: The Magnolia Filling Station.  

Someone outside said the hot chocolate was delicious so Rob gave that a try. I ordered earl gray tea. There was a selection of bagels and only three muffins. “What kind of muffins are those?” I asked the barista. “Pecan pie with a drizzle of caramel.” We each ordered one. They were sticky and delicious.

While we were sitting outside enjoying our treats, Shelly, the owner, came out and said, “I want to encourage you to take some time while you are here to explore Castroville. Many of the homes and buildings are on the Texas historic register.” She told us that the town was settled in the 1800s by a group of people from Alsace, France, who came to farm, and that many of their descendents still live in the original homes. Shelly herself has only lived in the town for about five years, having grown up in Oklahoma, but she has certainly become one of the town’s strongest advocates. We were grateful she took the time to talk to us as we spent a very enjoyable couple hours cycling through the town and visiting the historic inn. Castroville’s tidiness served as an antidote to the rundown and trash-filled homes and businesses we saw in many of the other towns along our ride through West Texas.

Thanks to Shelly's friendliness and advice, we uncovered a unique bit of Texas history in Castroville. 

The old movie theatre is now an antique emporium.

Were it not for Shelly's advice we would have ridden right past the historic Landmark Inn sitting on the main highway. Owned by the State of Texas, it is both an historic site and a bed and breakfast. The site includes a bathhouse, detached kitchen, and an old grist mill, all built in the mid-1800s.

After enjoying a picnic lunch on the grounds of the Landmark Inn, we rode into San Antonio with the usual busy roads, traffic lights, strip malls and no fun, just something to be gotten through when you are trying to get into a city. But we did have a place to spend the night with a Warm Showers host. After spending a couple years bicycling in Europe, Australia, and Mexico, Nate came to Texas to help immigrants held in detention centers. Not only did he have some fascinating stories to share but he was also well-versed in Texas history and gave us an introduction on how slavery motivated the Texas Revolution and Texas' subsequent application for admission into the United States.

We made it across the vast emptiness of West Texas! Now Rob can apply to get his membership the to EFM club reinstated. Not me, I was pushing for us to hitchhike the last part. I’m glad we didn’t though. I figure that was our penance for taking the train across North Dakota, and most of Minnesota, and the boring half of Montana.