Day 35: Alpine, TX to south of Van Horn, TX

Daily Miles: 80.6 Total Miles: 1890.9

Mountains riding out of Alpine

Today was a great day of big miles! We are finally back on track! Today I was determined to wake up and hit the road early to get ahead of the winds. The winds were forecasted to be starting from the due west and then moving southwesternly and, as always, they would get stronger as the day continued on. I was heading 25 miles west to Marfa before turning to the north, and knew that I needed to get to Marfa before the wind really kicked up. I was on the road by 8:15am and despite the initial climb out of Alpine I was making good time. There was some interesting scenery between Alpine and Marfa, big rocky mountains that seemed to come out of nowhere and just as quickly disappear into the desolate desert that I rode through for most of the day.

The scenery for the rest of the day

Apparently Marfa was a nearly-dead cow town several years ago when a Southwestern artist moved to town, bought up a bunch of land, and transformed it into an artistic mecca of sorts. I wasn't in town long enough to confirm or deny it's artistic charm, but I did note that, like many other small Texas towns I've ridden through, it had not one, but two Dairy Queens. On the same street. Marfa is also turning in to a big movie location, they recently shot No Country for Old Men and There Will Be Blood near Marfa. The scenery definitely looks exactly like every Western movie you've ever seen. Pretty cool.

Prada Marfa

By the time I met up with Mary for the first rest stop around 11:45am, I had already knocked out 40 miles. I ate, rested up, and chatted with her for about an hour before heading out again. We were going to meet up in 20 miles, but I was going at a great pace and had already made it the 23 miles to Valentine before Mary caught up with me. Mary had bought me a sandwich in Marfa, so I quickly ate that and decided to press on to the 80-mile mark, my all-time longest ride. As I rode out of Valentine, I noticed a few cars parked outside of a building, and I thought this was weird because as I left Marfa there was a sign warning me that there were no services for 74 miles.

The only signs of life in the desert

As I got closer I realized the popular building was a Prada store. All by itself. In the middle of nowhere, 40 miles from Marfa, full of shoes and purses. The banners said Prada Marfa. Hmmm. I rode on, and once I got to the hotel decided to research it. It turns out that it is an art installation. I didn't get a picture, so I'm posting one I found on Wikipedia, and it's description perfectly sums it up: "It's not really a Prada store, and it's not quite in Marfa, so it must be art." So strange. The wind really picked up at about mile 72 and I had an 18 MPH 75% headwind for the last 8 miles, although it wasn't too terrible because I was going downhill. I finished my ride right after 4pm and my legs felt good, but my lungs and throat were burning from all of the dust I've inhaled over the last three rides through the desert. I told mom today that I now understand why you always see cowboys smoking cigarettes. I really think that inhaling burning tobacco smoke would be a refreshing alternative to breathing hot, dry, desert air 24 hours a day. We had to drive ~20 miles into Van Horn to find a hotel, then we just grabbed a quick dinner at Wendy's and now we're relaxing in the hotel and trying to catch up on e-mails.