Hello All!
it's been a GORGEOUS last couple o' days! Marathon, TX, as I said before, was a cute little town, or strip I should say. That's all I saw of it. A strip of two Cafes, which seemed to be non competitive with hours, one was open for breakfast and lunch, the other late lunch and dinner! So I swung by one the day I came in and one for breakfast! There was also another hotel and of course our RV/Motel. The ride from Marathon to Marfa was absolutely stunning. As I set off in the morning, the sun rose from above and broke through the clouds a couple hours late, casting some light onto the nearby mountains and the road ahead. Totally beautiful. The hazy blue mountains from afar slowly crept up and surrounded me as the day went by. I felt as if I was engulfed in a painting, the mountains slowly came into detail, one crevice, nook, and rock at a time. The blue hazes turned into vibrant, mossy greens and shades of tan as I rode through them. The far away specks and spots became cows and shrubs, the distant hills became extravagant mountains. I felt as if I was an insignificant speck in the painting, that I was a part of this beautiful land, just flowing through it one pedal stroke at a time. As the day went on I could see I was slowly working my way past the mountains. The road flattened out from ups and downs to a nice steady decline, and the mountains veered north and south as I headed west into Marfa. The "Welcome to Marfa" sign sat about 5 miles away from town! But it was still an easy coast in at the end of the day.
Leaving Marfa, I rode to Alice's Cafe, the only place open, and ate breakfast with a bunch of the others. I took a pic of their lunch menu, sandwiTches, haha. It was still dark outside, we rode with our lights on. I rode with Doug and Ash and we picked up Lauren at the first van stop. I took a couple of pictures of the sunrise, it was a little late again, it was overcast all day. We saw a storm in the distance. That's one reason I'm so amazed by this part of the country, you can actually see the towns ahead, a storm in the distance, the sun peaking through in some spots and overcast in others, and the vast greatness of the land within a good 20 mile radius or more at all times. So cool, so unique. We saw some sort of antelope? a pack of them running off to the south of us, and that storm in the distance created a double rainbow, and later one huge rainbow that ran from one side of the highway to the next! We had all sorts of fun, we played 20 questions (which was more like 50 questions!) and we laughed and giggled along the way like little kids. Doug and I rolled into Van Horn and went straight to the gas station, in the heat of the day instead of the campsite. We had icees and chex mix then continued on a half mile to the KOA campground. I set up camp after swimming and napping and then a strong wind came in like it was going to storm. We had to catch a couple of tents, but everyone staked down and it never did rain. It was a cool night though, I was actually kind of cold this morning. I saw my first real cougar sighting :D I did see something the other day though, riding through all the mountains. I was staring at an overhang, where I would totally chill if I were a cougar, and I saw something. I saw something that looked to be about the right size, thinking it was a shrub or rock or something I wouldn't be able to make out anyway. I stared at it, and it moved! So I kept staring and pulled over to take a picture, and it kept walking right out of view. Damn. Oh well, I guess I never really will know.
Van Horn was another little highway town, actually more of an interstate town. Just a couple of gas stations near us, but this morning when we headed out we passed by a couple mom and pop restaurants and a metal/junk builder who had some cool sculptures! So we had a 70 mile day today, and the return of the infamous CUE SHEET! 13 cues, 5 of which were irrelevant. We rode on the interstate today, which isn't cool, but it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. It was pretty clean shoulders and I used Doug and Katie as bike airbags. Haha. I guess out here it isn't illegal for bikes to be on the interstate because there are no other roads in some spots. I did miss Highway 90 though; riding along without seeing a car for an hour at a time, Doug juggling oranges in the middle of the road, Prada shops in the middle of nowhere, daytime moons, and chip sealed roads turning off and on as you ride through a different county.
We arrived in Fort Hancock this afternoon, tomorrow we'll re-enter civilization once again: El Paso. I think after El Paso we leave this great state of Texas. I say great only because it's so huge, let's not forget how it tried to kill us all the first 3 days. I time traveled today, drank water from a boot, and there are the two cutest little puppies ever at the motel. Dessert puppies. I think we might be taking them to El Paso, there is no humane society here. They look like a young Bryant, their paws are already bigger than my Campster's. Bryant is my roomie's Rott/Lab mix and Campster is my 30 lb puppy dog. There's a rumor that their names might be Chad and Allie because they're sagging tomorrow to EP. Haha. Two and a half weeks left of this madness, oh how the time flies when you're getting paid to ride your bicycle.
Until next time, Happy Riding!!!
Francesca
Florence, AZ to Phoenix, AZ 
