Flying Fish

Today’s blog is written by Scott Emerson.

My fears of a barren, uninteresting landscape in west Texas have proved completely unfounded. We have travelled through wide valleys and mountain passes with ever-changing vistas of ranches, mountains and buttes everywhere, and lots to see along the route.

Monday, my first day, took us southwest along the Rio Grande, where irrigation allows farming for cotton, alfalfa and pecans. The mountains in Mexico paralleled the river to our right, looking like they were a formidable natural protection in the frontier days to banditos retreating back into Mexico. Tuesday we turned east away from the river, but we will meet up with it again later in the week after cutting off the Big Bend section. The ride took us across the Quitman Range into a valley where the land looked pretty unusable, mostly high desert with creosote bushes and mesquite trees.

Today’s ride was from Van Horn, TX to Fort Davis, TX, 81 miles; headwinds and cloud cover most of the day, with cooler temperature than the last couple of days. We headed south through a wide valley with the Davis Mountains, sometimes called the “Texas Alps”, running along its eastern side. At a higher elevation, the flat lands are now parched grassland with big longhorn cattle ranches. We started at dawn to get through the valley in the morning before heading east into the mountains.

Entertainment along the way was more of the same, without losing any of its novelty. At one ghost town I found parts of a wagon that must have been 100 years old, and tried to suggest we tie them onto Vanna’s roof. More road tarantulas, both alive and squashed, and the new addition of grasshoppers as big as my pinky that would spring into the air in front of you as you went by. I thought Carl and I were hallucinating when we spotted a large fish floating in the clouds to the south. We decided it was a Border Patrol blimp.

There were the usual Border Patrol drive-bys, but they are leaving Dan, Vanna and us alone now. We seem to be in their data base and no longer persons of interest.

Dan entertained us at rest stops with his fiddle, sometimes playing along with country music from the radio. I did not realize what a luxury Vanna would be. It is pure joy to see Vanna coming up on the horizon, just when we need it, waiting by the side of the road with cold drinks, snacks and an escape from the hot sun.

Today was Peter’s turn for flats. He got two, the latter being a slow leak at mile 65 which he chose not to change, requiring him to stop every so often on the last 15 to fill the tire.

After lunch we climbed a pass through the Davis Mountains, ending up at very nice State Park Lodge near Fort Davis, named for Jefferson Davis. The area gets some rain, and the vegetation is a mix of ponderosa pine, pinon, juniper, madrone and aspen. Many of the scenes in Lonesome Dove were filmed in this area. The lodge looks like an Indian pueblo and was built during the depression by the CCC. The rooms here are five star, compared to the last two nights’ digs. Makes me think of the long term return on the stimulus investments made during the 1930s. I wonder if that will happen with our current stimulus?

Many thanks to Peter, Carl and Dan for a great trip.