Day 18: April 17, 2009

Flat Stanley has loved every minute of the trip! He has really enjoyed the food too!


Check out this town's courthouse.

Larry holding a rattlesnake.... DO NOT TRY THAT AT HOME!

Day 18 - Sanderson, TX to Lake Amistad (Del Rio, TX): Tailwinds!!!!

Friday April 17, 2009, 110 miles (177 km) - Total so far: 1,328 miles (2,137 km)

Weather:temperatures mid 60's to mid 80's, wind northwest at 10-15 mph, mostly Sunny skies.

This update is a day late (hopefully not a dollar short!) as we had no Internet last night. But here is the scoop: This was a long day, longest ride of the trip so far, but most of us completed the 110 miles in 6 hours of riding. There was a nice tailwind most of the way, plus we lost over 2000 feet of altitude as we rode into the Rio Grande Valley once again. The ride was the fastest and easiest 110 miles you could ask for. The scenery got a little old - dry scrub desert - after awhile. The highlight of the day for me was visiting the old town of Langtry, TX, where Judge Roy Bean held court, west of the Pecos River. There is a nice museum there plus the original saloon where he held court. The other highlight was crossing the extremely beautiful Pecos River. The river is clear bright green and runs in a fairly deep canyon where the highway crosses it. As we got nearer to Del Rio, we saw more and more US Border Patrol cars. The Border Patrol is very active in this area. Del Rio is a major port of entry into the US. We didn't ride all the way into Del Rio, but instead stopped 9 miles short on the edge of beautiful Lake Amistad. Lake Amistad is formed by a dam on the Rio Grande and is partly in Mexico. It is a well-known bass-fishing lake and the site of a recent national bass tournament.

Until later...

Uncle Barry, Flat Stanley, and Share Bear