Day 16,Ft.Davis to Sanderson, 110 miles

110 miles! A Brutal Day! We began by eating breakfast at a small Whole Foods Store located by our motel; it was the only grocery store in town, lucky us! How different from the other towns we had been in. We began a scenic ride through a shady canyon with interesting rock formations to Alpine.

Soon our road led us back into the vast desert, with distant mountains giving us something to look at. We could easily imagine all the western movies that had been filmed in this region.

All was going well. We even stopped for a morning snack at McDonald's in Alpine, where we turned east on route 90. After several miles the winds picked up. They were not coming from the west, as hoped, but from the south, which we resented greatly, since we were traveling southeast. Evelyn showed us the "armchair formation." Two riders are in the front with the third rider slightly behind the front riders and in the middle. Every mile we rotated so that each person would have the easy armchair position. This broke the boredom of the ride and made riding easier.

We soon arrived in Marathon for lunch, where we enjoyed lunch with our sag team at a darling western cafe with healthy fare.

Fortified, we tackled the remaining 55 miles. We were hopeful that maybe the winds had shifted some, but it became obvious that the winds were still coming from the south. Fueled by a good lunch, we pedaled forcefully through the crosswinds. It was becoming hot. Soon everything was hurting. Evelyn's feet were killing her. Ruth cut slits into the sides of her shoes.

Without the pinched hot feet, Evelyn sped off. Finally Ruth and Mary Jo heard the friendly honk of the silver Prius. Don and Bill delivered fresh water and bananas and encouragement. Bill led Ruth and Mary Jo in for the last 25 miles which included Bill's own "bike clinic."

We finally reached Sanderson at 6:30 pm -eleven hours of cycling.

The sad news is that tomorrow Don and Bill, along with Nala, are leaving for Cincinnati. They have been so supportive of us and we are going to miss them greatly!

The good news is that there is a newly-reopened motel 90 miles away in Comstock. We thought that we would have to cycle over 110 miles again to reach the next motel, nearly to Del Rio. The following day was to be a short forty miles, so this new motel will help to balance out the miles. And our husbands are going to drop off our panniers at the motel while heading for Dallas, helping us out yet again.

Note: Evelyn survived our tough training program...50,70,90,110 miles...with flying colors! Tomorrow's taper to only 90 will be much appreciated by all!

"I came just in time for torture." Spoken by Evelyn while cycling into the wind.

Ruth, Mary Jo, and Evelyn