Day 14 - Rest Day Round Up -Texas is not for sissies

We spent a day in Marfa and were so delirious from fatigue that we wanted to buy a house and stay here. The town is an anomaly, stuck out on a windswept plain at 4500 feet above sea level. There are affordable adobe houses everywhere, a great Coffee shop called the Brown Recluse (the breakfast burrito was hands down the best breakfast we've had so far), and a seduction that makes you forget you're standing in Texas. There is one large book store well-stocked with art, bio and political tomes, but mostly art books. Donald Judd is well represented since he put the town on the map. Several derelict Marfa warehouses and other buildings now serve as the home for the Chinati Foundation:

• http://www.chinati.org/english2/collection/judd_aluminum.htm

The 74 mile ride from Van Horn, Texas may have scarred us for life. The term Marfa Mile defines miles ridden with your guts and soul, not just your body:

• Marfa Mile\ Mar-fuh Mile noun: one mile ridden on a bike with all of the following characteristics: One percent grade increase that goes on forever; no change in road direction, ever; headwinds of between 20 to 30 mph; oil over crushed gravel road surface. A fuller and more true definition of a Marfa Mile results in riding more than 50 of them at one time, with no more than two riders.

rough road - frustratingly straight, rising incrementally.

This view looks back at hard-won distance - note the slight rise.

The flags are laughing at us, pointing in the direction we should be heading

We stayed at the Thunderbird Motel. We may have been too tired to even enjoy it. We skipped the pool; no energy:

• http://www.thunderbirdmarfa.com/ It proved several notches higher than most of the road side digs we've been crashing at. One word of advice; use the ear plugs if turning in early. It is a lively place and the intermittent freight trains passing through town all have horn-happy engineers. We did not have the energy to try the pool. Maybe next time.




• Miles ridden: 1200 give or take


• Texas Pride: the roads here are extremely clean, and the fine for littering ranges from $10 to $1000, depending on how heinous your litter is.
  
• Cowboy hats can be worn without irony, but only if you have Lee or Wrangler Jeans on. Cowboy hats do not work with shorts. Cowboy boots don't work with shorts.
  
  
• Not everyone speaks with an accent, Texan or otherwise.

over and out