Day 16 - Don't Mess with Texas

El Paso to Sierra Blanca

Today was the first day back after a much needed rest. Jimmy went home for 24 hours to be checked out after his crash by Kenny Sheppard. This was to be our first full day in Texas and we knew the wind was going to be bad. We headed out of El Paso on the frontage road for the first 15 miles, at this point the wind wasn’t so bad. When we reached the I10 the wind really started to pick up and with that came the dust and sand. We tried putting on masks but they didn’t give up much relief. Our right ears and eyes filled up quickly with sand. At points it felt like we were being pelted by thousands of little needles and sometimes it seemed like we were sideways because of the cross winds. The wind was so bad we couldn’t take either hand off while riding and had to stop several times just to drink. Jimmy’s hands got sore because he was unable to move them around, this also contributed to stopping multiple times. Initially we had intended on riding 73 miles and were only able to ride 53 miles in 4 hours, at that point we decided to call it a day. So now we know why they say “Don’t Mess with Texas”. We are going to leave early tomorrow to make up the 20 miles we missed today and hopefully miss the wind. Don’t miss the picture of the tumble weed almost taking us out.

JB & Cory

East Bound & Down