Fri, 10/17/2025; 41 miles, 596 feet of climb
Today was a SPECTACULAR day for riding! TAILWINDS!! It was not without its problems, but the kindness of strangers helped soften the blow. And I ended up in an old 50s trailer in Valentine, Texas.
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I had a GREAT hotel breakfast in Van Horn: eggs, sausage, waffles, Raisin Bran, coffee and orange juice. I probably put away 1500 calories for future use.
I didn’t want to pump up my tires in the room, because the mini electric pump is so noisy. I figured I could do it outside and partially drain the pump’s battery, rather than doing it in the room and recharging it, since I probably wouldn’t need to use the pump later today. (There’s that foreshadowing again.)
However, once outside I was surprised to see that the pressure had fallen overnight from 85 psi to 25 psi! PANIC!! Last night it fell to only 45. So does that mean my slow leak is getting faster?! Hmmm…I’d better take it apart and figure out what’s going on when I get to a hotel in Alpine for my day off tomorrow night.
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The ride started out magnificently! Even on level ground, I was going 17-18 mph! It was so fun with a tailwind, especially compared to the 7.7 mph average two days ago. The weather was also very pleasant, starting off at 69°, and warming up to the low 80s, before it got hot in the afternoon.
I stopped at a historic landmark, and stopped a few more times to get some close-up of flowers and plants swaying in the breeze. My saddle sores are getting worse, so I don’t like to go more than 20 or 30 minutes at a time without stopping and at least standing up out of the saddle for a minute or two.
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At mile 24, I saw a sign for a picnic area. Yay — there is one spot of shade on today’s route after all! And even a concrete table. I knew there were no towns or gas stations, so this was a nice surprise.
Even though I had just taken a standing break a mile earlier, I thought I’d better take advantage of what would probably be my only chance for shade until Valentine.
The shaded picnic table at 2pm was a delightful 81° in the breeze, according to my thermometer. Compare that to the temperature when I set it on the pavement in the sun — 111°F!
I had a pleasant time, just sitting and listening to the silence, while doing some reading. After a nice half hour break, I got up to leave, and then discovered to my horror that my front tire was totally flat! I guess that slow leak was getting REALLY fast now.
I have to confess that I was briefly tempted to just pump it up again and keep riding. But then I realized there will be no better place to change the tire than right here. I still have PTSD from changing my rear tire on Day 2 on the hot blacktop of the freeway shoulder sitting among the thorns.
So I took off the tire, removed the tube, and pumped it up, but I could not find any leak without water to show the bubbles.
I decided to bite the bullet and put on my last new tube and reinstall the tire. It took me forever to get the tire back on, because the bead was so strong. I really need to get better at this.
——Meanwhile, a guy in an RV had been walking his dog and we chatted a bit. He came out a little later, saying that his wife wanted to make me a sandwich and asking what I wanted for ingredients: ham, mustard, cheese, chips, pickles. I said yes to each as he ticked off the options. He brought out the feast in individually wrapped Ziplocs, and included two fun-sized bags of M&Ms!
I get discouraged at saddle sores and mechanical issues, but the the generosity of strangers restores my faith in humanity.
To top it off, I’m just so happy I could fix my tire in 81° shade rather than 111° sun on the pavement like I did two days ago.
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At mile 38 I came across the “Marfa Prada” store that I had heard about when researching this area. It was an art project, but it looks like a real life Prada showroom, with displays of expensive shoes and purses, except there are no doors. It’s a tiny stand-alone building with just big windows.
The phrase “Build it and they will come” popped into my mind. There were a dozen cars and RVs coming and going! And there was no parking, since it was just a tiny building in the middle of nowhere.
I did what came naturally, and sent up my drone for some aerial videos. A couple driving a fancy camping van was getting pictures for their organization, and were quite thrilled when I offered to get some aerial shots of their van in front of the store.
After I landed, I told them the cost — let me fill up a water bottle. Yes, once again I RAN OUT OF WATER even though I had filled up ALL FIVE bottles that morning. I guess I might need to add a sixth. They outdid my request, and gave me two ice cold bottles of water! That was very refreshing.
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It wasn’t far from there to my destination town of Valentine. I still wasn’t sure where I’d be staying yet. There is an RV park before town, so I called the “Love Shaks” place one more time before checking out the RV park.
They answered the phone this time! He said I’d need to book it through AirBnB, but it was already deleted from today because it was 4:30 pm. But when I told him I was biking the Southern Tier, he said, “Oh, I like to help you guys!” So he made a special effort to get his manager over there to get it ready for me.
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Arriving in town, I stopped at the Valentine Bar. I had seen pictures of this quirky little place on the Internet. It’s the only business in town, and they do not serve ANY food, and they are open whenever they feel like it. Well, they were open!
It was fun talking to all the other guests in this tiny place (some of whom I’d seen at Prada), and meeting the owners Jeff and Hannah. When Hannah found out I was biking the Southern Tier, she offered to let me sleep in a Winnebago they had, and she even offered to make me fish tacos!
The dilemma was that she couldn’t make them until 7:00 pm. I knew that once I got to the Love Shaks camper and showered, I wouldn’t want to bike the mile back to the bar, especially in the dark.
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This Love Shaks place is interesting. (The name is related to the town’s name, Valentine.) There are a bunch of vintage 1950s campers in open space. It is much cheaper than a hotel, but much nicer than sleeping in a tent.
It had the Basic Three needs I have, in order of priority: (1) a shower, (2) an outlet, (3) a bed, and a bonus, (4) Air Conditioning. It also has a nice shelf for all my charging, and a small sink for washing my bike shorts liners (which I do every day).
What it does NOT have is WiFi, and I am in Cell Hell, with only SOS on my phone. (For the third night of this trip.) So I will be going to bed early tonight, and hoping to finally break that 6-hour barrier.
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Just before going to bed, I figured I’d top off the tires so it wouldn’t use up so much battery in the morning. I was shocked to discover that the front tire was down to 45 psi again, with the NEW TUBE in place!! Yikes. I decided I’d better patch up the old tube while I have a sink here to find the leak.
To be honest, I am a little discouraged right now. My bike tires are a constant source of fear and stress, my lips are sunburned, and my saddle sores are getting worse. I have to shift around so much in the saddle to avoid sore spots that I might end up causing knee issues.
Given tomorrow’s tailwinds again, I’m going to make a big effort to combine the next two days of riding and get to Alpine Saturday night instead of Sunday night. That is my planned rest town, and it would be so great to have a rest day on Sunday while we’re getting headwinds from the east again. Plus, I’d love to go to church if my rest day is Sunday!
We’ll see if my saddle sores agree.
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TRANSLATIONS/BACKGROUND: “TEXBIRD” = Texas Bike Ride, my own nickname for the 800 miles in the middle of Southern Tier Bicycle Route, from El Paso to Austin, using maps from ACA (Adventure Cycling Association). This will complete my ride of the Southern Tier from the Pacific Ocean (San Diego) to the Atlantic Ocean (Jacksonville). (I biked the 1500 miles from Austin to Jacksonville in March 2024, and the 1000 miles from San Diego to El Paso in February 2025.)
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LINKS:
Old-fashioned BLOG if you have friends who don’t use Facebook:
“Old Scouter” Facebook page if you want to follow big adventures with more pictures and video clips (but not unrelated personal posts):
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100066334039590
“Old Scouter” YouTube page (when I get time to edit after the trip):