Day 11: Anthony (El Paso) to Fort Hancock, TX

Distance: 83.3 mi (134.0 km)
Cumulative Distance: 934.4 (1,503.8 km)
Average Speed: 17.9 (28.8 kph)
Climb: 2,540 ft (774.2 m)
Cumulative Climb: 52,540 (16,014.2 m)
Flats: 1
Cumulative Flats: 7

Our first day in Texas started with us going back into New Mexico as we circled El Paso. Sometimes you have to take a step back to go forward. The area west of El Paso is high desert with some pretty mesas. East of El Paso is expansive farm land.

We are again a few miles from the Mexican border and the population is predominately Mexican.

We had a great (easy) day of 84 miles with a favouring wind most of the day. This allowed us to stop for a leisurely lunch at a café in Tornillo, instead of the usual hurried peanut butter and jam sandwich on the road.

When we arrived at the Fort Hancock Motel (Fort Hancock has a population of 1000), we met Vera and Hank, a couple form Holland, who are crossing the country on the same route that we are. Two years ago they biked the mid-America route form Virginia to Oregon. They had many interesting stories of their many bike trips at various places around the world. They joined us for dinner at Angies’, the only place in town. We had great conversation and some decent food - the apple pie is apparently famous so of course we had to try it.