The first 10 days

Day 1 10-8-2007 Miles traveled(mt): 62.8 Total Ascent(ta): 3053 ft. Campsite location(g.p.s.): N 30 degrees 14.582' W 98 degrees 33.847'

I left the city at about 11 a.m. This was about two hours later than I planned. I felt like I was chasing rain storms all day for I kept catching peripheral showers. I camped somewhere between Johnson City and Fredericksburg. I don' feel like I am even remotely exhuasted. Onward to Argentina and then to Brazil

Day 2 10-9-2007 mt: 75.6 ta:2254 ft. g.p.s.: N 30 degrees 56.101' W 99 degrees 16.921'

When I left Austin, I expected to have to worry about dehydration and heat exhaustion. Instead, I have had to worry more about hypothermia and pneumonia. For the first half of the day, it was raining. It was not wet or cold enough to justify wearing my rain gear. Whenever, I would stop somewhere the air conditioners would make me shiver. I hate air conditioners with a passion, especially since nobody ever shuts them off when it is raining.
I passed through old Comanche territory today. The town and the county of Mason are both named after Fort Mason which was a military base put there to protect settlers(read invaders) from Comanche and bandit raids.
I slept hobo-style under a bridge. I prefer not to pay for a place to sleep if it is possible.

Day 3 10-10-2007 mt: 97.6 ta:2172 gps: N 31 degrees 28.409' W 100 degrees 30.046'

I officially left the Hill Country today. I noticed the flattening of the terrain almost immediately today because I was zipping along at about 17 miles an hour after I left the town of Brady.
I ran into a team of cyclist that was relaying from Alberta, Canada to Austin for the Lance Armstrong ride. I told them they should go eat at the restuarant I just quit after working 7 years. I am sure that the folks at Hut's would be thrilled to wait on a bunch of cyclists that I sent their way.
The disadvantage of the flattening of the terrain is that there are less hiding spots along the road for me to put my tent. I bit the bullet and stayed at San Angelo State Park for $11. I took advantage of the facilities and took my first shower since I left Austin. I am a dirty, dirty boy. As far as I can tell, West Texas is suffering from a plague of crickets.

Day 4 10-11-2007 mt:70.4 ta: 2037 gps: N 31 degrees 11.695' W 101 degrees 29.068'

I got a late start because I had to do some routine bike maintainance. The spokes on my rear wheel were extremely loose. This is something that I think that I am going to have to pay attention to.
I saw something funny today. There was a young man flying a confederate flag from his Japanese pickup truck today in the town of Mertzon. That just ain't right on so many levels. We were both looking at each other from across a parking lot like the other one was crazy.
Here in West Texas, you can see for miles in all directions. It makes you feel tiny and insignificant. Trucks rule the road here. You would probably get laughed off the road if a Mini-Cooper or Toyota Prius were your car of choice.
I am glad that I am a city boy because there doesn't seem to be much to do other than huff gasoline and shoot shit. Convenience stores and fast-food chains seem to be the main meeting places here in the countryside. I am watching my mouth and avoiding certains topics of discussion altogether. Religion and politics are taboo subjects as far as I am concerned. Liberal, rural Texas is not.
Texas seems to be the champion of ironic place names. I passed through a town called Big Lake, today, without a lake in sight. Eden doesn't seem to be much of an Eden unless you are a cricket.

Day 5 10-12-2007 mt:9306 ta:2432 gps: N 30 degrees 52.677' W 102 degrees 53.331'

Today, when I left my campsite, I immediately noticed that the wind was coming very strong from the south. "No problem," I thought to myself, "I am going west." But, lo and behold, the wind shifted, not favorably. I had to charge into a stong headwind for about 50 miles today. This was, by far, my most grueling day yet. A good strong headwind can provide more resistance than the steepest hill. I was wondering if it is always windy at this spot. Sure enough, my question was answered when I rode by about a thousand wind turbines. It seems like wind is supplanting oil as the number one energy source in West Texas. I rode by many dormant oil rigs and even an oil rig graveyard but all of the turbines were operational.
I rode by the site of the first oil discovery in the Permean Basin, today. It was named Santa Rita #1 after the patroness saint of the impossible. They named it Santa Rita because they had to drill over 3000 feet over a period of 4 years to strike oil. Nowadays, oil companies routinely drill over 3000 feet to reach oil. I have even read that there are deep sea oil rigs that go down over 10000 feet. For those of you in Austin, the original oil rig for Santa Rita #1 is on the U.T. campus. It is that big talking monstrosity at the corner of San Jacinto and M.L.K. It is the reason why U.T. has one of the largest endowments of any university in the nation. I think they spent all of the money on the new stadium expansion and Mack Brown's salary. What a waste.
I ended up camping in a pretty sketchy location, today. Hopefully, I won't get arrested or find any mesquite thorns in my tires, tomorrow.

Day 6 10-13-2007 mt:59.1 ta:3869 gps: N 30 degrees 12.392' W 103 degrees 13.919'

I thought that the headwind was bad yesterday but it was much worse today. The numbers belie the difficulty of todays ride. The wind was so strong that it would stop me dead in my tracks while going downhill. As far as I am concerned, I would be perfectly happy riding my bike down Route 666 straight to Hell if I had a nice strong tailwind. That's right, I would sell my soul just to avoid this headwind. To make matters worse, I got my first flat of the trip. Believe me I was cursing God/ the gods. Fortunately, the flat was easily fixed.
I was excited when I saw tarantulas and prairie dogs today. I got a good picture of a tarantula but the praire dogs would not let me get close enough to take a picture. There used to be billions of these critters but the ranching industry, with help from the U.S. government, made them an endangered species. I also saw a hawk that was probably hunting prairie dogs. Hawks almost never pose for the camera.
The wind eventually abated for the last 20 miles of my journey, today, and I was able to make peace with God/ the gods. My arduous trek was rewarded with the most beautiful sunset that I have seen thus far on my journey.

Day 7 10-14-2007 mt: 58.9 ta:2188 gps: N 30 degrees 17.526' W 104 degrees 01.441'

All the technology in the world could not have prevented my dumbass from missing the turn off for Big Bend, this morning. By the time that I had realized that I was on the wrong road, I had reached the point of no return. "Oh well," I figured, "I will get to visit Big Bend some other day." I was just going to pass through, anyway. The road I accidentally took fortuitously went the direction that I needed to go, anyway. The scenery was like scenery in a cowboy western movie. There were lots of desert mountains. It is a very beautiful place. I rolled along at a leisurely pace even stopping to take a nap when I found a nice rest stop. I even managed to avoid a headwind for all but the last 10 miles of my trip. I got a flat for the second day in row because my patch malfunctioned. I never trusted patch kits anyway. I just cut off the valve stem and made a double tire liner for my front tire. Hopefully, I won't have any problems with it for a while. I am getting closer to the border and I am worried about the I.N.S. bugging me while I am camped under a bridge. My campsite is less than a quarter mile from the I.N.S. Marfa headquarters.
I am somewhat of a history buff so I often take exception to the way history is reported. I learned today that Fort Davis was named after Jefferson Davis and that it was erected to defend settlers from Indian attacks. These attacks came primarily from the Plains Indians i.e. the Apache, Kiowa, and Comanche Indians. The thing I took exception to was the way that the Indians were portrayed as people who were hostile towards the settlers for no reason at all. If the white man encroached upon my lands, fenced off my hunting grounds, and decimated the game(i.e. bison) that I subsisted on, I would be pretty fucking hostile, too. The Plains Indians were already nomadic since they followed the buffalo herds so they made very effective guerilla warriors. After the Civil War, the U.S. army turned their attention to the Indians and waged a campaign of annhilation and subjugation of these nomadic peoples. Palo Duro Canyon, in the Texas Panhandle, is the site of a large U.S. Army massacre of Comanche. To refer to the massacre which took place at Wounded Knee in South Dakota as a "battle" is an egregious misnomer. The members of the army regiments that were killed were killed by friendly fire as the army had surrounded and encampment of Sioux. That is enough of my little rant for now.

Day 8 10-15-2007 Kilometers travelled(kt): 129 ta: 2579 gps N 29 degrees 33.978' W 104 degrees 39.133'

When I woke up today, it was very cold. This was due to the fact that I am at an elevation of 4500 feet. I was happy to find out that Presidio is at a lower elevation for I prefer heat over cold. I crossed the border today. I immediately thought to myself that I am a crazy fool. The desert on the Mexican side of the border seemed like a barren wasteland compared to the U.S. side. Fortunately, it is well populated and there have been places to obtain water that weren't on my map or G.P.S. device. I have to ride about 120 miles to Chihuahua City. I don't think that I will make it in one day. Note to all. I am keeping track of the kilometers I travel now since all of Latin America follows the metric system.

Day 9 10-16-2007 kt:65.7 ta: 4014 gps: N 29 degrees 25.575' W 105 degrees 07.877'

I didn{t travel very far today for I did not want to overexert myself. Fatigue in the desert can be deadly. Not only was it hot, but I had to climb over multiple mountains. After climbing over the first mountain, I was rewarded with a spectacular view of Peguis Canyon. I had no idea that this canyon existed and when I saw it, I was awestruck. I wanted to stay there and look at the canyon all day but, alas, I had to move on. I passed through a customs checkpoint and a military checkpoint, today. I took advantage of both and had them refill my water. The police did not want to search my things but the soldiers did. They did a pretty thorough search but they missed the pound of cocaine I was carrying in my rectum. I was very happy to reach the town of Coyame for I was able to eat real food, not just beef jerky. I was quite the rockstar in Coyame and I had several locals follow me around and bombard me with questions. I eventually had to extricate myself and say goodbye for I had to move on.

Day 10 10-17-2007 kt:138 ta:3471 gps: N 28 degrees 38.138' W 106 degrees 04.671'

Today, I more than doubled the distance that I travelled yesterday for I passed all of the big mountains yesterday. I still had to travel through mountain roads but the ascents were less challenging. It was still good and hot and, being in the desert, there was hardly any shade anywhere. Still, I made good time and managed to reach Chihuahua City before sunset. The drivers in the city are much meaner than the drivers in the countryside. When I am on country roads, the drivers will usually pass me with at least 6 feet to spare. In the city, I consider myself lucky if I have more than a foot to spare.
When I arrived in the city, I had an accident while avoiding a truck in front of me. I bent the part of my front fork where the right saddlebag attaches. I also bent the screw that held my saddlebag onto my fork. I was lucky, though. I was able to bend my the part of my fork back in place and I was rescued by Sergio Richarte, the most heroic mechanic in the world. He helped rethread my fork obtained a new screw for my saddlebag. Without his help, I would probably have to cut my trip short. To top it all off, he refused payment when I tried to compensate him for his troubles. For this, I will be eternally grateful.

Day 11 10-18-2007
And on the 11th day he rested. I am sitting in an internet cafe planning the next leg of my journey. I hope to find some more innertubes, do laundry, and other mundane tasks. I will enjoy the city and take some pictures today.