The Amistad Reservoir. It is actually very large but there are many arms so you cannot see much of the lake here.
A neat canyon outside of Langtry
There were buzzards everywhere
Judge Bean's courthouse and saloon
Our scruffy friends
1/21/10
Day 78
61 miles
We were surprised to find our tent absolutely drenched with dew this morning. The moist air must come from the Rio Grande, less than a mile from where we camped. We decided to eat some breakfast and then leave our stuff out to dry while we went over and checked out the Judge Roy Bean Visitor's Center. This place was pretty cool, Roy Bean was the judge for the area West of the Pecos river before there were many people out in these parts of Texas. He was known for rarely consulting his Texas law books, but instead making up his own brand of justice. His “courtroom” was also his house, a billiard hall, and a bar. Because he had no jail, he made all crimes punishable by fine. Often times he would make the criminal buy everyone at the bar a round of drinks after justice was served. This place also had a Chihuahuan cactus garden with about 50 different desert plants. It was neat, and we couldn't believe how many of the spiny or woody looking plants that goats and sheep will eat.
Once we went back to our camp, things were drying off in the hot desert sun. We made friends with a few of the town dogs, and that entertained us while we packed up. We were tired this morning, and knowing we had over sixty miles in front of us, well we knew it was going to be a long day. The wind seems to always be the biggest player out here, and today was no exception. We started with little to no wind, but by noon and later the wind was blowing, sometimes very hard, right into our faces. It was also very hot today, and the terrain and landscape was even more boring than the day before. We had to drink all of our water, and we were still thirsty. We stopped and ate more often to prevent running out of energy like yesterday. Nothing exciting happened today. The only change in scenery was a bridge we rode over that crossed the Amistad Reservoir. Apparently bass fishing must be big here because everyone was towing an expensive bass boat and the shoulder of the road had bass lures scattered about for 15-20 miles.
We had decided early on that after so many big days back to back, we were going to rent a hotel in Del Rio to get some good rest and take some nice showers. We got into Del Rio around 5:00 and found a motel 6 that seemed pretty cheap. We found out that they are cheap for a reason. The advertising says In Room WIFI, but come to find out that is only in certain rooms and only if you pay extra. Oh well, we will find a place to post our blogs. We are just happy to be out of the baking sun. We both wore sun screen today, but we both have some sun burns. We are really going to have to coat on the sunscreen.
Greg
2 comments:
-hi! i wanted to introduce myself, my name is todd burritt... i was pointed to this blog by a mutual friend from missoula, kali pennick; i've never actually met you two.
before long i'll be starting westward along the southern tier. i assume we'll cross paths at some point, though i'll be off the road for a week or more in lousiana.
instead of leaving it to chance i'll give you my email: new_direct@hotmail.com; it would be fun to share a camp one night or something.
Greg. Just a thought. I was wondering what the drag coefficient on that beard going into a headwind might be.
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