Desert sunrise
I hit the road at 7 and made it into Sanderson by 9. Rumor had it that today was gonna be another scorcher with heavy winds out of the southwest. I was still feeling pretty exhausted from yesterday and didn't want to risk letting the heat further wear me down, so I decided to take a pseudo rest day. It's been a while anyway, or so it seems.
I like this blurry photo.
I needed to find a place to ride out the heat. But first: Breakfast! A nice young girl at the gas station directed me across the street to the American legion building where they serve breakfast on the weekends. This is where it got weird (fair warning to parents with young readers - this part is probably not kid-friendly).
On my way across the bumpy, gravel parking lot my chapstick fell out of my handlebar bag. As I was backing up to pick it up, a person emerged from the semi-truck I was next to and started asking me how far they were from I-10. Coming from a trucker, I found this question odd. This person, turns out, is a trans-gender truck driver from Colombia. I know this because she started telling me about it right away. I did find it very interesting, though the creepy vibe coming from her was a little too high for my comfort zone. Plus, I was starving and all I could think about was pancakes so the details of her future surgeries were not that appealing to my appetite. When she started asking if I was a virgin and telling me how bicycles can take a person's virginity, I high-tailed it to the breakfast hall and tried not to freak out. I'm sure she is harmless, but still...when I left I took the long way in the opposite direction.
After a delicious breakfast of biscuits and gravy and French toast (pancakes had no chance when I saw this on the menu), I popped into the Budget Motel office to inquire about prices, as the temptation of hanging out in air conditioning all day was just too hard to resist. The rate is $60, but the desk clerk, a very nice man named Danny from India, told me to name my price and he would give me the room for that rate. I wanted to say $20, but he was so nice I said I could do 35. Bingo. And then he took my picture next to the sign. They love cyclists here. What a lucky find! It left me feeling good after that creepy encounter.
So that's pretty much what I've done today. Napped, watched tv, laid around. It's been good.
Looks like I might be forced to take another rest day on Monday. There's a wildfire burning that has gone through the town I was going to stop in on Monday night. They currently have no power, have run out of water and 14 structures have burned down. So, we'll see. There's not much in the way of alternatives so I might just have to skip on past it in an automobile. Really, that's quite fine by me; I'm rather sick of Texas. I feel like I've been here for a year.
Well, I best be getting some shuteye. 54 miles to Marathon tomorrow. Nighty night.
Love,
Jess
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