Day 23: Marathon to Sanderson,Texas

Day 23: Marathon to Sanderson,Texas
Miles: 53.33 ------------ Total Mileage 1,276.19
Theme: Fattening Us Up Before the (no we won't say that)!

Oh - the Gage Hotel, can it get any better than that???? After a very restful night sleep, I decided that I wasn't going to waste the opportunity to get a fabulous nice hotel shower, so I took a shower prior to breakfast. Ah - it felt good on my muscles! And the breakfast. Yummmmmy. Everything was way to good. All freshly made that morning, including all the breads. I think we all want to stayed at the Gage for at least a week!

But alas, the bike was calling - and so it is off down the road again. Today is a short day - only about 54 miles, much like yesterday. The thing is I know that tomorrow is our 111 mile day - the longest day we will have on the entire trip. So - it does kind of feel like sheep being fattened before the slaughter! My thought however is enjoy these nice short days while you can. I am sure we will do fine tomorrow, so I am going to enjoy today!

The ride was very much like yesterday - the terrain similar - and paralleling the train track. This meant good speed and easy riding. Fattening us up before tomorrow! Everyone was in good spirits just flying along. Tex, Kathie, Liz, Linda (the chef extraordinaire) and I rode together to the first Sag. The 20 miles went by before we knew it. Marge was Sagging and told us that a farmer had been here when she first pulled up. He said there was a Bison ranch about a mile up the road and a Long Horn Cattle Ranch on the other side. So off we went looking intently for the two ranches. One mile passed, then another, after the third mile, still no Bisons or Long Horns. They were either way back in the distance or didn't exist. I am guessing the former. I did see other cattle as well as a few deer but certainly no bisons or Long Horns. There were however lots of vultures. Some would just sit on the fence posts watching us go by, others would fly off as we approached. I hope they weren't thinking we would be their next meal!

I have enjoyed seeing various birds as we have been biking along. Sometimes the birds seem to fly along with us for a short while. I love watching them fly - seeing them soar effortlessly. I have seen many hawks, but of course we are going by too fast (yes too fast even on bikes) to be able to identify them. There is so much to see, to take in each day. And we only see a fraction of what is out there.

We made it to the 2nd Sag in no time and only had approximately 12 more miles to go and we would be done for the day. Today the destination is Sanderson - a town of about 800 people. We are staying at the Oasis Motel. Let me just say it is nothing like where we stayed last night! But there is a hot shower, a clean bed... so all is good. We ended up getting in shortly before noon. Our rooms were ready so we quickly stowed our bikes, put on walking shoes and headed into town to find the one restaurant that was still open the Eagles Nest. Now there is no way I would have stopped at this place in my normal travels. After riding 50 miles and wanting something to eat, anything edible is good. It was barbecue day, so everything on the menu was barbecued. Unfortunately for the vegetarian in our group, the choices were very limited. She asked if she could have a cheese sandwich. The waitress thought they could do that. When all our meals came - Lisa got a hamburger bun with two slices of American Cheese in between. No mayo, lettuce, nothing just two pieces of American Cheese. Oh well - she put some barbecue sauce on it and ate it anyways.

We had heard there was a Dairy King (yes King, not Queen) down the road. Tex, Lisa and I debated whether we wanted to walk down there to get an ice cream. We couldn't see it in the distance, so decided to just get something at the mini market across from the hotel. Lisa went across the street to use an ATM. As Tex and I were walking back - along came Marge and Katherine in the Sag car. Just our luck they were going down to the Dairy King, so we jumped in with them. Later we passed Lisa and she was like, what's up???? But alas we got down there and it was closed. We were bummed! Oh well, to the mini market it is. We each bought an ice cream sandwich. I haven't had one of those in years. Marge was going back on the road to see how Lise and Nancy were doing. They had stayed in Marathon for quite awhile this morning, so they weren't in yet. I asked Marge if I could go out with her. I haven't had the opportunity to spend much time with Marge - so thought this would be fun. As we bought our ice cream sandwiches I thought it would be fun to get one for Nancy and Lise. Now Lise LOVES ice cream. I thought this would be a fun treat for them since they were riding in the heat of the day - and would never expect that in the Sag wagon.

Marge and I took off. After not too many miles we saw Lise and Nancy. They gave us the thumbs up - indicating they were fine, no need to stop. Marge turned Little Bo Peep (the Sag Wagon around) and drove up and parked up ahead of them. When they rode by, Marge yelled to them "We have ice cream." Nancy yelled to Lise, "They have ice cream." There was some excitement in her voice. When Lise heard, she immediately turned around and came back. It was pretty comical! They were both very excited and happy. It was fun to do something so simple to make their day!

Ah - life on the road. Tonight Lise and I are rooming together. It has been really fun to get to know her better (as well as the others). Lise is retired Colonel from the Army. She was a family doc and not too long ago did a tour in Iraq (prior to her retirement). One of these days, I will tell you more about each of the women on this tour. It is an amazing group. For now I will sign off.

Think of us tomorrow. We have our long day - 111 miles. I find I do best when I break it down into smaller pieces. I know some are worried about the ride tomorrow. These last few days have allowed us to rest our legs a fair amount (fattened us up) so I think if we all just take it at our pace, all will be fine. The vultures won't be getting any of us for dinner tomorrow!