The travels of the Rambling Roses: DelRio to Langtry Tx (58 miles in 4:20) March 25

When I was a kid I used to watch Yosemite Sam in the cartoons, and he would always say that he was the 'meanest varmint west of the Pecos' or the fastest gun west of the Pecos, and I never really understood what he was talking about. I do now. The Pecos River is a huge river, down in a huge canyon, that was the last obstacle to the Union Pacific railroad in connecting the east to the west, back in the pioneer days. It must have been where civilization changed from east to west, because now everything is 'west of the Pecos', as in 'the law west of the Pecos,' and 'the gospel west of the Pecos'. Even we are now ' west of the Pecos.'
Last night when we went to bed, it was about 80 degrees. Heavy wind blew in after midnight, and it was in the forties when we woke up. Wow, what a change! But, probably for the better for me. The wind was at my back, and it was a great day to ride. The landscape became more desolate, with even the ranches pretty much disappearing. There was a border patrol checkpoint we had to go through, complete with drug dogs. Traffic became pretty thin, with nothing but trucks and border patrol going by every once in a while. For all the desolation, I had a very sociable day.
I stopped at chatted with bicyclists and motorcyclists four different times. First was a Canadian named John, that was riding from San Diego to St. Augustine . A little while later was Dave, a seventy year old, who left from north of Los Angeles, and was headed to Florida. Next, was Brian, a younger guy from Colorado who was biking to New Orleans. I compared notes and chatted with each guy for about fifteen minutes each, and picked up quite a bit of info about what was ahead, as well as biking and equipment ideas. I got to see how some experienced guys were doing the cross country trip. There was an overlook at the now famous Pecos River, where I talked to about twenty motorcyclists from Michigan, who were doing an annual ride around southwest Texas.
We stayed in a (former) town known as Langtry. It is the home and domain of Judge Roy Bean, if you have heard of him. ( I think Robert Redford played him in a movie). The town had a few residents, but it was mostly the Roy Bean museum, and many dilapidated buildings, some made of adobe. There were lots of historical markers around, and Pam and I explored in the Jeep, and toured the museum. We stayed in the community center parking lot, which had an 'iron ranger', asking for a two dollar donation. An iron ranger is a little metal box hanging on a pole, with a slot for money. This lot is a frequented sight by bicyclist who don't want to do the 120 miles between Sanderson and DelRio. It cuts the trip into two 60 milers if you stay there.