We knew that the ambient would be in the 30’s today so we made a special effort to be up early and get out on the gravel. Dusty came and waved us off about 6;45am. We were entering the most sparsely populated part of the ride so we knew we had to be careful. The area became very arid with no surface water, and ranchland gave way to scrub populated by hawks, deer and ground squirrels. We made it to route 41 and ate lunch among free range cows and horses and cactus. The cattle grids are called Texas gates round here and it was not too much of a stretch to see Roy Rogers or the Cisco Kid ride on up. But they didn’t, in fact nothing did in either direction for most of the rest of the day. As the sun rose the temperature rose with it and after 2pm, our water was so warm it made you gag to drink it. We bummed a couple of bottles of ice water from one of the very rare passing motorists who thought we were crazy. We pushed on to the border and the paved road, only to find a 100m of it before it turned back to dirt as well, however without the ridges of Alberta and a few more farms.
To say the least we were very tired by 75km and with another 25 to do to Consul we knew we were not going to do it. Our rest stops were being taken every 2km. We found some shade under trees and uncoupled the tandem from the trailer then laid the bike down by the side of the road, we took out the ground sheet and had a long siesta in the shade. After about an hour a lady stopped her truck, as she later explained “to look for the bodies,” when Marge popped her head above the fence and said hello. Once more to cut a long story shor,t she invited us to stay in her house and have Saturday evening supper with her family. Deep thanks to Sandy, Lorne and Kent for making us so welcome, your generocity and kindness were and are most appreciated.
Total Distance 3700km
I'm so glad you are both OK after such a hard couple of days in the heat and poor conditions. There are wondefully kind people out there and I want to say a big thank you to everyone of them for their kindness to Ron and Marge. I just know if the situation had been reversed Ron and Marge would have done the same as they are some of the kindest people I know. What goes around comes around.
ReplyDeleteOk enough sentiment, heartfelt though it is. Hope you're resting up today Ron and Marge, take it easy and then "Get Biking!" We miss you.
love and hugs
Annie
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