Day 22 Saturday, 3/28/15, Marathon, TX (Frost on my bike both this morning and yesterday morning at 6:30 am) to Sanderson, TX (77º at 1:30 pm) 55 miles, elevation changes: +793/-2057.

An easy, unchallenging biking day! I left Marathon at 8:40am and with multiple stops arrived in Sanderson at 12:30 pm. It was mostly downhill (note the elevation change) with a 10+ tailwind that began to blow at 10 am. I averaged just over 20 mph for the last 25 miles. The landscape is desolate and not exciting in any way.

Bike stats: 54.9 miles ridden in 3 hours and 3 minutes of actual biking time, averaging 18 mph with my top speed at 30.9 mph.

Highlights:

• At two different stops I was again all alone listening to the birds, bees and flies. It was heaven to be so alone with nature. There were no houses between Marathon and Sanderson with very little traffic on TX state route 90.
• Frost on my tent and bike cover two mornings in a row. I was snug and warm in my new, zero degree EMS sleeping bag the Joan gave me for Christmas. I put it on top of my thermal pad and air mattress.
• The stars at night after the moon has gone down. We are in one of the least, if not the least, populated areas in the continental US. I saw three shooting stars this morning in three minutes. There are millions of stars.
• We have ridden over 1000 miles. We’ll hit the halfway point of the trip on Thursday of next week.
• Yesterday we drove 230 miles round trip to Big Bend National Park. It is a glorious park. See the pictures below.

Frost on the tent yesterday morning. We had frost this morning, also. Yesterday the low was 30º and the high at Big Bend National Park was 83º. Another huge temperature range day.

Two views on today's ride. The landscape was not exciting, but the quiet when I stopped was incredible.

At Big Bend National Park on our rest day yesterday Friday 3/27/15.

The flowers along the road in the park. We drove 45 miles to the park and 70 miles inside the park. It is huge.

View from about 5400 ft in the mountains in Big Bend National Park.

I had the time to hike about two miles in the mountains above before we ate lunch. I came across two deer. Here's one!

We drove to the Rio Grande River that is the US/Mexico border in this part of TX. The Rio Grande created this canyon.

I hiked up into the canyon on the right side of the river. Here is the path we hiked up.

A shot of me up on the canyon side with a view back down to the Rio Grande River. It was another day made in heaven, truly glorious!

Make it a great day!

John