Day 13 - Clark - El Paso - Sierra Blanca

96 miles (66mi in the correct direction)





I woke up relatively early to be at the bike shop by 8:00 a.m. . For the first 20 minutes, the traffic was good. For the next hour plus the traffic was pretty terrible. Busy.


I persevered, and made it to the bike shop right around the time it opened. I talked to the owner and the mechanic for a little bit, and then the mechanic got to work. Overall, I think he's spent 5 minutes fixing it. But it is now as it should be.


I spent the next 30 minutes rearranging how I packed my stuff. I now have a lot more of my heavier gear in my front bar bag. I used to have clothes in there, but now I put those in the rear trunk to make that lighter and easier on my wheels/spokes. Good people at this bike shop


Then I got on the road. And I took the road that they suggested, and it was a lot better. I mean considerably better. I mean not bad at all. Far fewer cars and trucks, and more room. Not bad at all!


Eventually I made it out to Fort Hancock. I stopped at the Dollar General picked up some goodies and decided to keep on rolling. I made it to Sierra Blanca. A small little town in the middle of nowhere. In other words, perfection.


When I was on the interstate, there was some highway we're going on, so it slowed down all the traffic. I must have literally passed over a hundred semis! They were stuck in traffic, and I was zipping along on the shoulder. Honestly some of the most unusual, but extremely fun riding I've done!


I talked to a police officer on the way in, and he said it was cool that I set up my tent in the park. Not 2 minutes after I rolled in to the park, I see another person pull up on a bike. Not just any bike, a bike loaded with gear! Yes I have run into my first fellow bike tourist! He's doing the same thing I'm doing, except he started in Florida and is finishing in San Diego! He is Steve, from Washington.


We chatted for a couple hours, and again later in the evening for another hour plus. Really good man. Gave a lot of advice, and helps build my confidence. I asked him a ton of questions on the rides ahead. And we exchanged stories from the rides behind. 


It's not everyday that you meet a person where I have done all the riding they're about to do, and they've done all the riding I'm about to do. It's weird, a very good kind of weird though.


Anyway, today was significantly better than yesterday. The main reason I was so stressed out about yesterday was because I put a lot of trust in this bike shop only to have my trust completely taken advantage of. I was so excited to get to El Paso and have all my wheel troubles be gone, only for them not to do the correct job. More than anything, I'm just very disappointed. Disappointed that I can't trust a bike shop. 


I'm even more disappointed knowing that it was a semi easy fix. Disappointed that something so obvious could have slipped through the cracks. Disappointed that when I did notice, they said it was okay.


It's all good now, and everything worked out very well in fact. If they didn't mess up, I'd never run into Steve. 


Now is not the time to dwell on the past. It's time to go after the future!

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