Greetings from Alpine, Texas. More specifically, Mare and I are currently at John's bike shop here in Alpine where he is re-packing her hubs and doing a bit of work on her bike. I am typing away here listening to Austin's public radio station and making friends with the cat.
The riding recently has been a bit tough with lots of headwinds. However, the extra work has definitely been worth it. West Texas is beautiful. We are enjoying sunshine, wide open skies, beautiful stars at night, lots of deer and javelina sightings and amazing mountains and desert terrain. Also, the folks we are meeting here are really cool and are showing us an awesome time!
After saying a sad goodbye to James in Del Rio, we cycled to Langtry where we had the privilege to enjoy a community dinner with about half the town. They happened to be meeting about the town's water at the community centre where we were staying. Thanks again for the brownies and pickles you folks sent us off with!
Sixty miles down the road, in Sanderson, we stayed at the luxurious home of Liz Rogers. Liz is an amazing woman who lives in Alpine but also has a home in Sanderson which is vacant some of the time. Liz stopped us on the side of the road days ago in Bracketville and gave us her address in Sanderson offering to let us stay there on our own. It was awesome! We slept like babies and enjoyed the use of the kitchen in the morning!
Since then, we enjoyed less wind into Marathon and finally a short day into Alpine which is beautiful, fun and filled with exciting and interesting characters.
Our hosts James and Julie have been amazing. We got picked up by James yesterday after brunch in town and were really happy not to be cycling the remaining eight miles south to their house straight up-hill. We had a relaxing afternoon and delicious dinner with them last night. This morning, we met with Liz who is very kindly hooking us up with more folks allong our route towards El Paso. This afternoon, we are are off to Marfa for lunch and to check out some Marfa hipsters and minimalist art. Can't wait!
3 comments:
Hey Celery-Anne and Marianne-Marianne-Mayonnaise-Mustard!!!
I am AGOG reading your BLOG!!!! Ha!ha! But seriously this is a fascinating read, Sylvie!!! I had no idea you would meet so many fantastic , helpful, interesting people. You sound like you are really making the most of this profound experience, both of you!!!
I'm saddened to hear that you lost the other half of your team. I hope there was no falling outs or anything negative there. Or maybe they just couldn't keep up with my two "Dynamo Girls"!!!!!! You must both be in awesome condition with all the miles you are accumulating. Keep up with the sunscreen tho - Mare, you looked pretty brown in that cafe!!!
Weather-wise I'm sure you've heard you are missing the MOST snow we've had in years here! We actually have to pay extra on our snow removal contract for our driveway - and that has NEVER ever happened since we lived here!!! The standard agreement usually runs from Nov.1st to April 30, or a max. of 250 cm., "whichever comes first". Well we hit the 260 cm. mark 3 snowfalls (1 1/2 weeks ago!!!!
I must tell you tho, it is really beautiful in spite of everything else (the driveways look like tunnels!!!) as there is SO much snow that it is always sparkling white and clean, even the snowbanks along the streets. There just isn't time for them to get all brown and grey and dirty - there's constant new snow to cover them up again! The trees and roofs are so loaded that they are almost sculpted with snow. It's really amazing for nature geeks like yours truly!
Guess what? Lindsay has a BOYFRIEND!!!!! Yup , no kidding! We are even allowed to use the word: b-o-y-f-r-i-e-n-d when we refer to him - now that's a first! His name is Teo (short for Teodoro - yup, he's Italian!)and he is sweeping Lindsay off her feet with flowers, dinners, etc. They met on-line through a mutual friend, and after some time communicating on MSN, they had their first meeting over dinner at Patty's Pub. That was over a month ago, and Teo has been in the picture ever since. He is 23, very courteous and polite, opens doors for Lindsay, won't let her pay for anything (she's usually fiercely independent that way). He works at an animation studio somewhere downtown, and teaches animation @ Algonquin. He still lives @ home, but owns his own car. He is very sweet and good looking (not too much) - this is a mother's perspective now *smile* - and my feminine/mother's intuition has been sending me the "this is a good one" messages BIG TIME!!! (I can hear you two laughing from here!!!)
Get this- he picks Lindsay up at 7:15 a.m. on Thurs. mornings when she has her earliest class of the week (8:00 a.m.) and takes her for coffee then to school on his way to work - aw-w-w-w-w-w-w-w!!!!!
Yesterday being Valentine's Day, he did the same thing, only he presented her with a single red rose and some chocolates. Last night he picked her up for a dinner date at a "secret" place, and presented her with a DOZEN long-stemmed red roses!!! The "scret" locale ended up being Patty's, where they had their 1st date. He gave her a gift there too - a DVD of a classic old film she had studied in Film class and really enjoyed, and couldn't find to add to her collection. Teo found it on E-Bay. He also MADE her a card with the cutest caricature of them both on it - am I going on here a bit...???? I mean, c'mon, Girls, doesn't this sound wonderful????!!!! I'm thrilled for Lindsay - we all are. Lauren & Doug like Teo just as much as I do. Lauren says nice guys like him are "severely few and far between". I hope she finds one one of these days too......
Anyway, my wonderful champions - that's you two!!! - I will continue to read this Blog (my 1st experience with that phenomenon!) every chance I get, and I'll continue to waste your time with long, silly news like this because you wouldn't know me any other way, now would you...????
Please know how loved and admired you BOTH are, and how fiercely PROUD I am of your accomplishments!!! (Never forget - I'm your mother too ya know!!!)
I predict that this wonderful journey will be a life-changing experience for you both - you'll see!!!!
Lotsa love and hugs always - BE CAREFUL!!!
Debby
My beautiful Canadian bike riders. I hope Team Ontario is still going strong, we all love reading your blog! Here's to headwinds!
Cousines -
Quel plaisir de lire vos aventures! Lynda me garde toujours bien informée, mais ton blog est formidable Sylvie. J’ai hâte d’en entendre d’avantage à vive voix…. chez Govinda’s peut-être?!
Bonne continuation et bon courage.
Brigitte
xxx
NB Merci pour la jolie carte postale, Marianne.
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