Van Horn to Ft.Davis

Today we started our ride on 39 miles of Interstate 10,where the speed limit is 80MPH!We finally got a little help with the wind and the road service was smooth. But you must watch the ground for tire treads,glass,rocks,and other debris. The traffic really isn't a problem until a semi that has 2flat tires and still moving at 10 MPH in your lane. He was just trying to take our same exit where we had a rest stop. We had to go around at mock speed in the traffic lane to get around him ,just another day on our tour. After the 39 mile mark,we exited Interstate and went the next 8 miles on our first chip seal road in Texas. Now I was traveling at approx 23 MPH on the Interstate with a tailwind and when I turned on the road to Ft.Davis,I dropped down to 7MPH. Let the suffering begin. Our lunch stop was 8 miles out on this road and it nearly took an hour to travel to our stop. We have been told that chip seal is the Texas road of choice. Our guides fixed a beautiful lunch of roast beef sandwich,3 bean salad,cookies,watermelon in the middle of nowhere. The rest of the ride was pure hell for the climbers of which,Gail and I were not doing. We took our first van ride together and we are staying in a beautiful lodge in Ft.Davis State park. We are looking forward to our day off.