Tom's Excellent Adventure

Day 19 – Don’t Mess with Texas

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tomdlouhy

in

Miles Completed: 54.7

Cumulative miles: 963.6

Miles to St Augustine: 2,101

Today we had a nice ride from Las Cruces, NM to El Paso, TX through the Mesilla Valley. We traveled by Stahmanns Pecan Farm, the largest in New Mexico, with over 168,000 pecan trees and has been in business since 1932.

We rode about 7 miles down a bike path next to the Rio Grande where we entered Texas. Three states completed! We will now be in Texas for the next 3 weeks, longer than our entire trip so far.

We are staying the night at a hostel in El Paso. The place has a lot of history. It started as the Gardner Hotel in 1922. The third-generation owner, Joe Nebhan, met with us tonight and told stories about the hotel including that John Dillinger stayed at the hotel and that Pulitzer Prize winning author, Cormac McCarthy, wrote several of his books while residing at the hotel. Joe turned the hotel into a hostel in 1984 and continues today in that format, being managed by his daughter.

Trees from Stahmann’s pecan farm created a canopy over the highway. Pat and Brent are riding ahead.
Cotton fields, followed by Pecan trees, and the mountains in the background.
Chris, Pat, Tom, and Brent (taking photo) at the point on the bike path we believe we entered Texas. The sign on the stone marker had been removed.
For my cat-lovers (Nancy, Jeff, Sue), this mural is in downtown El Paso near our hostel. It is made out of a lot of recycled junk. Can you find the bicycle? And I later found out it is a mountain lion.
The hostel at the Gardner Hotel
The lobby of the Gardner Hotel
We ate dinner at “The Tap” in downtown El Paso which has been in business since 1956. We played a few games of pool with Tom and Pat taking the victory over Dana and Felix. Here Pat is lining up his shot with Dana watching.

Comments

5 responses to “Day 19 – Don’t Mess with Texas”

  1. AZNancy Avatar
    AZNancy

    Hooray for another successful day . . Here’s to another good one tomorrow.

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  2. Ndlouhy Avatar
    Ndlouhy

    Loving all the stories and pictures …. Especially the cat mural. Mountain Lion, Cat, they’re all the same. And, yes I found the bike! Very cool artwork 👍 Enjoy Texas … 🚴‍♀️🚴‍♀️🚴‍♀️🚴‍♀️🚴‍♀️🚴‍♀️🚴‍♀️🚴‍♀️🚴‍♀️

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  3. newberlinsue Avatar
    newberlinsue

    I’m pretty sure I found the bike near the cat’s leg. I love your beautiful photo of the pecan grove.

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  4. SDeGrendele28 Avatar
    SDeGrendele28

    Great blog! Have fun in Texas! Pictures are wonderful!

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  5. MDlouhy25 Avatar
    MDlouhy25

    Good job everyone! Nice looking hostel!

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