- DAY 19: Friday 18th March 2022 – Sanderson TX to Marathon TX
- Distance: 87km
- Elevation gain: 640m
- Accomodation: Marathon RV Park
Another long cycling day today – hopefully the last really long day for a while. Fortunately, the strong winds from yesterday died out as predicted – even so, a steady climb from 850m in Sanderson to a high point over 1300m was tough – luckily a good downhill into Marathon helped at the end of the day. The desert scenery definitely got more interesting today as we mostly followed a wide canyon with hills covered with amazing cacti plants on both sides. Marathon is a nice little town with a couple of lovely upmarket hotels – unfortunately well beyond our budget, so we camped in the RV park on the edge of town. The RV park has a really nice tent area – something of a rarity in these places which seem to allow tents as an afterthought (if at all). A quick trip out to the grocery store got us supplies for the evening, at a cost, at “The French Grocer” – it’s great to see all of these independent local businesses in these small towns, but for the sake of our budget we are looking forward to getting back to a place with a Dollar General!
- DAY 20: Saturday 19th March 2022 – Marathon TX to Alpine TX
- Distance: 51km
- Elevation gain: 310m
- Accomodation: Lost Alaskan RV Park
Great cycling today – at just over 50km, a much more comfortable distance for us. Heading out of Marathon, a gentle tailwind made the 200m height gain easy – we didn’t know there was a tailwind for a while and mistakenly believed for a while that we were getting fitter at last! After a cold start the day turned out warm and sunny but not too hot – perfect cycling conditions. A good part of the second half of the day was downhill and we made great time into Alpine. There was a definite change in scenery today with wide grassy plains between us and the distant mountains. The road got much busier after a junction with US67 and Alpine turned out to be something of a metropolis compared to the small towns that we have passed through so far with a bunch of chain motels, a McDonalds (we resisted the temptation) and even a Dollar General – cheap groceries again at last! We stayed at RV Park with lovely tent sites – the RV parks in Texas are are great for tent camping compared to those that we have seen in other parts of the country.
- DAY 21: Sunday 20th March 2022 – Alpine TX to Marfa TX
- Distance: 43km
- Elevation gain: 320m
- Accomodation: Tumble In RV Park
A short day today, but challenging enough in a gusty crosswind. 20km of gradual ascent took us to Paisano Pass – not exactly spectacular as mountain passes go with the road changing from very slightly uphill to very slightly downhill, but at 1550m it did mark the highest elevation of the section of our route through West Texas. It also had a Historical Marker – we now seem to have seen literally hundreds of these things along the roadsides in the US and they all seem to commemorate some trivial and unremarkable event – this one noted that it was the spot that two Spaniards met and greeted each other – presumably not a particularly rare occurence. On the plus side, they usually have a small layby for cars to stop (nobody ever does) that is handy for us to get off the road and take a break. We didn’t stop here as it was a particularly exposed and windy spot. After a good downhill, we took a break at the Marfa Lights Viewing Area which offered more shelter. This is quite a tourist attraction in the area, but for us it was just a handy stop. We reached our campsite at the Tumble In RV park which was a particularly desolate place compared to the nice parks that we have stayed in recently. The”tent area” was an area of dust and long grass at the back of the site next to a railway line, so we ignored this and pitched on a gravel area next to the toilet block. We spent a pleasant evening having a few beers in the common area and were joined by a guy from Wyoming staying on the site in a cool converted ambulance. He decided to sit and talk to us for the next 3 hours (this seems to be happening a lot). He wanted to know all about our upcoming route before telling us to go a “better” way that would only add 1000 miles or so. We also heard all about his life, travels, illegal immigrants and how Covid is a US government conspiracy!
- DAY 22: Monday 21st March 2022 – Rest Day in Marfa TX
- Distance: 0
- Elevation gain: 0
- Accomodation: Tumble In RV Park
Another slightly enforced rest day today as there was a near gale force wind from the west that would have made cycling at best unpleasant and at worst downright dangerous. We took advantage of the facilities to catch up on laundry, shelter from the wind and cook a couple of decent meals (nice to have a change from PB & J sandwiches). By afternoon there was a dust storm blowing through the place, so a wise decision not to cycle!
- DAY 23: Tuesday 22nd March 2022 – Marfa TX to Valentine TX
- Distance: 61km
- Elevation gain: 145m
- Accomodation: Desert View RV Park
A cold, blustery day today made for not the most pleasant cycling ever.15km of slight uphill was the easiest part. For the 45km of slight downhill the headwind increased and we had to pedal to go downhill which is always annoying! The landscape became even more empty and barren (if that is possible) and a dead straight made us feel that we weren’t making much progress. We passed through the small town of Valentine just before the end of the day which looked like it may have been a prosperous little community in its day with cafes and shops that were now all closed and boarded up. We didn’t have high hopes for our campsite tonight which was an RV park just past the town that didn’t even have toilets! We put our $10 in the honesty box, pitched the tent and settled down to enjoy the wine that we had hauled all the way from Marfa. A guy called Anthony who had lived on the site for a year (with a 3-legged dog!) in an old school bus offered us a coffee and then the site owner Manny came over to say hello. He insisted on getting us a table and comfy chairs to use for the evening and was a lovely guy – amazing how such nice gestures can completely change your impression of a place!
- DAY 24: Wednesday 23rd March 2022 – Valentine TX to Van Horn TX
- Distance: 60km
- Elevation gain: 120m
- Accomodation: Van Horn RV Park
It was a very cold night in the tent and started grey and windy with the temperature close to freezing. We made very runny boiled eggs for breakfast – the butane stove that we have really doesn’t like it when the temperature is barely above the boiling point of the gas in the canister! Today’s cycling was hard work again – technically it was slightly downhill, but the cold northerly headwind meant that we had to pedal all the way. We stopped to take the obligatory photo of the Marfa Prada shop – this is a slightly bizarre tourist attraction in the middle of nowhere. We met a guy in Marfa who was driving 100 miles out of his way to see this – goodness knows why – I suspect it says more about the lack of things to see out here rather than any particular interest value that it has! The road today was dead straight which made the struggle against the wind slightly demoralising. Siona got our first puncture of the trip as well! We eventually limped into the outskirts of Van Horn and were very happy to arrive at the RV park. We were even happier to find that they had small cabins for only $20 more than their tent pitches so decided that this would be a great spot for a couple of rest days.
- DAY 25 and 26: Thursday 24th and Friday 25th March 2022 – Rest Days in Van Horn TX
- Distance: 0
- Elevation gain: 0
- Accomodation: Van Horn RV Park
We had a couple of relaxing days in the cabin, catching up on laundry and planning the few days ahead to El Paso and then finally out of Texas into New Mexico. The RV park has a great cafe so we had lots of good food after too long eating camp food and PB&J sandwiches. Van Horn has nothing of note to see – it is basically a giant service area off Interstate 10 full of motels and gas stations – so we had lots of time to relax.
Useful Links
https://www.tumbleinmarfa.com/
Paul and Siona's travels 
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