Big steps

Fabens, TX

Wednesday, August 10th
El Paso, Tx to Tornillo, TX

Stumbled out of the city looking for a napping spot. Snatched a few z's at a community college, then moved on to an all-you-can eat lunch at Iron Skillet, a trucker restaurant.

Their gimmick is they use iron skillets instead of plates. Fried chicken is tasty, whatever serving surface it's on. Salad bar was good and so were their brownies. Couldn't move very far afterwards.

Fabens, TX

A tidy little town with homes across the street from businesses and public buildings. Too early for sleeping unnoticed, so I passed through.

Tornillo, TX

A kind security officer found me sleeping in front of a local high school. Escorted me to a park nearby and found a nice roofed table I could sleep on. It rained at night but I wasn't bothered.

Pesky mosquitoes did force me to cover up my face and entire body. Was hot and stuffy. Woke up with a swell on my lip and a bite on my face, but no big deal. I still got a solid nine (!) hours of sleep.


Thursday, August 11th
Tornillo, TX to Van Horn, TX

Morning camp

My body felt put together after being taken apart and I felt residual sleepiness throughout the day. But a long sleep was effective. I traveled a good distance today - about 90 miles, a personal best!

A red frontage road by the freeway looked like a running track. Reminded me of my running years in high school. It brought me back to a time when I poured my heart into every athletic, academic, musical pursuit I could master.

"Get obsessed and stay obsessed." - John Irving, Hotel New Hampshire. 

I pedaled as hard as I could, feeling teenage ambitions I sacrificed to follow a pedestrian path through university. Struggling against an institutional hypocrisy and discrimination that made it all so fruitless.

I also remembered shooting free throws at neighborhood courts alone into dusk. I was determined to make a hundred free throws. Then ten three-pointers. Or sometimes twenty, even thirty. The long hours of it.

I had motivated myself to think, this is the one time in your life you have to do this. Do it right, and don't wish it to be over so soon! It seems endless now, but how short it really is - if you practice well now, you will have the skill to play well later. If you don't, you'll wish you had the chance to do this, and had done this more, but you won't be able to!

With these memories in mind, I pedaled hard, knowing this road does not last forever, as difficult as the climb can be, but the mark I make on it will help shape the man I am to become.

Sierra Blanca, TX