top of page

West Texas, Big Bend, and the Border Crisis: Day 21-25



Day 21

(79 miles; 1855 ft gain, Strava map)

Feeling a little spoiled on this trip has been great! Casey’s parents brought a ton of food, and we had a great breakfast of avocados, bagels, cream cheese, and coffee. It was hard to get motivated to leave these comforts and face the 53 miles on I-10.

Luckily, there was a beautiful tailwind the whole day. We took a backroad through some farm fields that ran alongside the Mexican border, and we stopped at a farm to see all the goats. Border patrol passed us a few times, but it was generally an easy going morning.


The I-10 segment worried us. It’s a horribly busy highway with tractor trailers and cars going 80 mph. However, we flew in this section. There was a small gradual incline, the rest of it was flat/downhill, and we rode with the tailwind like a whitewater rapid. Periodically, semis and cars would honk and wave at us, which was encouraging. We stopped in Sierra Blanca for a lunch break outside an antique store and then pushed to Van Horn. The tailwind was so fortuitous that someone asked us if we had motors in our bikes since we were going so fast! “We got two motors right here!”Casey exclaimed, slapping her thighs.


Courtesy of Casey’s parents, we stayed at the Super 8 where we were able to finish The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. For dinner, we went to El Capitán, a fancy duel restaurant and hotel. There was a beautiful outdoor fountain, and the restaurant filled quickly, clearly a popular destination. The veggie burgers were fabulous. Casey and I ordered the drink “Liquid Marijuana“, a fruity pineapple drink (without actual marijuana), and I do recommend it.


Day 22

(77 miles; 1204 ft gain, Strava map)

Taking a turn onto 90 gave us a nice ride with the rising sun. There wasn’t much to see, but there is something beautiful about experiencing a sense of nothingness, too. The yellow, grassy fields with the purple, hazy, mountainous horizon was a lovely and simple contrast. There were periodic dust clouds blowing in the distance, and blobs of black cows and antelopes were roaming around.


The first “town” we entered was Valentine. There was a gas station, but it was old and nonfunctional, probably for many years. There were no other stores. A tractor with an “America First” sign was positioned strategically on the side of the road. Prior to entering the town, we passed the famous Prada pop-up art installation, an out-of-place store in the middle of nowhere. I don’t think there was real merchandise in there, but people would travel for miles to see it.

Past the Prada was the Border Patrol blimp. Because of all the private properties, border patrol can’t access a lot of locations, and a blimp helps them locate people traveling across the fields. Apparently, it can detect body heat and can distinguish human heat from other animals, such as cattle.


When we reached Marfa, we made a pit stop at the Water Stop, a hip restaurant that had outdoor seating, plants, and lights, but the inside was dark and had religious decor. After a margarita, Marshall and Dave caught up to us again, and we reunited briefly before they took off towards their camping spot. Casey and I had burritos from Marfa’s Burritos, as advised by Parker from Hillsboro. They were definitely delicious and worth getting multiple! "You have to get two because you will regret only getting one," Parker had warned us.


Our WarmShowers host for that night was awesome. Manu is a French Canadian from Quebec who had lived in Marfa/Terlingua for the past 12 years. He is a 6 ft tall, thin cyclist with a long brown pony tail, a big mustache, and he has a love for all beer. He has traveled the world, beat Lance Armstrong in a mountain biking race, and has opened his doors to everyone who needs it; having been refused help in the past (presumably because he is a “man with a mustache”), he no longer refuses anyone because of how they look or who they are. He had two rules for us: 1) don’t use the washer because the belt was broken, and 2) don’t lock the door because he doesn’t know where the keys are.


We met Carrie and John at Planet Marfa, the local beer garden. It was a really fascinating place with an outdoor bar, teepees that descended into below-ground seating, a retro school bus, and a stage for performances. It had a strong hippie vibe, and they played classic rock music. We enjoyed beer and chips!


At 8, we met Manu and his girlfriend, Cas, at the swimming pool behind St. George Hotel; it’s open to the public after 6, and it was much needed. At the hot tub, we also met Colton, a west bounder on the Southern Tier. Later, Manu invited us to his girlfriend’s house for mint juleps where the four of us sat and chatted for a while. Meeting people has been such a highlight of this trip.

Day 23

(0 miles; 0 ft gain)

We took a rest day, even though we didn’t necessarily need it. Manu offered to drive us to Big Bend, a 2+ hour drive south. We couldn’t say no, and I’m glad we didn’t. I sat in the back, next to a cooler of beer that had stickers that read “Fuck Terlingua! Viva Marfa!” and “Don’t be a cunt - The Buddha”. His forester was a stick shift, and Manu liked to drive fast. He also loved to drink beer while driving, especially on the dirt roads in the National Park.


Manu took Casey and I to a short trail that had many switchbacks, leading to the Rio Grande. The enormous rock walls jutted up on either side of the river, and the rather shallow water was completely placid. We crossed the Rio onto the Mexican side and sat on the rock ledge over looking the river. It was quiet and peaceful with periodic groups of tourists stopping to walk through the water and take photos. Manu and I sat there for a while, often saying nothing, just watching and enjoying the gorgeous view. Casey took a walk through the river to check out the area.

“There isn’t anything here,” one tourist said as his group turned around to head back to the parking lot. I wonder what it is he is looking for, and I wonder if he will ever find it.


The Lost Mine Trail is a 4.8 mile hike that was over 1,000 ft elevation gain. On our “rest day”, we weren’t quite prepared to do the hike, but we didn’t regret it; the view was unbelievable. On the way up, we met a group of 3 individuals from Michigan, one a self-proclaimed nomad and a couple. The couple had bought land in Terlingua and had built hexagonal yurt-like buildings for glamping. Prior to our hike, Manu told us how the area was transitioning into a tourist trap, and that the quirky, local vibe of the community was disappearing. I wondered if this couple’s new glamping business contributed to this.


On our way out of the park, we stopped at the ranger stations where park workers were housed. One of Manu’s friends was having a birthday party, and we discovered that he knew two students in the entomology department where Casey and I graduated from. One was even a new student in my old lab. What an incredibly small world.



Day 24

(59 miles; 1117 ft gain, Strava map)

Having arrived home close to midnight, Casey and I slept in until 8. Manu arrived in the morning to make some delicious pour-over coffee before we said goodbye.

The bike ride was flat and relatively fast. Considering we were loaded with homemade food from Casey’s parents and that we started around 10 AM, we surprisingly finished the day around 3. Riding beside trains was very charming, and sometimes we could get the conductor to blow the whistle for us.


Alpine was an adorable little town with murals and local shops, but we didn’t stay long before we continued on our way to Marathon. In Marathon, we went (as advised) to the French Grocer, a tiny grocery store that also had some fresh pastries, a coffee shop, and some items you can’t find in other roadside marts (like incense). It had a subtle hippie vibe, and we filled up on a lot of coconut water.


La Loma Del Chivo is where we stayed that night, and we were housed in “The Spirit Room”. It’s free for cyclists and unlike anything I’ve seen before. There were artifacts from around the world, mostly Africa and Asia. My room had a lot of old photographs, and Casey’s room had giant renaissance-styled portraits. It was both fascinating and creepy. Ingrid, the host, was as unique as her rental: a hip, middle-aged woman that drove a retro checkered car with a giant owl on the back.

Manu drove to meet us in Marathon for burger night at the French Co., behind the French Grocer. His friend, Sam, worked there, and most of the community would come out for the event. We drank beer, played corn hole (Casey won), and retired not long after to get ready for our 100 mile day to Langtry.


Day 25

(76 miles; 1016 ft gain, Strava map)

Our long day started off perfectly fine. The temperature was cool, and the scenery was still vast open fields and blue skies. Slowly, it started to transition from yellow fields of grass into dirt ground with green shrubs.


I was not feeling well for most of the day. The humidity was becoming overwhelming, and I was overcome with drowsiness and weakness. I’ve been slowly losing strength in my hands; performing tasks that require high dexterity is kind of difficult, I assume due to clutching my handle bars for ~6 hours a day everyday. After lunch in Sanderson at the gas station, I started to have gastro issues, and Casey and I agreed to cut our ride short in Dryden instead of doing the 100+ to Langtry.


We pulled into the only place that was there (and open): the taxidermist. Inside, there were stuffed antelopes, foxes, and deer. Wooden crosses were made out of animal pelts. There were FJB (fuck Joe Biden) floor mats, confederate flags, and flags of a ripped Donald Trump holding a machine gun.


“So you’re the slow bikers that the old guys warned us about!” Mike didn’t hesitate as soon as I opened the door. He was over 60 with gray-white hair and a short beard, he was dressed in camo, and he was leaning against the wall with an easy smile. His wife Tanna was behind the counter; both of them saw us coming up the road, and, since Marshall and Dave had slept there the night before, they were already informed we were going to be passing through.


Tanna and Mike were very kind and good natured, and, soon after our arrival, they expressed their concerns about the crisis at the border. It was a hard conversation to avoid since border drama started to happen while we were there.

Tanna described in detail what they have to deal with: in Dryden, there are always “illegals” passing through. Coyotes bring large groups of immigrants over the border, and the undocumented people travel through the town every day. “The groups will even have colored wrist bands, so you can tell which group they belong to. You can also tell who the Coyote is because he typically has snake skin boots and usually a tattoo tear drop on his face.” Per Tanna, the migrants have been causing a lot of problems for the locals: vandalizing, breaking into homes, smashing windows, cutting water lines, defecating on the floors (even if the locals leave food for them to avoid breaking and entering). It wasn’t always this way. “The wet[back]s would always work for us when I was growing up,” she said. They would work hard for 6 months, leave and take the money home, and then return for more work. But, that has changed. “Ever since Obama, it has gotten worse. They can go to sanctuary cities and get free money from the government. Hundreds of thousands of illegals are waiting at the border for Biden to let them in. The Mexicans living here are more pissed than anyone because they entered the legal way.”

A few hours before our arrival, two men (22 and 30 years old) went into the store, and Mike had them handcuffed immediately, then he called border patrol. “We send the wets straight to Washington, so Biden can deal with them directly.” Last week, a brother and sister were there. The sister was deathly ill and was being left behind by the group; the brother stayed behind with her and was frantically looking for help. She ended up dying as the ambulance took her to the hospital. The brother said, “I know that you’re going to send me back, but I need to get to Miami or my family will be killed.”


It’s complicated. Somehow, people get caught up with the cartel. The cartel will get them across the border, and, in return, they have to pay the cartel a lot of money. Some migrants told Mike and Tanna that they owed the cartel $18,000. To help pay off the debt, they work for the cartel, and if they don’t, their families will get murdered. If they do, they have to move drugs and traffick humans.


In our time sitting on the porch of the taxidermist, trucks were coming and going and phone calls were being made. Cameras in the area picked up human activity. “There’s a group at site 0, 6, and 10,” Tanna said over the phone. To Casey and I, she stated, ”It might just be us ladies tonight.” She and her husband take turns sleeping in the store every night ever since their store was broken into, but this night, Mike was going to help border patrol and the local police. He drove away on his ATV saying, “There’s a bunch of backpacks stashed, I’m gonna go get ‘em.” Later, Tanna got a text. “Oh, they got the wets.” She showed us a photo of a group of 5-7 young men in the back of a pickup truck with a man in camouflage holding a gun beside them.


It was going to be a full moon, and that’s when a lot of traveling happens; it’s easy to move when you can see by moonlight. I didn’t expect anyone would bother us; most people are transiting to get to the highway so they can get to the destination they need to. However, Marshall and Dave left the taxidermist this morning around 7 or 8 AM and were 6 miles up the road when some people emerged from the bushes, trying to flag them down. Marshall and Dave skirted around them, and one began to run after Dave. They biked away without any issues, but Marshall called Tanna who then informed border patrol. It’s possible they were captured, but we don’t know.

Casey and I slept outside in front of the building while Tanna stayed inside with her guns and dogs. I removed one of my bike’s wheels to keep it from being stolen easily, and we made a chair fortress around us (Tanna and Mike laughed at us the following morning because of it). Border patrol drove past for the majority of the night, and we didn’t have any issues.

*photo of the migrants from this night was texted to me from Tanna.




Comments


bottom of page