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Wednesday, October 31, 2001 - Pecos River Canyon
29 miles. Langtry, TX to Comstock Motel, Comstock, TX
Twenty nine miles, It doesn't seem like much but
today it was. The wind was blowing all night so we knew that the wind would be a
force from the start today. We got up 90 minutes before sunrise and prepared
breakfast aided by the light of a mercury vapor light. This stretch of U.S. 90
starts out with a series of climbs thru the usual West Texas landscape of
overgrazed rangeland. We did see a few goats grazing. It was a merciless,
unrelenting wind, howling in our ears for rest of the day.
The most interesting feature of the day was the canyon
of the Pecos River with its sheer walls of several hundred feet. In the distance
could be seen the confluence of the Pecos and the Rio Grande. The Pecos is
shallow but there was a sign admonishing the unwary not to dive into the river
below from the bridge. The drop had to be at least 200 feet. We struggled on
climbing away from the Pecos against the wind and into Comstock, TX (pop.
375).
Here, as we rode by, the wind brought us the smell of
food from a small Mexican cafe where we had a wonderful home cooked Mexican
meal. Some deer hunters and their wives had us sit with them and we learned a
lot about the upcoming deer season which opens on Nov. 3. They lease 4,600 acres
of a ranch on the Pecos and hunt it each year. Given the terrain shots are
usually from 100 to 200 yards at the white tails. Mule deer are rare as this is
the eastern limit of their natural range. Deer hunting is a big boost to the
local economy. As I write this it is dark and the wind is still blowing. That
means another killer headwind for tomorrow's run into Del Rio. This kind of wind
really does something to you. It has taken a tiny piece of our cycling souls and
blown it into the Pecos River Canyon. We will never forget it.
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