Dispatch 02: Pandale to Colorado City
Day 02: We were up before the sun and wasted no time getting started. It was instant coffee, a hand full of granola and back on the bikes for the longest leg of the trip. 368 miles were on the books. We made a quick stop at the limestone bed of the Pecos River before exiting the Pandale Crossing River Resort. The water flowed on either side of us. The current quickened as it flowed under a long forgotten concrete bridge.
We rode out of the river basin on a gravel road that quickly turned to chip seal. Ozona was our first stop. We downed a couple of breakfast burritos, exited Ozona, and crossed Interstate 10 into Texas backroad bliss. The road serpentined over hill and dale through thick live oak groves and across rolling horizons that only served more flowing asphalt. But, the rhythmic road was lulling me to sleep.
Iced coffee was had in Sonora along with some pushups to shake the sleep from my head.
After Sonora, we navigated long sections of gravel through mature live oaks. Recent rains had filled the low spots with water crossings. I gave my throttle an extra twist and splashed each puddle we encountered. Our trajectory took us north to the Historic Fort McCavett. Its towering chimneys and crumbled wall were perched perfectly on a hill above the road. We had no time to explore, though. The light was starting to fade.
We stopped at Eden and devoured some exotic jerky from Venison World. The attendant at the gas station warned us about deer encounters as dusk approached. She pointed to her truck, the front concaved inward like she’d met the wrong side of a boulder.
Caution heeded, we finished up our last gravel of the day. It felt like an endless convoy of right turns as we traversed more rural Texas back roads. A massive solar farm rose from an open pasture. It was an endless quilt of mirrored panels in nowhere Texas. Darkness caught us before we finished our last bit of dirt. We diverted to pavement and stopped 70 miles later for dinner at an Allsup’s. I had a turkey sandwich embedded in a plastic triangle.
We rolled into camp at Lake Colorado City State Park. It was dark, but I knew this park well. It was the first state park my grandparents took me to as a kid.
