Daily Diary 16: Van Horn TX back to Van Horn!

Well sometimes on a long bike cycle ride mother nature wins and today was that day. I set out around 10 o’clock after some thunderstorms had come through to head to Marfa, 75 miles away. as soon as I turned on the road I was hit with a 20 to 25 mile an hour headwind, straight in my face. It was unrelenting and even in a tuck position to  minimize the wind resistance I could barely make nine or 10 miles an hour. There are no services or hotels or restaurants between Vanhorn and Martha so if I got called out or couldn’t make it it would be very difficult. In addition major storms were predicted later in the afternoon and at the pace I was going I wasn’t getting there until evening at best. As I was moving up the road I passed an older gentleman who was also on a long bike tour. He was loaded down with a ton of stuff and was hoping to get to Valentine, the halfway point and camp. But he was moving only about 5 miles an hour and was struggling. He said he was planning on getting picked up though so I wasn’t too worried. It went a little further down the road and stopped about 8 miles in to see if the weather was predicted to let up or the wind would lessen a little bit to help my ride. Unfortunately the forecast was for winds to increase significantly! I decided that the best option was to turn back and spend another night in Van Horn and wait for the winds to shift a little bit tomorrow. I headed back to town and decided to treat myself to a nice hotel. The El Capitan hotel was a 1930s hotel that had been restored and was in great shape. Totally not what you expect in the tiny town in Vanhorn but it was beautiful and I had a great room is a little patio. It addition they had a nice restaurant and bar in the lobby which was great. As I wandering around the town before dinner I stumbled upon a tiny little beauty salon and asked if they gave massages, and they did! I signed up for a 90 minute massage but was a little nervous at first, the place didn’t look like much of a spa! But it turned out great, the massage was terrific, a combination of acupressure, massage, and sports stretching, not anything I’ve had before but it was exactly what I needed. After I went back to the hotel and had a great steak and a nice bottle of wine and called it a night. Usually, I am a go for it kind of guy, but something felt like I shouldn’t.  Later that afternoon and evening, severe thunderstorms rolled though, and the wind was so bad there were tornado warnings. Such a good decision to postpone! It is funny how random events and changes in plans can often lead to the best experiences! Tomorrow I will try for Marfa again.