Riding at the speed of light

March 3rd, I rode from Horizon, TX  just outside of El Paso, TX to McNary, TX where there is not a there there. Flat terrain allowed me to again concentrate on posture, breathing with my mouth closed which is now a necessity as insects are out and about, keeping my back straight and peddling in circles.  After lunch I began to increase my speed to 16 mph, then 18, then 20 mph.  I can not explain how or why really, it just happened to my great joy.

My average speed is hampered by pit stops, telephoning David,  putting a jacket on or taking one off and checking the map for direction at an intersection. Now that I am increasing my speed hopefully I will be able to ride for an hour at 20 mph then do all those other things so that I will see a better mph average.

The traffic was light on the two lane road.  I asked a young woman about the road ahead of me from Horizon traveling east and her reply was that there was no shoulder and the road was not good.  Well, I found a good shoulder and the road was delightful.  I passed many orchards presumably pecan orchards.  There was a ditch most of the route except when I was in cotton field territory.  Like Europe I rode beside a canal but the sickly sweet smell of fertilizer destroyed the pastoral scene.

Texas is another country and this rural area seems so different. Visitors to our area of the Four Corners probably feel the same way about the differences they experience.  We passed yet another prison.