The desert started out very green; the distant mountains blue in the damp morning air. It was quite beautiful. We had a slow start again today with 4 flats in the first 5 miles. Then the rain came, just showers at first.
We rode in a tight line up the valley, taking turns as leader. Cold, wet, head wind and very slightly uphill. It was energy-sapping. Slow going for all of us except Derek (from the north of England) who had struggled in the extreme heat of the desert but now was grinning from ear to ear. "Gentle rain this", he said "just like home".
We were planning on taking our lunch at Valentine about 40 miles into the ride, but just before we got there we passed a Prada luxury goods store - in the middle of nowhere. I mean who are they selling all those $3000 handbags and shoes to? After some window shopping, we sat outside and ate lunch.
As it turned out there was nothing in Valentine (population 217), and I mean nothing. Not so much as a flower. It's remote country out here. After lunch the rain set in for the day: varying only in strength. Big trucks would pass spraying up clouds of water. The landscape changed to a sandy brown. It would be a beautiful ride in better conditions, but we were heads down against the wind and cranking.
"So Derek, is this still gentle rain?"
"No, this is heavy rain now"
Things lightened up a bit the last 15 or so miles. After climbing 900 feet over the day it leveled off and the wind dropped. The rain got harder. So it was a sorry looking posse that rode into Marfa after 10 hours out in the wet and cold.
After some riding around we found our fabulous rented house. Luckily it had a large tiled back entry where we could organize our soaked selves before heading for the showers. It felt sooooo good to have heat, shampoo and cotton towels. A quick trip to the supermarket through the dark and torrential rain, then we had a wonderfully sophisticated dinner with great thin crust pizza, salad, wine and strawberries and cream for desert.
Big comfy beds. Tomorrow seems so far away.
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