Day 16 Las Cruces to El Paso, Day 17 to Fort Hancock

We are actually in Texas.  Coming into El Paso was not the most pleasant ride but we made to the bike store where we were picked up by the van because the road to hotel was too difficult to bike.
(Some made it through before our guide decided it was unsafe).  Fine with me I was tired of the city riding and the traffic.  It has been 10 degrees cooler than normal so we have been starting out around 36 degrees.  Thank goodness for the warm clothes I packed.

The valley has been very flat.  There are groves of pecan trees, fields of alfalfa and onions.  We have also seen many horse farms.

After El Paso the countryside is not so lush.  We spent most of today on route 258 and route 20.  We had a head wind all day but had a short mileage (46) day so it was a pleasant ride.
We stopped at two missions and lunch in a little town called Tornillo and ate at Wencho's.  Great Mexican food.

 San Elizario Mission

 Bike sculpture

 Luc the Moose resting at 7-11 in Fabens, Texas

 Tornillo, Texas

Larry Varney and moi

We also stopped to talk with a group called Bubba's Pampered Tours (they actually camp most of the time).  I met Larry Varney who was riding an ICE trike.  He writes reviews for Recumbent and Tandem Magazine which I read so it was fun to talk to him.