And it felt like a bit of a marathon getting here, with 20-25 mph head/sidewinds, and increasing elevation. But, I got here just before the weather turned nasty. The winds cranked up, the temps dropped almost 20 degrees, and it started hailing/ raining. So, thank you weather gods....
And here is La Loma del Chivo Hostel (the hill of the goat). Cyclists stay here for free. It is a very funky place with lots of creative stuff in progress. Folks can come and try their hands at sustainable building, gardening, renewable energy ideas, creative water conservation, etc. The owner/founder seems to be very flexible and encouraging of creativity. It is somewhat reminiscent of Yestermorrow School in Waitsfield, VT without the structure or business focus. Not having central heat, I'm definitely hunkered down in my sleeping bag. There may be one other person in the main hostel tonight, otherwise everyone else is gone for the holidays.
A quick note about the 1st photo: the nearby rockface shows verticle layers of sandstone, 'folded' over during a mountain building event 270 million years ago (the same time the Appalacians were being formed). The distant hills show horizontal layers of 'new rock', laid down as ocean sediment then pushed up into mountains about 135 million years ago (the same time the Rocky Mountains were being formed. Fascinating rock trivia.
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Wednesday night, Marathon, TX
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That must have been 50+ miles. Not bad on a blown knee. Hope that means it's feeling better. The La Loma del Chivo Hostel looks like Cheech and Chong live there. Very cool.
ReplyDeleteWell, I haven't actually met Guil the owner. Apparently he has a gig flying short flights with his airplane back and forth to Mexico? Perhaps shades of cheech and chong...
ReplyDeleteThe knee and I signed a certificate of understanding. Now if I could just do the same with the weather. Ice on the Border Patrol car outside the restaurant this am.
Sure hope your knee holds up, as well as the discoveries of good places to spend the nights and meeting nice people. It looks like the weather ought to be pretty nice for awhile, albeit cold (by our standards) overnight. You'll be going through some of our favorite country around Fort Davis and beyond. Good birds abound too. You probably see prairie falcon among others. Hope you've seen Harris's hawk by now; they are one of our favorites.
ReplyDeleteTravel safe.
Herb,
ReplyDeleteI haven't seen a Harris' hawk this trip. A few raptors that were just silhouettes in the distance. Otherwise mostly red tails, red shouldereds, and one unidentified smaller buteo.
I decided to skip Fort Davis and go around through Marfa to Van Horn, trying to skip a little elevation and hopefully save a degree or two. They blew the forcast today for Alpine. They had the wind part right, but forgot about the lower temp and snow. Well, you'll have that, as they say in VT.