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I saw no people for 40 miles! I did pass thru the remains of a small village, but there was little to represent life except the rusted hulks of a few worn out vehicles and one native riding a horse… “howdy or is that buenos dias!” The river continued to skirt the road and the views were magnificent as the mountain ranges unfolded in front of me.  These are not the smooth flowing hills of the Blue ridge or even the bold peaks of the Rockies, just well defined, contoured mountains that are back dropped against the limited vegetation of the desert on my left and the Rio Grand river on my right. The green of the Rio Grand river bordered about a ½ mile on both sides, but was much narrower when it was closed in by mountains it had cut through. I approached the pass after several pull offs to view and take a few pictures. The temperatures had grown much milder since I had left Presidio and begun the trek thru the hills. The pass was being worked on by the Texas DOT and I had stop on the way up to allow a loader to move some asphalt off the road. Traffic is not a problem here, but they had placed the flaggers at a safe distance, and in view of oncoming cars unlike some areas I have been thru.
I made the top of the pass and pulled off in an area to take pictures. Here I nearly made a mistake, not a life threatning one, but one of over thinking and being distracted by the view. The pulloff was on grade with the road, which concerned me enough to not want to get off the bike for fear of a “fall over” or possible roll downhill (even in gear, though I doubt it now). Surrounding the pull off was a 2 ft tall rock wall, “hmm, I will back up to it with the rear tire and take a couple of pics!” “No, the fender will get crushed,” so I decided to run the front tire up against it instead. This worked well, except the grade was so steep that I spent a few minutes working the bike away enough to clear the wall as I turned. I now laugh at the situation, but at the time, I was thinking how embarrassing it was, especially if I ended up falling over! The little things you learn while driving are sometimes filled with humor. (read more...)
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