April 17 Day 26 cycling Del Rio to Langtry for me and just east of Dryden for the boys

Have seen so many of these raptors together
with black vultures.

Went to visit the Rio Grande last night just a few miles from our motel, and saw The Wall instead! Two big walls, miles of coiled razor wire and green space on the opposite side before the river.

Definitely gone from the verdant, river-, creek- and spring-filled land of the Hill country! Into the open, arid, flat high desert of western Texas. Lots of railroad tracks from the early companies in the 1800s building railroads and getting access to the CA gold rush …. of course way later than native Americans (4200 year old pictographs in the area), European & Mexican explorers and missionaries.

60 miles 2260’ for me to Langtry and 83.8 miles 3782’ for Tom and Steven to east of Dryden. Jody then drove us in to the town of Sanderson for the night. There was nowhere else to stay for many miles! Hwy 90 west and NW from Del Rio was smooth with wide shoulders and courteous, very fast traffic. Cloud cover most of the morning but the heated up to 90. A super helpful S/SE tailwind put us at 15.5 avg mph for the day. Only rough/chipseal section was about 15 miles in the middle of the ride. Very little civilization out here, but lots of Border Patrol agents in pick ups, a blimp, and communication/ satellite stations. Tried to see the Rio Grande in Langtry, but water level is very low so couldn’t see the water which was far away anyway, but the canyon is big.