The final day (April 8th) of the Adventure Cycling Association arrived. The route took us back to the starting point in Ft. Davis riding from Marfa. Only 22 miles today but the first 12 miles were slanted upward leaving the last 10 miles mostly pointing down. I think I was the last rider to leave Marfa after taking down the tent, packing the bags and rolling them to the trailer. The sun was up but it was chilly so I wore my medium weight Descente blue jacket over a thermal jersey. I used my full finger gloves to keep my hands warm from the wind chill. For breakfast we tried to use up as much of the perishable food as possible since it was the last day. My legs were up to the climb and enjoyed the downhill ride into Ft. Davis. Around 5 miles from the finish I stopped where Buzz and Beth were repairing their 6th flat of the tour, tying Marty for the most flats. Their tandem uses a belt drive system and Buzz said it was easy to remove the rear tire to fix the flat. They had about finished so I resumed riding. The route entered Ft. Davis from a different road than when we left so the super rough surface was avoided. When I arrived at Stone Village Tourist Camp everyone was there except for Buzz/Beth, Rob, and Gary. Many bags were on the sidewalk from the trailer for those who wouldn’t be going to El Paso. We almost had a disaster with the bags when the lawn sprinklers started spraying but we moved them out of the line of spraying. Jeff was driving towrds Ohio, Rob heading to the eclipse, and I was staying at Stone Village until Tuesday morning. Hotels were full between Ft. Davis and San Antonio because of the eclipse.

What did I learn? I bought the wrong type of tent, packed the right clothes but too many, should’ve went on a flat 2 or 3 day tour to learn what I didn’t know. Climbing in Big Bend National Park and the roads around it is tough. I ride flat roads most of the time except for the occasional organized ride. Riding my Canyon Endurace CF 7 bike was perfect, MTB shoes and pedals were correct too. The 700x40mm tires handled the constant chip’n seal road surfaces with no flats and reasonable comfort. Will I do a tour again? Maybe but I will do more research before committing.