Relaxing in a posh, public library in Uvalde, Texas, David and I are bursting with all the love that we have been shown by our fellow man. This past week has been an adventure made possible by generous people from Monclova to Uvalde and beyond!
It all started when we finally pried ourselves from our comfortable place at the Sanchez home in Monclova. We met so many new friends there we didn't want to move on. The promise of adventure drew us out and on Wednesday morning we took off with our friend Cristo riding along for company or maybe just to be sure that we really were leaving! 20kms or so outside of hot, dusty, and wonderful Monclova we said our goodbyes to Cristo and with heavy hearts continued putting more kilometers between Monclova and ourselves.
Another good friend, Ricardo had told us about excellent Mennonite cheese makers in the area we would be passing, taking his advice we stopped to see what all the fuss was about. We managed to trade a few sticks of vanilla for a kilo of two varieties of delicious hand made cheeses. (The vanilla we had carried with us from El Tajin, there we had traded it for dried fish from our home in Veracruz.) The owner of the cheese store was so pleased with our travels and Milo and Fea that she warmed some fresh tortillas for us!
Shortly after a delicious lunch and an even more delicious 2hr siesta, David and I were back on the bikes and aching after over a month of lazing. We felt dehydrated and unmotivated when we heard vigorous honking on the highway. The driver of the minivan stopped and waved at us. We had no idea who he was. He jumped out of his vehicle and proceeded to cross 4 lanes of traffic to meet us and give us two bottles of ice cold electrolyte juice. A friend of ours, and organizer of a Monclova cyclists group Urban Cyclists, Piojo had called Luis to tell him to meet the two crazy touring cyclists (us). You can see the photos of our surprise meeting on our facebook page.
So we carried on, our gifted hydration and motivation powering us all the way to Sabinas where we were to meet up with a friend of a friend who had generously offered to host us. Again we met a cyclist, this time Havier from a local cycling group - Lobos who helped us tremendously to find the home of our host, Moma. Havier even bought us more drinks, we were very well hydrated our final trip through the desert of Coahuila. So we met with Moma, our extraordinary host in Sabinas and the hospitality didn't stop there! She made us feel so welcome and comfortable in her beautiful home and even invited us for sushi dinner! We ate at Sushi Charo. Highly recommended! We wanted to stay for a few days with Moma and her family but our Canadian families and friends keep telling us how cold it is getting there, so reluctantly we waved goodbye to our Sabinas host and hit the road, perhaps a little tired and a little unmotivated that was until our good friend Luis, remember Luis? Drove pas again!! It was such a nice surprise to see him. He, his wife and friends were headed to Eagle Pass, TX and we were able to say hello again. After a minute or two of coasting beside eachother on the highway, they sped away. David said "why didn't you ask them for a ride?". I figured that David, as usual wanted to bike all the way. Drats. We let the ride opportunity pass us by and sadly watched at Luis and his minivan eventually drove almost out of sight and TURNED AROUND. "They're turning around" I screamed at David. Our new found friend made a U turn and returned to our side to ask "Would you like a ride?" although what he really asked was "quieres un ride?" "YESSSSS" we screamed in unison although to be totally honest, what we said was "SIIIIII!!". So we piled the van high with bicycles, Jandd panniers and furry friends and we traveled 100kms, faster than we have traveled before.
We crossed the US border on bicycle and were warmly welcomed by the border officials at Piedras Negras and Eagle Pass. I highly recommend this boarder crossing, I found it to be more relaxed than Matamoros, Browsville. Happy to be in the United States again, David and I headed North, stopping in a picnic area between Eagle Pass and La Pryor for the night. There we met a border patrol agent, Charles. We chatted for an hour or so and really enjoyed hearing a different perspective on illegal immigration. Charles was able to provide us with some recommendations for places to visit in his home state of Arkansas and gifted us much needed water and crackers.
Early the next day we found ourselves in La Pryor, TX. and I was able to make my dreams of the last year reality. We found a dumpster and we dove that dumpster like it owed us money! Mega score! We found 8 jumbo bags of chips and 3 new sets of headphones. God Bless America. Our bikes piled high with carbohydrates, David and I headed to a nearby park to take a load off. There we met local residents, Lola and her son. They were quick to show us Texan hospitality, gifting us home made chicken salad sandwiches, soda, tomatoes and cookies! We were invited by the Sherrif to camp at the park in town but being early in the day we decided to ride on through to Uvalde. The dumpsters in Uvalde didnt offer us anything so after finding two empty garbage cans we decided it was time to find somewhere to sleep. We headed to the Police Station where they gave us a nearby place to safely pitch our tent but that wasn't all! Sargent Canales invited us to use their toilets and even have a shower! (that is a touring cyclists dream). Then he brought us fried chicken for dinner! It was more than we could have asked for! But the library is closing so I will have to tell ya'll more later! xo H
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AuthorDavid and Hannah - cyclists extraordinaire Archives
October 2015
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