The morning started as it usually did after a rain day, and that is early so I could get all my riding tack outside onto my bike as a drying rack, or more effectively sandwiched between the hot asphalt and the hot sun. Also this m'otel provided a 1500 watt hair dryer so I was able to dry both my riding shoes in about 30 minutes by placing the dryer right in the foot hole. They did temporarily shrink half a size during the process though.

We were STILL in Texas. One thing I have learned over the years is Texas is HUGE! It is about 15K square miles larger than Alberta. Whereas Alberta is about 800 km wide at its thickest Texas is more than double that. The routes that I had chosen both coming and going took me diagonally through the state so I had spent many days here.

The next phase of my trip was to visit The Titan Missile Museum in southern Arizona south of Tucson. I had been there once before, in 2010 I believe, but inexplicably I neglected to bring my video camera with me that day. I was staying in Tucson at the time but drove the 50 or so miles to Green Valley to tour the museum. This time I was going to get as close to the area as I could in a normal riding day and then stay in a m'otel close by. The next day I would do the 3 hr tour and then perhaps put in a couple of hours on the road.

I went on their website and to my dismay, found that they had drastically changed the tour structure. When I was there in 2010 you could take a tour called "Behind The Blast Doors" on a first come first served basis, now that was a tour held by appointment only and only on certain days. Ya know, it seems like nothing ever gets better, it only gets worse. I have a saying, 'The Good Old Days Are Right Now'. Only a superficial 1 hour tour was available, but that didn't change my plans.

I stayed on I-10 Westbound and the riding was great as I headed towards El Paso. I took the Alt-10 truck route so I skirted most of the snarled interchanges. El Paso is a tough ugly town that borders on northern Mexico. Years ago, like the 90's, I went through there on a trip to Brownsville, TX. In those days the bar figured very prominently in the daily trifecta as I would usually close it down! I was in a bar in El Paso playing pool with the other bar flys. I scratched a shot and my opponent insisted I spot the ball for him, I hesitated and he threatened to 'shank me' if I didn't! Turns out he had recently, like that afternoon, got out of prison. (Company you keep!)

A couple of miles West of El Paso we cross into New Mexico. Because of the way those two states are shaped we are already more than half-way through NM. It is only about 150 miles and we are in Arizona. I-10 is completely rain free thus far today so I push on until I can't take it anymore and stop in Benson, AZ about 55 miles short of the Titan Museum. I have done 821 km today. Considering the adventures of the previous days, today is pretty uneventful, at least by the Cole's Notes I left myself on this day.

There is a Safeway up the road from the mo'tel so we have a healthy meal for a change.



As I write this I am at the Idaho border and 3 days from getting home. The internet connection in my Casino m'otel is ****** so I cannot videos. Once I get home and do the full update something else might emerge.

Day 17
Ft. Stockton, TX to Benson, AZ
821 km