As I left town I passed this statue at the top of a hill. It celebrates Don Carranza who founded the town. I had to ride the bike up two wheel chair ramps to get it into position for this shot but Don Carranza didn't seem to mind. You can see the white seat pad I had received from Lupe. It made all the difference in the world.
Back on the highway I ran into another Army roadblock. This one had one of those Cold War/East German wooden barriers across the road to prevent anyone from driving through. The soldier came over and started questioning me but I wasn't sure what he was saying. I said I was going to Tejas (Texas) and was coming from the Barrancas del Cobre (Copper Canyon). He didn't seem to understand that.
The more he didn't understand the louder and faster he talked which made me even more confused about what he wanted. No comprendo, was my only response. A couple of other soldiers were gathering around and I was thinking that this might get sticky when the commanding officer came over. He gave the first soldier a dope slap, literally hit him upside the head, and said something I couldn't understand but I'm sure wasn't complementary. Then he nodded to the soldier to lift the barrier and told me something that I took to mean Get out of here. I was down the road before he had a chance to change his mind. In retrospect it was pretty funny.
After that it was just like the day before until I got to Piedras Negras. There was a 28 peso toll to cross the Rio Bravo and then an hour wait in traffic to get to U.S. Customs. Three minutes was all it took to check that I was a legal citizen and then I was clear to enter Eagle Pass, Texas.
My plan had been to ride north and spend the night in La Pryor TX. What looked like a small town on the map turned out to be one Dollar General store and one gas station. When I inquired about any places to stay the night the girl looked at me like I had two heads.
Needing a place to stay before dark (still no headlight) I headed north and tried to cover as much ground as fast as possible. This was all ranch country so the road was straight and had little traffic. It also had little in the way of civilization.
US 57 joined I-35 as I approached San Antonio. It was getting dark when I came upon the sign above. Kinney Road is the street I live on in CT and in many ways I was ready to just be home. However, a couple of exits past this I found a motel for the night and was rescued by a hot shower.
This is the last of the retrospective posts. You can rejoin the original thread I posted here.
The next few posts will be summaries of what I learned and the thoughts I've had looking back on this trip.
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