Day 14

Day 14: October 12, 2021 (Las Cruces NM to Fabens TX)

Well, I thought my computer died last night.  It kept crashing as I was entering my password.  It did it about 10 times; restarting each time.  The timing of the computer dying pissed me off.  Why did it have to happen during the ride?  Why couldn’t have happened a few weeks ago before the ride started or after the ride ended.  

I had a TV interview with Fox in El Paso at 11 AM.  We had to get on the road early if we were going to make it there on time.  I didn’t sleep well the night before; wondering if all that I written the previous day was lost and I was stressing about getting a new computer.  When we met for breakfast at 6 AM, we looked for options to buy a new computer in El Paso. 

The combination of lack of sleep and looking for options to buy a new computer got us off to a late start.  We drove for a bit before starting to ride.  When we did get on the bikes, we were facing 20 mph headwinds.  What could have been a really nice ride was tough.

We got to Chamizal National Memorial - Park Grounds a little bit before 11.  I did the interview; it only took about 20 minutes.  By now the winds were gusting to over 30 mph and the dust was blowing.  We drove to a mall that had an Apple store.  The store did not have the 16-inch MacBook Pro, but it did have a 13 inch one.  So, I bought that.

We went back to the RV.  Miah and Tim finished packing and called an Uber to take them to the airport.  Today was a crew transition day.  Miah was going to take my crashed computer back to Mesa and see if he could get it fixed.  I said, “let me try it one more time before you go”.  

I turned on the computer.  I entered my password and it worked.  I checked Dropbox and all of my writings were there and up to date.  Nice!  I left the computer on for a while and no crashes.  So, I kept it with me.  I’m writing this on it.  Not sure what happened.  There was a download that occurred the night before.  Maybe that didn’t download correctly.  I’ll see how long it lasts.  Worst case is I have a backup computer.  

Today’s destination was Fabens TX, about 20 miles from El Paso.  I drove it in the RV.  The winds were so strongly causing the dust to blow across the highway, made it a difficult drive.  

Bruce Garlick and his friend Darin have the next leg, which gets us to Austin TX on 10/21.  They arrived at about 4 PM; their flight was delayed by the winds.  We went to Cattlemen’s Steakhouse at Indian Cliff Ranch just north of Fabens.  It was really good and was on a unique piece of property.  

The winds are supposed to die down for Day 15.  I hope so.  Riding into a strong wind is tough.