Day 9 Las Cruces - Fort Stockton (310 miles)

Well, here we are in the lone star state! Sunny Texas, which to be honest looks alot like New Mexico. Although as we left NM, I was riding behind the Nut adopting my huskey position, when I thought I could smell the consequences of the rather spicey Mexican meal we had last night coming from in front of me. The smell continued for about 3 miles before I was somewhat relieved when we saw the source. It shouldn't have been a surprise given where we were, but we then passed about 4 miles of nothing but dairy herds. I don't know how many head of cattle there were, but I'm guessing tens of thousands. America doesn't do small.

El Paso was a big disappointment so we drove on to Von Horn for lunch. Here we found Chuy's, a fantastic Mexican restaurant in the middle of a very depressing, essentially ghost town, but, as above, if all they sell is either diesel or fried chicken or maybe it's all in one meal, then frankly it doesn't stand much chance of survival. However, we did meet some other bikers that were interested to hear Nutting bang on about the trip and how he was a 'Vet' (soldier in the widest possible sense rather than an animal whisperer version) and on his way to Miami. They were charming and wanted a photo of us with them rather than the other way round for a change. There's still a strong bond between bikers and this was a good example. Good chat, a few laughs, some stories and a photo as evidence. As an example, we pulled up the other day for 5 mins to take a photo on the side of the Interstate and 3 different bikers stopped to ask if we were ok. Can you imagine a motorist doing that? I doubt it.

We arrived in Fort Stockton and having checked in to the absolutely NOT Quality Inn and worked out we had about an hour to have a look around this historical town before dinner. Once we did that, we tried to think of something else to do with the other 55mins that remained. I went out to call Karin and by the time I came back into the room, there was my travelling companion, who has now morphed into Roy Rogers, standing naked in the room with nothing but his gun belt, guns and stetson on. I've never seen the film, but I'm assuming there's a similar scene in Bareback Mountain or whatever it's called. I suspect I may find it difficult to sleep tonight.

Anway, after a delicious dinner at K Bobs tonight it's off to Del Rio tomorrow. Question is, do we go to church as it's Sunday or a Gun Range and shoot virtually every hand gun known to men? Tune in tomorrow listeners for the answer. More soon...............................