At about 5:15 am MT, Rebecca officially started her journey. All has gone good so far (except for me stopping at the wrong place and missing her once - oops). Definitely having to plan and accommodate the cold and heat out here. Right now I am waiting for her at about mile 39 and she will have a few more to go once she gets to me. FULL sun and 63 degrees right now. Here was the route taken so far:
Start on Gardner Rd - at house with horse statue at driveway :). It is as the crow flies 1,000 ft from the Westernmost point in Texas. Had to start there because it is private property on the actual spot. Down Gardner to a left on Westside. Then a right on Gato, left on Gato and a right onto Canutillo. Right on Doniphan (and by this time we could smell the breakfast cooking - yummmm). Then a left on Talbot/375 which is the Transmountain highway through the Franklin Mountains. There was construction on that road which made it hard to get to her but I managed to give her her gloves because the wind coming through the pass was brutal. The construction was actually a blessing because it gave her an entire side of the highway to run with no traffic next to her. Once down the mountain she continued on 375 right by Ft Bliss for a good clip. Left onto 62 for a while and we made it to the Flying Saucer building to camp by for the night at mile 42. I passed the last gas station for the next 90ish miles about 7 miles back but I'm going to go back tomorrow to top the van off and grab some ice. We will have 3 days of needing to be 100% self sufficient.
I found out that breakfast in El Paso consists of "burritos" not tacos - which don't get me wrong, were great and huge. Guess I'm used to my South Texas Tex-Mex. I grabbed some tamales for later ;) and some Mexican pastries, too.
So why do this now? Many cool reasons...2.1.21 (which the light bulb came on for me yesterday on the way here haha). Also, easy to track the days...Day 1 is 2/1, Day 2 is 2/2, etc.
BUT then I found out a while ago that today is National Texas Day!!! Soo cool and a bit ironic that she starts her Texas Journey on National Texas Day. This was the day dedicated to celebrating Texas and our independence and history. Why 2/1 is a little fuzzy per my google searches, maybe because on 2/1 a group of Texas delegates voted to secede from the Union? Or maybe we just needed another day to celebrate the best state - I'll take either.
For mucho bonus points, today is also National Freedom Day - observing the day Lincoln signed the resolution that later became the 13th amendment freeing the slaves. In addition, today is National Get Up Day - so fitting that it is about sharing inspiring stories of perseverance, picking yourself up and keeping on keeping on. How fitting for this journey. Funny not funny...today is also National Serpent Day (which I HATE snakes, so Rebecca will laugh about that one). Fingers crossed we don't come by any of them along our way. Last but not least, today is also Baked Alaska Day. I learned about this during one of my Great Baking Show ping moments is a dessert feature ice cream inside a cake - a total perfect two-fer. Double perfect!
Alright, need to get ready for her to come in for a pit stop. I will update later once we are at a stopping point for the evening.
Update: We are calling it a night early because going to try another early day tomorrow. I made quesadillas for dinner, we showered and planned for Day 2. She is feeling good and looking forward to another productive day tomorrow. I hope I have cell service tomorrow to post an update - fingers crossed.
I took this picture of her starting to make her accent on the TransMountain Highway through through the mountains - can barely make her out but thought it was cool to see the skyline
