Danny’s Ride

We started where we ended yesterday – about 20 miles short of Sierra Blanca in the middle of the desert with nothing around us.  As soon as we opened the door to leave our hotel room, we knew we were in for a long day.  The US flag flying outside the Super 8 we were staying at in Van Horn, Texas was pointed stiffly in the opposite direction we were going to be biking.  On top of this, record highs for this time of year were gripping the area.  Yes, this was going to be a very long day.

We enjoyed a complimentary breakfast in the lobby of the Super 8 and were on the road by 8:30.  Since we had stopped in the middle of the desert, 20 miles from Sierra Blanca, there was not a single hotel for 55 miles which led us to Van Horn, Texas.  As we drove 55 miles back to our starting location, we filled our water bottles and prepared for a long day of hard riding.  When we  arrived at yesterday’s starting place, we threw open the door to the motor home – it slammed shut.  We tried it again – same result.  We finally had to have one of us hold the door while the other brought a bike out.

Here is an email Ken sent to his family that does a great job telling what happened the rest of the day.
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Danny and Drew had to battle 35 mile an hour winds sometimes gusting up to 45 mph to 50 mph. After I
dropped them off, I went about 14 miles in front of them and parked at a picnic area. Drew was the first to arrive. He was absolutely exhausted. It took him over an hour to get to where I had parked.

He rested, drank a lot of water and then left. About two hours later Danny still had not arrived and I began to really get worried. I called Drew and told him that I was going on up the road to find a place to turn around and go back to see if he was still in back of me. Drew thought that he may have passed me without seeing me.

Anyway, I found a place to turn around about 7 miles further up the road and went to find him.  A little ways after I passed the place where I had parked to wait on them I saw him working hard to climb an incline. That is another thing. All morning long it  was a steady incline for them to ride up.

After I saw Danny and passed him I had to drive another 14 miles before I could turn around to go back to get him. When I picked him up he was beat. He rested a while in the RV, drank a lot of water and then got back on his bike. I, then again, went about 15 miles up the road to wait on him. In about 15 to 20 minutes he called me to come get him because he was having dizzy spells.

I cranked up the RV to go get him but I could not turn the wheels of the motor home. The power steering had gone out. I called 911 to get someone to go get Danny and they called a road service to come check out the RV. A little while later a Hudspeth County Sheriff, Sergeant Gary Rose, arrived with Danny.

Danny got into the RV to rest and drink some more water. In a little while a man arrived from A and A Auto Repair Shop from van Horn. He looked at the RV and determined that the power steering pump had gone out. So, he had to drive back to van Horn which was 14.5 miles away to get a truck big enough to tow us into town. By that time Drew had already reached van Horn.

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I had run out of water about 14 miles from Van Horn and was in big trouble.  I was completely dehydrated with a pounding headache and chills.  At times I would slump over in my bike exhausted from fighting the wind.  The route was mostly uphill which didn’t help.  There were at least four times during the ride that I stopped to check my tires.  I was riding so slow that I was sure I had a flat tire and none of the times I did.

With 12 miles to go to Van Horn, I came across a car on the side of the interstate.  I began to pass them but then decided it was worth a try to ask if they had anything to drink.  Weak and exhausted I asked if by chance they had anything to drink.  Without a second of hesitation, the man said, “Sure.” and walked over and opened the passenger door and pulled out a cold bottle of Fiji water.  We talked for a little bit as I drank half the bottle and saved the other half for the upcoming miles.

I was so dehydrated that it wasn’t until I was biking a mile down the road that I realized I forgot to at least offer to pay him for the water.  I felt ashamed but there was nothing I could do as he had already driven.  Based on the green mileage signs along the highway, I knew I had 7 miles to Van Horn.  I began climbing a large hill that took the interstate between two mountains.  Fighting the wind and the incline, I was exhausted.  I came to another large green mileage sign.  This one read: “Van Horn 10.”

I was crushed.  I had mentally prepared myself for 7 more miles and now found out I needed to go another 3 on top of that.  At that point, I started thinking about the people we were biking for.  Those who were fighting cancer and didn’t have 7, 10 or 20 miles to go.  They didn’t know how far they had to go.

When I finished, my face was covered with salt from the sweat.  I had never seen my face or anyone’s face look like that.  I called Ken and found out about the police picking up Danny and the motor home being towed.  Not long after, we were all back at the hotel telling our stories.  All three of us were extremely fortunate.  Each of us pushed it to the limit and then passed it.

We were very fortunate to have such terrific people help us along the way.  We are taking Sunday off to wait for the motor home to be fixed.  The part will not be ordered until Monday so it will be at least Monday before we can take off again.

Sunday

We quickly discovered in Van Horn, Texas (a town of 4,000) did not have taxis (go figure!) or rental cars so we were without a car.  When we were asking at the front desk, what we could do, the manager said, “You can take my car if you like.”  We were thrilled.  We gratefully accepted and with his keys in hand, told him we would see him in a couple months.  We went down the main street in town, Broadway, and ended up at A&A Repair.  We found the fence locked (not surprising on Mother’s Day) and tried calling the number on the sign.

The owner said someone would be there within 35 minutes to an hour to let us in.  All three of us had left things in the motor home that we needed, so we were happy to get this good news.  We drove around stopping at the few places that were open.  Both Ken and I could tell Danny was a  little dizzy.  We urged him to take it easy and get checked out.  After touring Van Horn, we ended up back at A&A Repair.  50 minutes after we called the owner, an employee, Carlos Tarango, showed up to let us in.

We quickly grabbed the things we needed and within 10 minutes we were back on the road again, this time heading back to the hotel.  “Do you think I should get checked out today or tomorrow?” Danny asked.  “Might as well do it today,” I said.  “We have nothing else going on.”  So, when we got back to the hotel and returned the keys to the car to the relieved manager, Danny explained his symptoms and an employee offerred to take him to the hospital.

Two hours later, Danny called Ken to come sit in with him with the doctor.  When Ken returned to the hotel he brought me up to speed with the meeting with Danny’s doctor.  The doctor wanted Danny to go to El Paso to be examined.  It was mainly precautionary but since Danny had been pushing so hard for so long, we didn’t want to take any chances.

So, Danny was taken by ambulance to El Paso to be examined.  By the time he got there, they already had a bed and room ready for him and had assembled a team of doctors for  his care.  He called when he got to El Paso to say the fluids and vitamins they gave him along the way helped him feel 100 times better and he “was ready to starting biking again!”

According to Danny, he will be in El Paso Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.  We will listen to what the doctors have to say and go from there.  Ken and I will head to El Paso as soon as the motor home is fixed which will hopefully be Monday afternoon.