Ruchi's Taqueria Part 2

the Alambres grilled platter for me...grilled beef, bacon, onions and bell peppers served with rice and barracho beans, guacamole and pico de gallo... all that for $8.99 and of course I washed it down w/ a killer frozen margarita w/ extra lime...my wife had a chile relleno stuffed w/ picadillo (seasoned ground beef) w/ rice and refried beans and a marg... we always get jalapenos torreados (grilled jalapenos) w/ every Mexican Food meal now after I was introduced to them in Clovis NM... we had 4 of them w/ our meal....we left there stuffed w/ possibly the best Mexican Food / Margarita combo I've ever had... all for $30... there's 7 of them in Houston... this one was at 3202 S Loop West.

We're in Houston so... we gotta eat some Mexican Food!

We were on South Main and the 610 loop so we stopped and asked about good Mexican Food restaurants and wouldn't you know it? There was one right around the corner - Ruchi's El Rancon de Mexico - never heard of it so we went in and looked at a menu... you know you can tell right off when you walk into a place if it's gonna be any good... we smelled grilling meat and vegetables and simmering beans and fresh lime... the plates on the tables of people looked great and the menu prices were reasonable so we sat down....and ordered...

The Louvered Ceiling of the Menil Collection

Not allowed to take pictures in any of the rooms but wanted to show the neat construction of the ceiling / roof that allows natural light into every room.

the Menil Collection at 1513 Sul Ross St - Houston Tx

Visiting the Menil Collection at 1513 Sul Ross St - http://www.menil.org/

In Houston for the afternoon w/ the wife - 1st Stop - Rothko Chapel

Rothko Chapel on Sul Ross St

The interior of the chapel is a "No Electronics" zone, so obviously no pictures were allowed.

From the brochure that was given out at the Chapel:

"The Rothko Chapel is a sacred space onpen to all every day to provide a place of worship, meditation, and prayer for persons of all faiths; to provide a forum for people to gather and explore spiritual bonds in common to all; to discuss human problems of worldwide interest; and to share a spiritual experience, each loyal to his or her belief, each respectful of the beliefs of others".

All I can say is if you get to Houston, go by the Rothko Chapel and just clear your mind for about 5 minutes before you go in there and then go in and experience this place... you'll be glad you did.

Here's the link to the Rothko Chapel website:

http://www.rothkochapel.org/index.htm

Wheels On Wheels "Winners" and "Losers" for Leg 1 and Leg 2

I've been meaning to do this for some time now... I sat down a few days ago and wrote down the "BEST" and "WORST" of a lot of categories for the first 1250 miles of Discovering America on 2 Wheels.... so without further adieu... here we go.

Note: If / When you hit a link and it takes you away from the blog, just hit the  <-- aka the "Back" key at the Top Left of your Internet Explorer window and it'll take you right back to the blog.

• Best Burger - Hands down.... the Destruction Burger at the Roadhouse Restaurant in Bastrop Tx http://kendrasroadhouse.com/

• Best Enchiladas - Carde Adovado (Marinated Pork) Enchiladas at Maria's in Santa Fe NM http://www.marias-santafe.com/

• Best Fajitas - Miss Jersey Lilly's in Hico Tx http://hico-tx.com/dining/restaurants/jersey-lillys.html

• Best Margarita - Taqueria Jalisco #2 in Clovis NM http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/234/1111377/restaurant/New-Mexico/Taqueria-Jalisco-Clovis

• Best non-Mexican food Breakfast - Chicken Fried Steak, Eggs, Hashbrowns, Biscuits and Gravy at the Evant Cafe' in Evant Tx http://www.bing.com/search?q=evant+cafe+in+evant+tx&src=IE-SearchBox&Form=IE8SRC 

• Best Mexican food Breakfast - Enchiladas and Eggs and the Complementary Bakery Basket at the Tecolote Cafe in Santa Fe NM http://www.tecolotecafe.com/

• Best Day on the Bike - 01/09/10 - the 60 mile rip from Clovis NM to Ft Sumner NM across the Llano Estacado http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Llano_Estacado No headwind, beautiful landscape, bluebird weather and the Spirits of the Llano Estacado ran with me on a "No Chain" day.

• Worst Day on the Bike - 01/06/10 - 78 miles from Lubbock Tx to Muleshoe Tx - 10 hours in the saddle against 25 mph headwinds and 32 mph crosswinds beginning at 65 deg and ending at 21 deg at 10:00 pm in Muleshoe Tx... but I have to say it was my most memorable ride.... my worst day would've been the day I got lost west of Anton Chico but I got rescued with 1 amazing RAK - Random Act of Kindness.... more on that later.

• Overall Best State Park I visited in Texas - Lake Mineral Wells State Park - Mineral Wells Tx - as I said in my video, this park had that Zen thing going. http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/spdest/findadest/parks/lake_mineral_wells/

• Overall Best State Park I visited in New Mexico - Sumner Lake State Park - 16 miles north and west of Ft Sumner NM - absolutely the nicest and best Park Staff at this park of any park I visited.  http://www.emnrd.state.nm.us/prd/SumnerLake.htm

• Most Beautiful State Park I visited - Villanueva State Park - Villanueva NM - Thanks for talking me into it Lew! http://www.emnrd.state.nm.us/prd/Villanueva.htm

• Best Bathrooms in a State Park - No Question! - Dinosaur Valley State Park near Glenrose Tx http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/spdest/findadest/parks/dinosaur_valley/

• Sentimental Favorite State Park - Inks Lake State Park - Burnet Tx http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/spdest/findadest/parks/inks/  

• Best State Park for Wildlife Viewing - can't pick one - here's 3: Inks Lake State Park, Sumner Lake State Park, Santa Rosa State Park

• Best Sunrise Experience - TIE - between Lake Mineral Wells State Park and Sumner Lake State Park

• Best Sunset Experience -  TIE - ditto above

• Best Campsites - couldn't pick just one.... so here's 4 - #333 at Inks Lake State Park; #13 @ Dinosaur Valley State Park; #28 @ Lake Mineral Wells State Park; #11 at Sumner Lake State Park

• Best Little Town in Texas - Boy that's a tough one.... gotta a lot of help from folks in Hamilton Tx.... saw some cool stuff in Hico Tx.... speaking of Cool, there was the Cool / Garner Tx combo.

• Best Little Town in New Mexico - Easy - Villanueva NM - the Best Kept Secret in New Mexico and maybe America!

• Best Bike Shop - Another Easy One - Rising Phoenix Adventures in Bastrop Tx http://www.risingphoenixadventures.com/

• Best Equipment / Product / Service - Easy - Verizon Wireless Service / LG env3 Cell Phone / Gateway 2016LT Netbook.... and Donnie "the Man" at the Lake Jackson Tx VZW store http://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/index.html

• Worst Service - Easy one here - MULESHOE TX POST OFFICE - they sent my mis-labeled (yeah it was my fault) "General Delivery Pickup" box full of all my camping gear all the way back to my home address without even holding it for a day.... Grrrrr..... I talked to 4 different post offices about this and they said the guy was an ..... well I won't say it....

• Best Decision - TO TAKE THIS TRIP!

• Worst Decision - to take the route to Villanueva State Park via Anton Chico and "Joe's Road" but that was followed by....

• Best Random Act of Kindness - the Rescue by Jerome and Friends from the beautiful and rugged dirt road maze between Anton Chico NM and Villanueva State Park

• Worst Town to Ride a Bike in - TIE - between Marble Falls Tx and Cleburne Tx

• Best Single Night's Motel Stay - Best Western Snyder Inn - the room was spacious - had a sitting area separated from the sleeping area and a desk with a great Hi Speed Internet AND they washed, dried and folded my clothes for me.... can you believe that?http://www.bestwesterntexas.com/hotels/best-western-snyder-inn/

• Best Overall Motel Experience - Hands down - America's Best Value Inn - They consistently had the lowest rates and the best value.... just like the name says.... and the one in Santa Fe NM was amazing... with a Gourmet Continental Breakfast and Heated Indoor Pool and Jacuzzi. http://abvilamplighter.com/

• Most Interesting Person I met on the whole trip - TIE - Charles Truesdell in Breckenridge Tx - he was the WWII veteran in on the Great Raid - rescue of 2300 America POW's from the Phillipines in 1945..... the other guy was Tom Kennedy - Lake Mineral Wells State Park Ranger - writing a book on the "Oneness of Man and Nature".  Here's his website - http://stores.lulu.com/1tomkennedy

• Nicest Person I met on the whole trip - Raymond Drake - Park Manager at Sumner Lake State Park

.... and that's the Best Way to end this little list.... like I've said umpteen times.... the Best Part of this whole trip was the People.... speaking of which.... I'll have a list of who I met where along the way coming soon.

What it Costs to Discover America on 2 Wheels

I've been waiting till I had compiled all the data on the costs for Leg 1 and Leg 2 and had published all the videos of both legs before writing this post.

Here is some cost data on specific items for the first 1268 miles of Discovering America on 2 Wheels:

• The average cost of a motel was $57 / night taxes and all. I stayed at motels 22 of 37 days.
• The average cost of a water/electric campsite was $18/night. I stayed in State Parks 15 of 37 days. I would have stayed 2 more days in State Parks - Santa Rosa State Park specifically - but the New Mexico State Parks were closed January 14th and 15th due to budget cuts.
• When you prorate the motel costs for 22 days and the state park campsite fees for 15 days, my average "lodging"cost was $41.18/night. Note: I hesitate to call sleeping on the ground under a "lean to" tarp in 20 deg temps "lodging"....
• The average cost of food and supplies was $20/day or about $7/meal.
• I spent $280 in bike tune-ups, repairs, tubes - Puncture resistant tubes are $5 each- and equipment replacement during the 37 days of Leg 1 and 2 so Bike Costs average $7.46 / day
• I added a Verizon Wireless Card Monthly Charge via my Gateway Netbook for $62/month so if your prorate that for 37 days my Verizon Wireless Card averaged a little over $2/day.
• I had $75 in postal charges for mailing stuff to and fro so postal costs were about $2/day.
• There were quite a few other miscellaneous costs and cash expenditures that I didn't keep detailed records of that amounted to about $5/day.
• So when you add all this up: $41.18+$20+$7.46+$2+$2+$5 you get a total of $77.64/day in travel costs.

And that was pretty bare bones....as I said I could've gotten the lodging cost below $40/day if I could've stayed at Santa Rosa State Park 2 nights and I probably could have cut my eating cost down a couple of bucks a day if I had gone to McDonalds when I hit town but that's not what this thing is about....

It's about seeing, doing, enjoying, eating and drinking NOT at the most expensive places but at the BEST places.

Now the above costs DON'T include what I call setup and overhead costs.... it doesn't include the $300 worth of Verizon Wireless products and accessories I purchased to bring the commentary, pics and video to the blog as real time as is currently technologically possible. It doesn't include $200 in software, zip drives and other computer stuff to do the videos for YouTube.

And last but not least I'm not getting paid a dime to do this.... at least not as of today.... Yeah....maybe you're thinking "Why should you get paid? You're out there living a dream when I'm stuck in a job I hate doing....."

And I guess that would be right in a way.... but let me also say that while I conveyed some of the pain and discomfort of long days in the saddle and cold nights on the ground, I don't think I could say that all of what I did was "fun"..... in fact, much of what I did was the hardest physical and most taxing and grueling mental "work" I have ever done... you try pedaling a bike for 12 hours against a 25 mph wind and then we'll talk about "fun" and there was more than 1 day (and night) I did just that.

Looking at it another way... assume I was making minimum wage $7.25/hour. My adventure aka "job" started everyday for 37 days before sunrise and lasted till well after sunset...probably averaged 14-16 hours per day... but let's be reasonable... let's just cut it down to 12 hours per day....

If I was getting "paid" minimum wage for 12 hours per day at $7.25/hr, that would come to $87/day.... take out 15% for the combination of Income Tax, Social Security and Medicare and you'd have $73.95/day... which would just about meet my expenses.

Ok.... so what's the point of all this number crunching and data dancing and moaning and groaning anyway?

Well... I need your help...

If you have enjoyed this blog and the adventure that it documents and the imagery and commentary that have brought you right along with me every step and every turn of the wheel on the way from Lake Jackson Tx to Santa Fe NM....

Please consider making a donation to Discovering America on 2 Wheels using the PayPal button at the top of the blog.

I still want to do Leg 3 - Santa Fe NM to Los Angeles w/ a 100 mile RT detour at Flagstaff AZ to Grand Canyon NP - total of 960 miles and it'll take about 30 days to do it but....

I have to at least meet my expenses to do it.

Is there support out there for Leg 3?... I guess I'll find out!

Video for Leg 2 Part 4 - SW of Anton Chico NM to Santa Fe NM

This video takes you from my overnight campout behind the Milagro Food Mart on I40W to the Best Kept Secret in New Mexico...

the village of Villanueva and Villanueva State Park where I hiked the Canyon Trail and El Cerro Trails to the most spectacular views and breathtaking beauty of my entire trip.

Here's a link to more info on Villanueva State Park:

http://www.emnrd.state.nm.us/prd/Villanueva.htm

I left Villanueva State Park headed for Santa Fe but overnighted at the Glorieta Conference Center - a beautiful complex nestled in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains at 7400' elevation.... where I met people who really Walk the Talk and a place where I truly felt the presence of God.

http://www.lifeway.com/menu/?id=201127

I left the Glorieta Conference Center and took a wind-assisted ride into my final destination for Leg 2 - Santa Fe New Mexico.

At this point, I had cycled 1268 miles and hiked 114 miles since I left my hometown of Lake Jackson Tx.

Here's the link to the video on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QfLsfawzFdU

Video for Leg 2 Part 3 - Clovis NM to SW of Anton Chico NM

The link for the video for Leg 2 Part 3 - Clovis NM to somewhere southwest of Anton Chico NM is now available on the blog. It's set to the music from the Good, the Bad and the Ugly. Take a look and let me know what you think.

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Video for Leg 2 Part 3: 01/09/10 - 01/16/10 Clovis New Mexico to somewhere southwest of Anton Chico NM

This video picks up in Clovis NM and begins with my Best Ride of the Trip - a 60 mile rip across the Llano Estacado - "Stockaded Plains"- into Fort Sumner NM followed by a 3 day stay at Sumner Lake State Park - an Oasis in the Desert.

I visited Santa Rosa State Park and marveled at the abundance of Waterfowl and Bald Eagles viewed along the Shoreline Trail.

I then took an ill-advised route to Villanueva State Park and.....

Well you'll just have to watch the video and find out what happened.

Here's the link to the YouTube Video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfjJf_dvMzE