On January 22nd I made my reservation for the Adventure Cycling Association Big Bend National Park bike tour. Little did I know what I was getting myself into. Reading over the information for a van supported tour I lined up all of the stuff to buy or gather up. Those included a sleeping bag, ground cloth, sleeping pad and a tent. Not having any experience doing a bike tour I didn’t know what questions to ask but I did ask on Bikeforums.net about whether I should use a 1 man or 2 man tent after I purchased the Coleman Hooligan 2 man tent. The tour would begin at Ft. Davis on March 30th. Each person can use up to 2 bags to hold camping supplies and clothes. I had a large hardshell suitcase plus a Jeep duffel bag. I thought everything would fit in those, one of my mistakes. On the drive from Sonora to Ft. Davis I stopped at the Walmart in Ft. Stockton to buy a bigger duffel bag (wise move) to hold my stuff better.

March 29th arrived as I drove from Kingwood to Sonora, about 400 miles. On March 30th I drove from Sonora to Ft. Davis arriving before 4 PM, the designated meeting time at Stone Village Tourist Camp. I arrived early and met with Jeff from Ohio. Not too long after that Rob from Texas drove into the parking lot. As we chatted 4 PM passed without anyone else coming. The rest of the people were driving from El Paso to Ft. Davis with the ACA van and leaders. Around 4:30 the van pulled into the parking lot with a trailer and several bikes on a roof rack. The driver got too close to a tree and knocked one of the bikes off the roof. Jeff, Rob, and myself watched the bike bounce a couple of times on the gravel, fortunately without any damage. Carbon frames can taking some rough treatment.

Our group: Evan (Colorado and leader), Gary (Colorado and leader), Jeff (Ohio), Chris and Cath (Maine riding a tandem), Buzz and Beth (New Hampshire riding a tandem), Rob (Texas), Jim (Colorado), Mitch (Oregon), Marty (Alaska), and my self.

The van people unloaded their gear, found the assigned camping room before gathering to learn about the tour. Cooking would be shared Saturday by the leaders, Gary and Evan. After that riders would pair off for evening meal cooking, breakfast, and lunch for the next day. We ate and then headed to the grocery store in Ft. Davis for provisions. Each pair needed to create a meal plan and buy the ingredients. I paired with Jim from Colorado suggesting a mac & cheese casserole with canned chicken, salad, raisin bran and bagels for breakfast, bread and sliced turkey for lunch. After cleaning out the grocery store we rolled the carts back to Stone Village to fill the trailer.

Easter Sunday (March 31st) everyone was up early to roll out not too long after sunrise. The first day the route was from Ft. Davis to Marathon, 54.4 miles. Everyone would ride at their pace, some faster and some slower (me). I got ready, placed my two bags by the trailer and set off. The road turned rough not too far out of Ft. Davis with the old road surface ground off leaving ruts and bumps. Fortunately that didn’t last too long but the chip’n seal surface was not smooth riding either. All of the roads on the tour were chip’n seal.

A SW wind was in my face from Ft. Davis to Alpine where I stopped for a break with the two tandem couples. Pedaling was hard until the route made a left bend at 25 miles moving the strong wind more to my right side. On this stretch I saw other cyclists and as I got close to them their vests showed they riding coast to coast from San Diego to St. Augustine. I would see them again at our campsite in Marathon. Arriving at the campsite I got my first real taste setting up my tent. The tent would be my albatross for the whole tour. It was too big and the wind thought it was a sail.

Finally getting the tent up with some help from others we gathered for dinner. I was tired and when the sun went down I crawled into the giant orange tent to sleep. Day one in the book.

Link to photos.