We made it to Del Rio this morning and are now checked into a motel. Our bikes have been dropped off for shipping. Now we're just waiting to fly out Monday morning.

In the meantime, now that we're back to civilization, we may catch a movie, go to Mass, and relax ... let our legs recover.

It's going to be 76 degrees here today.

-Jason

Best day of riding yet. We had great weather, light winds, and temps in the 70s for our 57-mile ride today to Marathon. Tomorrow, we're headed for Sanderson. After that, there's nothing until Del Rio ... 110 miles farther. We wish we could break up the distance, but there's nothing out there!

-Jason

More wind today, but the weather warmed up for the long, 90 mile day from Van Horn to Fort Davis. Lots of mountains, great scenery, but I'm really tired. We saw the McDonald Observatory, but didn't have time to visit it. The sun was setting on us so we coasted down to town ... That was awesome. I thanked God all the way down. Fort Davis is a nice town.

Tomorrow we ride to Marathon, TX, with a stop in Alpine to visit the bike shop. The forecast looks good for the rest of the trip, despite the crazy weather elsewhere in the country these days.

-Jason

Today was a cold, windy day. Headwinds all the way, chilling me to the bone. But we made it to Van Horn. Tomorrow is a LONG day over the mountains (90 mi). Thankfully, the wind, temp, and precipitation forecasts are all better for tomorrow. We may stay at the McDonald Observatory (if we can arrange lodging there) or Fort Davis, TX.

Hello from Fabens, TX. We had an uneventful trip so far. To see where Fabens is, click here.

Tomorrow we might head for Sierra Blanca.

-Jason

It's been a very busy week. Yesterday (Thursday) I realized I had not left the building since the previous Sunday. That's surprisingly easy to do in a big place like this when we get busy with papers and tests. All that work has paid off, and I am now on Christmas break. Tonight we have a Mass at the seminary to celebrate and mark the end of the semester.

Tomorrow morning I hop on a plane for Texas. As I wrote some time ago, I'm off on another bicycle trip. This time my buddy Jesse and I are going to ride the third section of the Adventure Cycling Southern Tier route, from El Paso, TX, to Del Rio, TX. Our bikes are sitting in an El Paso bike shop right now, just waiting for us to come down and push them across the Lone Star State (or at least the western third of it).

Click the map below for a detailed map of our route. You can find the tiny towns we're staying in on that map. And check back frequently. We will have a laptop along on this ride, so I might be able to update the blog with my new location periodically (if they have Internet access in Texas that is).

Please pray for our safety, for good Texan weather, and for our health from now until the 22nd.

-Jason

The semester is almost over. Just five days left. I'm busy trying to finish up a paper on the "theology of the laity" and preparing for two exams this week. Then next Saturday, I fly to El Paso for the bike trip at the beginning of Christmas break.

Anyway, I'm taking this quick break to post a link to a project that my friend Tim and I just finished for our course on Pauline literature. It was great to take that course during the Pauline Year. I have a much greater appreciation for the Apostle Paul after taking the class.

Our project was an attempt to describe how Paul suffered for the Gospel and to explain why he suffered in such intense ways. Click here to check out the page.