March 24

what a wonderful day. we nrode through the mission area (seepicture) and ellen and I helped helen change another flat tire (see other picture). getting out of el paso was asnasty as getting in. we had to cross some majoe highways and feeders, then out of the city in heavy traffic. when we finaaly got going on the mission trail it was lovely, except for no shoulders on the road. I tied a whistle to my helmet strap today to try and scare away the dogs. sometimes it helps to blow it, sometimes it doesn't. tanya got chased by a large black dog today in a bunch of traffic. scary. we ha a tailwind and it was really flat after visiting the missions. (They are usually closed on mondays but they opened them and the bathrooms just for us.) we moved right along and wanted to stop for lunch. I saw a bunch of bikes lined up against a wall to a restaurant. but they didn't look like our bikes. I went in to check it out and it was the people from theBubba Bicycle Tour. I lookedfor dean, the guy we had met Iin san diego, but he had already gone on. we didn,t want to stop there so we wenton. in less than a mile helen picked up a thorn in her tire and had a flat. we fixed it and went on to wencho's in tornilla for lunch. a plate of 4 enchiladas with beans and rice only cost 5$. amazing and good. interesting was that when we asked for directions in tornilla I spoke english to the lady but she answered me in spanish. and we bothunderstood each other. the missions are beaUTIFUL CHURCHES AND WELL-kept. it was a really enjoyable day. not justriding, but some real sightseeing. today we did 52 miles. tomorrow we havve to do 75, partly on the freeway. after supper we went over to angie's restaurant and had pecan pie with vanilla ice cream. great way to end the day._________________toller tag. nicht nur fahren(mit rueckenwind) nsonder anhalten und die alte spanishe kirchen anschauen. hat spass gemacht.habe die andere fahrrad touristen vom bubba's tour in fabrens getroffen. helen hat wieder eine platte, die wir unterwegs reparieren mussten. nach dem abendesse pecan pie in angie's restaurant. einguter scluss zu einem gut tag. morgen 75 meilen, teils auf die autobahn.