Pedaling through Drug Wars
Written by Jon on 05 April 2010
We stopped at a local truck stop for breakfast. I got the works plus some and it was excellent. These Texas portions are keeping us well fed and the prices are fair. We had to hop on I-10 for part of the day, but luckily there were service roads to ride on along the side of the road. I counted only 2-3 cars pass us the whole time we were on the service roads. The service roads ended at sunset and luckily the ACA maps put us on farm roads to keep us off the busy interstate. Unfortunately, the farm roads ran only about 2 miles from the Mexican border. It was getting dark and we had forgotten to buy batteries. We had one Mini-Mag flashlight guiding us down the farm roads. After pedaling on awhile I saw some bright flashing lights behind us. It was the border patrol. They told us they were pulling us over to check on us. He said, “I am not sure if you watch the news or not, but there is a drug war going on in Juarez and it has the potential to spill over this border tonight.” He asked where we were staying and I told him Fort H a n c o c k. I asked if it was safe to stay there and he said “yes, but don’t camp tonight.” He said, “It’s about 10 miles up the road. Pedal faster!” We arrived in Fort H a n c o c k about 45 minutes later, but couldn’t find the motel. A Hispanic woman pulled over to help us as it was obvious we were lost looking at our maps on the side of the road. With her help we found the hotel. There was an Indian woman working at the front desk who looked like she owned the place. Her credit card machine wasn’t working properly and she wanted $68 for the room. Together we only had $64 cash without digging through our bags so we offered her that. She thought about it for a minute and said she had to have $64.66. I am not sure why the 66 cents was so important, but I dug it up for her. We walked across the street to the only diner/restaurant in town and the two border patrol officers that pulled us over earlier were eating. They said, “You made it”, and we got to chatting. They said that night was the highest alert for the drug war spilling over they have had in some time.