Heidi, after "the queen stage"

Now resting, recovering at Davis Mountains SP, about to chow down on a massive pot o pasta, cream of mushroom soup, tuna, and some hot pepper we saved from a pizza we had the other day...

85+ mi
3,100' of climbing
Mixed winds
6:45 riding, about 10 hours elapsed time...

After battling the noise and truck tire debris of I-10 for ~36 miles (a lot on frontage roads actually, from Van Horn) we turned off and uphill on 118. And what a beautiful road that is; awesome.
Such beautiful scenery on 118. And a nice change from the sandy, barren desert we had been in for days to grasses, trees, etc.
I kept imagining how the place must have looked back when it had deer and elk, and maybe bison? (Instead of the cows, fences, water storage tanks, and huge "spreads" with imposing, ornate gates plastered with "Keep Out!" and "No Trespassing" signs of European-American cattle ranching.)
Really cool mountains looking in the distance. And we saw lots of threatening clouds in the distance, heard thunder and even felt a couple raindrops - crazy! The road up by the observatory (6,779')was quite wet; so I think we did the right thing by relaxing at the Lawrence Wood Picnic Area (where we were originally thinking we would camp. Then with promises of "It's early in the day still" [3pm?] and "We'll take it easy", we finished the climbs, miles, winds and made it to a proper campground) for a while before finishing the climb (and letting the worst of the threatening weather pass). Had some snacks at the visitor center (the cafe was closed, but we could buy iced tea, cookies, Milky Way bars, Starburst, etc) used the WC, and took a quick tour (but not the real tour, of the telescopes etc, we missed that part).
It's a nice ride down to the beautiful state park, and grateful that the camping is down in the valley and not up the switchbacks visible from 118.

As Heidi said on the last little rollers after the big downhill from the observatory, "The tank is empty!"