Greetings from Texas!

(Clockwise, from top, left) - A cactus plant. ::: Stunning scenery in the Big Bend National Park. ::: One of the thousands of oil rigs pumping up some Texas Tea. ::: Beautiful architecture pops up everywhere, like this government building in a small town on the edge of nowhere in west Texas. ::: The harbor in Corpus Christi.

November 4-7, 1998
December 21, 1998 - January 4, 1999
October 31 - November 12, November 23 - December 2, 1999

But, Could Mark Live Here? I have to say that Texas has given me the worst weather in the entire seven months of this trip so far. Blame it on timing, or blame it on the fact that Texas does everything in a big way, but both times I have been through the state, I have hit bone-chilling weather like nowhere else. I had been to Texas before this trip, in the summer, when you could fill your helmet with water, leave it in the sun and boil a two-minute egg in a minute and a half, but this trip has made a lasting impression - I did get some nice weather in Corpus Christi (on New Years Day)

I do appreciate the great, wide open spaces, where you can sit on your bike for hours and almost feel like you're not moving, like the huge mountains are just slowly crawling past you, like other planets, as you travel through a galaxy. You can ride and ride, and enjoy a river of mountains flowing by, gently, calmly... soothing.

I love the coast, but this one is strewn with oil rigs and refineries. The mountains are nice, but I like a more alpine feel. I think I may just leave Texas to the Texans, and I don't imagine they're all that displeased with the notion.

ARTICLES


Two Hours in Mexico
or "Ignorance Abroad"

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 27, 1998, NUEVO LAREDO, MEXICO
Alert the federales! Mark Gilchrist is across the border and he's on the loose!

Into the Night
TUESDAY & WEDNESDAY, DEC. 22 & 23, 1998, EL PASO, TEXAS
"U.S. Border Patrol Agents roll out of the station like fishermen leaving the harbor. They steal into the night, trolling the American border for a catch of human cargo..."

Bag full of Smiles
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 22, 1998, EL PASO, TEXAS
What better way to spend the week before Christmas than to make a young child smile?

(The Houston, Texas art world is so unusual, it will make your head spin.)

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