I also met 5 other bikers who were doing the exact same route I am doing finishing in St. Augustine.  They were from the East Coast and met up to do this ride. They were much younger though......50-60 year olds!

Ft. Davis is the location of Fort Davis that was active from 1851 - 1891 and was built to protect settlers, wagon trains, mail carriers etc. who were traveling the Overland Trial from the East to California.  The Fort has been restored and is well worth the visit to this area.  As I have been riding along, I have started to realize just a little bit about how the wagon trains felt as they fought the landscape, wind etc.. crossing this land.  Its pretty incredible!

Day 25 - Sept. 27 We stayed in Ft. Davis last night (pop 1000) and met with Joe Duncan this morning for a discussion of the area.  Joe is a fourth generation local and his father owned 200,000 acres of ranch land West of Ft. Davis until the 1960's when he finally sold it and moved to the town of Ft. Davis.  Joe's great grandfather first settled in the area and took up ranching back in 1883.  Joe grew up in Ft. Davis and then left for Dallas for a number of years before returning with his wife in 1991 when they purchased and old hotel and rehabbed it.  Then over the years they purchased a number of other hotels in other towns and rehabbed them where they now have 200 rooms.  There is a picture of me in front of a bank where Joe is going to convert it into a hotel.  Tourism is a significant part of this place as there are large parks, great weather and beautiful scenery.  (Picture of Joe and I below)

Side note....Joe and his son were leaving to go to the movies.  There nearest town is El Paso which is 100 miles away.  They planned to watch two movies and then return the next day.  200 miles round trip just to get to a move theatre.  This is pretty sparse land!!