"Rio" means "River" Doesn't It?

And rivers generally have water in them don't they? Below is a picture of the Rio Grande taken shortly after our departure from Las Cruces this morning. Not a drop of water in it!

Today should have been a fairly easy day. Las Cruces NM to El Paso TX. 66 miles on pretty flat terrain - we climbed and lost about 1600 feet, most of that once we got into the greater El Paso area. We spent most of the day in the Rio Grande Valley. It is mostly agricultural (pecan trees, cotton, onions, alfalfa and other unidentified crops) with nice views of the Franklin Mountains to the east. Although it wasn't nearly the gale force winds of yesterday, we had significant headwinds for most of the day. At breakfast we were discussing what adversity we would face today. Every day seems to bring a different challenge. We spent 9 miles on a freeway close to the end of the day. It ran right beside the US/Mexico border, which to a Canadian is quite a sight (below). The best part of that road was that most of the section that we were on was under construction and after throwing my bike over a concrete barrier I was able to ride on a good surface completely closed to vehicular traffic. And of course another state border crossing means another margarita party. It will be our last for a while, as we're in Texas for about 3 full weeks!