https://www.cloudbasemayhem.com/chasing-fools-gold-in-texas/

I’ve had my eye on Texas for an awfully long time. Very few people
have given it a shot since Will Gadd broke the open distance record there,
flying 423 km on the summer solstice in 2002. Why? Because it’s brutal!

On record days you’re taking off in absurdly strong winds. Cloudbase feels like
it’s an arm’s length above your head early in the morning when you need to get
in the air to go big, when thermals are weak and broken. Then it’s a crap shoot
for the first 75 km. As soon as you get blown downwind of the airstrip you’re in
no man’s land. One wrong decision or a little bad luck and you’re on the deck.
But getting on the deck safely in a sea of thick mesquite, cactus, and monster
windmills in strong wind is a long ways from a gimme.

If you’re lucky enough to stick it in on a dirt road (which rarely run parallel
with the wind) have fun walking in 100+ degree heat (most of our days the heat
index was well over 110 degrees) to a road where your retrieve can get to you as
all non-county roads are locked up tight behind big Texas-sized gates (watch out
for rattle snakes, wild boar, and scorpions!).

As an added bonus- you’re flying right along the Mexican border for the first
150 miles. People down in this part of Texas are very wary of disheveled looking
people wandering around with backpacks (ie paragliders). Every piece of land as
far as the eye can see is privately owned. Texans carry guns. Big guns. We heard
“I was just about to shoot you” and “next time one of you lands out here you’re
going to get shot” about as many times as I heard “this place sucks” by one of
our team members, which was every day of our three week encampment. In other
words- you aren’t going to southern Texas in the middle of summer to have a
flying vacation. You don’t go to Texas to have fun. You go there for a chance at
glory.

We had our adventures over the years down there and it wasn't
quite as bad for us as it was for these guys. Never had anyone threaten us. We
always found the people of Texas to be very hospitable, even if we were on their
land.

But, yes the Texas record-chasing weather totally sucked in 2020 (along with
every thing else apparently).  Except for the very unusual record flight
using the low pressure over New Orleans earlier in the year. Very tricky.