Here's an update to yesterday's blog. I visited the Dorothy House in Liberal. It's a replica and houses a pair of the ruby slippers. They also have a yellow brick road. Above, Harry and the three musketeers (Ira, Alec, and Karen) are off to see the wizard…
"We're off to see the Wizard, the Wonderful Wizard of Oz…"
Today was a recovery ride, very short (less than forty miles) and easy (essentially flat, with gentle winds). We are now riding between huge expanses of irrigated fields - I think they are wheat fields; it would be nice if they would put up a sign or two for the ignorant, city folk who get lost and drive these roads.
We passed through Hooker, a small town that capitalizes on it's name. Bumper stickers and t-shirts are for sale with slogans, such as, "I'm not your typical Hooker." The local baseball team is named the Horny Toads; you can buy a shirt with "I could've been a prince, but it's more fun being a Horny Toad." Great gift ideas for Aunt Ethyl back home…or not.
We crossed another state line into Kansas (where did Oklahoma go)? This is Dorothy and Toto country. US Highway 54 in Kansas is the official "yellow brick road," even though it isn't brick and it isn't yellow. Liberal is home to the Wizard of Oz Museum, Dorothy's house, a large air museum, and the Coronado Museum. No, we didn't see any tornados, heartless tin men, cowardly lions, brainless scarecrows, munchkins, or witches; but we are in Kansas and will be for several days.
Is there a Conservative, Oklahoma? Yes, turn right at Liberal…
Rider of the day:
George is from Missouri; he's a retired physician. We are now calling him, "Brave Heart." Day before yesterday, George was on the road, riding alone, from Tucumcari to Dalhart, into the wind, for twelve hours! He arrived in Dalhart as the rest of us were eating dinner. George said, "I would look ahead and see a tree. I told myself, I can ride that far. When I got to that point, I would look ahead for another tree…" It was truly a hard day's riding and a huge effort on his part.
All together now:
"OOOOk-lahoma, where the wind comes sweepin' down the plain,
And the wavin' wheat can sure smell sweet, When the wind comes right behind the rain."
No rain, but lots of wind, unfortunately a headwind. Another day, another state!
[I've been asked to explain what a pace line is. Riding behind another bicycle rider reduces the effort required because the first rider is partially blocking the wind for the following rider. When several cyclists ride in a pace line, and take turns leading, the group travels faster and easier than individual riders can, riding alone.]
Due to the time change, we left the hotel an hour later than usual this morning. When I got on my bicycle, I noticed the rear tire was low on air. Yes, I did check it last night and again this morning. So, I changed the tube in the parking lot and was the last one to leave. I caught up with Harry & the three musketeers (Karen, Alec, and Ira). I rode with them until we reached the "big cowboy." After a photo op, I joined Peter, Al, Chris, and Willie. We rode together for the rest of the day, including our crossing of yet another state line, into Oklahoma. If you thought yesterday's ride was flat, you should see the panhandle of OK. We passed a wind farm (look closely and you'll see an old windmill for perspective.) Lots of grain elevators on the plains. The wind wasn't as bad as yesterday, but it was in our faces most of the day. Fortunately, today's ride was shorter than yesterday's.
Rider of the day:
Peter is from New York. He's an artist and cabinet maker. Originally from England, he's lived in this country for thirty years. We're wearing the New Mexico jerseys that Rich gave us.
"The longest day"
As you can see from the above picture, the road to Dalhart is very straight. Tucumcari marks the edge of the mesa lands; east of there is rolling prairie. We crossed the Texas border and sprinkled our beach sand, but the wind fairies were obviously displeased with our meager offering. We had head winds all day, a century ride into 20 mph winds, gusting to 30 mph. Peter, Chris, Al, and Willie worked a pace line to make it possible for me to finish. It was a long, hard day. I'm so tired, I can hardly type.
Deborah says, according to AAA, Dalhart Texas' original name was Twist, later changed to Denroc which is a combination of the 2 railroads the crossed there in 1901 (Denver City and Rock Island), then changed to Dalhart which reflects the 2 counties in which it resides (Dallam and Hartley). It's a shipping point for agriculture and cattle and has the world's largest amateur rodeo in late summer. Up to 400,000 cattle are in the feed lots south of town. You can imagine the smell. The XIT Ranch was more than 3 million acres at one point. Things are big in Texas.
CrossRoads employee of the day:
Mack is one of the CR staff taking care of our needs each day. He's English and an ultra nice guy. He drives one of the support vehicles, helps Margaret with the SAG stops, and does a myriad of chores behind the scenes to make our trip comfortable.
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109.5 miles, 6:48 riding time; 3,245 feet of climbing, and 4,836 Calories
I'm tired! It was a long, long day, but spectacular riding. We climbed out of Las Vegas (I've noticed that all the towns in New Mexico are at the bottom of valleys - probably where the water was); think flat, treeless plain; you could see forever in all directions. A small herd of horses joined us for a while, running parallel to the pace line. After many miles of rolling flat plain, we dropped off the edge of the Canada escarpment - one-thousand feet of descent over three miles to the desert below. Mesas towered over the road as we dropped through the canyons with some uphills and "The Wall" - 0.6 mile of 8-9% grade, granny gear time. After the climb, the land was rolling - long gradual descents and long gradual ascents to Tucumcari.
Deborah looked up the meaning of Tucumcari - it's either Comanche for "lookout," or from an Apache tale of Tucum and Kari - think Romeo and Juliet.
We have now biked more than 1,000 miles! Only 2,400 more to go.
The creature above is a Prairie Dog.
Riders of the day: Tom and Bob, from New Jersey. Both retired, and long time friends, they are riding to support Anchor House - a haven for abused children: http://www.anchorhouseride.org/ . Tom is the one with the moustache; Bob has a beard.
"What goes up, must come down…"
My son, Mike, is in Santa Fe working a movie. He dropped by the hotel to see us off. What a nice surprise.
Under threatening skies, we donned our raingear and headed out of Santa Fe, climbing out of the valley. After fifteen miles, we got onto the shoulder of I-25 North for five miles. At the end of this five mile stretch, we exited the freeway, marking the end of our freeway travel!!!! The picture above shows Willie, Chris, me, and Peter checking our route sheets. No more interstates!
The rest of the day, we were on old highway 66. The highest elevation of the trip was reached at Glorietta Pass (7,500 feet above sea level); the place where the Battle of Glorietta Pass took place in 1862, during the Civil War, for control of the Santa Fe Trail.
We then enjoyed a screaming descent into Pecos (as in, "there's no law west of the Pecos, hombre"). I didn't see Judge Roy Bean, but I'm sure his spirit is there somewhere. The SAG stop was at the El Alto Bar (picture above). From there we had rolling terrain, long drops followed by steep climbs' all the way into Las Vegas. We stopped at the Dairy Queen for shakes and sandwiches before riding the remaining mile to the hotel.
Today's ride competes with the ride through Oak Creek Canyon for the prettiest day so far.
Rider of the day:
Chris is from Virginia. At 44, he's one of the youngest riders and one of the strongest. His brother just got back from a tour of duty in Iraq. Chris is riding to support Injured Marines. Semper Fi!
Please support our sons and daughters currently in uniform by donating to the USO.
After only five days of riding since our last rest day, we have paused in Santa Fe for another breather before resuming our crossing of the continent. The Rocky Mountains are behind us and we will now descend to a more reasonable elevation, crossing into Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas.
It's hard to believe that only two weeks ago we were all meeting each other for the very first time at the hotel in El Segundo, CA. Where before we were strangers, we have now become close friends. We've been through a lot together, deserts, mountains, rain, winds, and miles and miles of asphalt.
The dark line on the map above shows how far we've come.
Stats so far…
12 days of riding
894 miles
58:12 hours of riding
30,853 feet of climbing
45,559 Calories burned
3 states
3 century rides
5 fl*ts
10 chocolate shakes
There are many more miles to go before we reach Boston - the adventure continues.
