Day 18: 3rd State Line Crossing, Texas Feed Lots, Central Time Zone

Gil's emailed cliff notes:
The name of the game today was survival after yesterday's long ride. Covered 96 miles through nondescript land that was gently rolling and hot. The most exciting thing was seeing two trains that I captured on video. I know you can't wait to see these trains!! The other high point (other than the two SAG stops) was crossing into Texas 56 miles into the ride. Took some pictures of the shot-up monument (not a total surprise). Rode with Tony and off and on with Terry who joined us. Randy and my roommate both sat out today's ride - yesterday took a toll. We enjoyed a good tail wind the first 75 miles and averaged over 18 miles an hour. Often we clicked along in the 20 - 26 range for extended periods of time. At 75 miles the road surface tuned rough and the bike vibrated. Just what my butt needed. The wind also shifted and our speed was reduced to the 13 - 15 range. Made the motel 1:22 PM. Not bad given we covered nearly a hundred miles. Gil

He first called my cell at 4 pm to let me know they made the motel and that he was a big fan of it. The town he'd least want to live in so far, but the best motel yet. Fridge, microwave, and a working AC in the room, which he was plopped down in front of when he called. He gave me "quick notes" before calling back tonight with FULL notes (which I know you all cannot wait to read), but his computer crashed soon thereafter so they're gone. (I save the full notes right away, because losing those before typing them up would just really suck.)

Alrighty. Heeeere we go with the details. (Because what he types is just clearly not detailed enough, we have to have the fast typist do the blow-by-blow in case anyone's just that interested. Which I know you all are.) I'll continue to bold occasionally for your skimming pleasure.

They started today's 96 mile ride from Tucumcari, NM to Dalhart, TX at 7:10 am. It was nice and crisp out, with a fair amount of wind at their backs. (This is good. Tailwind is good. Keep paying attention to these things, there may be a quiz somewhere down the line.) They rolled along at an average speed of 19.6 mph to the first SAG stop, which was almost 30 miles in. There were a few times that they were rolling along at 20-24 mph for long stretches - really moving along. (Though those of us who use, oh, CARS may disagree.) That 96 mile ride might just be a real easy day after all!

Around mile 55 they arrived at the Texas state line. The sign at the border was shaped like Texas, but it was all shot-up - there were pock-marks in it from people shooting at the sign. A couple of riders said they weren't surprised - "this is Texas, after all."

They had the SAG stop at mile 65 under some nice big cottonwood (he thinks) trees, so they had some nice shade and a picnic table. Railroad tracks ran nearby, and a train came through. That was the most exciting thing that happened all day. He got a video of this momentous occasion, the train roaring by. You take your kicks where you can get them. When they headed out on the highway again, there were no service areas for 30 miles. About 15 miles after the SAG stop, the road surface changed and became much rougher - the whole bike would vibrate. It was bad news for the butt. (Everybody was complaining about their butts back at the hotel, between that stretch of road and the 110 mile ride yesterday. Everybody except Richard, of course, who doesn't discuss his butt. He sounds a bit classier than the "average Joe" riders.) Around the same time the surface changed, the wind also shifted and became a bit unfavorable; their speed dropped from 17-20 mph to a 13 mph crawl. Everybody agreed that the last 15 miles into town were pretty difficult. The temperature also rose to near 90 degrees, which I can't imagine helped morale. The countryside was incredibly boring and people were still tired from yesterday's ride.

Before getting into town and the hotel, they passed some (by "some" I mean two) feed-lots. Which he of COURSE took pictures of. And of course didn't email me. I get a picture of the empty road and nothingness, that incredibly bland countryside he was so bored by, but not 160,000 cows in two lots? I think I was ripped off. Because the word on the street in Dalhart is that there are, in fact, 160,000 cows in those two feed-lots. I know; my dad talked to those townfolk. He's a friendly guy. He probably didn't share with them that of all the places they've been so far, Dalhart is the place he'd LEAST like to live. (He's real impressed by the hotel, though, mentioned that several times. I think his dream lodging would be this hotel and the computer from that Econo lodge a few days back.) Anyway, there were cows going off forever, as far as the eye could see. (See the picture I was ripped off with to the upper right. Wouldn't a shot full of a billion cows been more interesting, while albeitly making you feel sorry for the poor cows in crappy living conditions packed like sardines? Which also smell lousy, so that's kind of an appropriate simile.) He learned that the cows live here (there) and get fed for about 30 days, moving to different pens and up in feed-stock before being...processed. Poor cows probably think they're moving up in the world, then suddenly, not so much. There were also lots of little flea-like bugs that got all over our intrepid bikers over on the road. They knew where those little bugs had been. And "pictures couldn't capture the smell that was there." Which was presumably not good. Not that I'd know if the picture could have truly said a thousand words and included that bit of information, since I haven't seen any pictures. But Dalhart is a real cow-town, and there's a subtle (or not so subtle) aroma throughout town from the feed stock. "Like in Yuma." It's clear that the only industry there is cattle processing. Good news Mom: One less tiny town in the middle of nowhere (ie nowhere near a book store) that Dad dreams of retiring to!

Edit: It appears that I'm an idiot, and if you enlarge (click on) the picture above, the darker "grass" on the left side of the picture IS cattle going off as far as the eye can see.

Got to the hotel at 1:10 pm (or 1:22 as his email said; whatever, they were fast), much relieved and pleased to be there (and inside away from the stench). He really likes that hotel. They're also now only an hour behind us here on the east coast! Fewer midnight phone calls! (Not that typing this up every night at 1 or 2 am wasn't fun, mind you.) Immediately went to Dairy Queen with three other riders. Had three tacos, a large coke, and an ice cream sundae. (Yes, there's apparently food now at DQ. I had no idea.) They came back for a Road RAP that lasted all of 20 minutes, then went right to The Sands Restaurant for an all you could eat buffet dinner. Everybody agreed that the food was great. Then several of them went to the food store (what, they needed MORE food?) and found "a weight machine" (or...a scale? One of those newfangled devices?) that you could use for 25 cents. Is that some tactic to fight the obesity epidemic? Make kids pay to weigh themselves at the store instead of letting them sit on their butts and ride on some contraption? That doesn't sound like a very exciting attraction to me, or one that's likely to make people spend more on food at the store. Unless they have it after the check out, so you can spend all your money then weigh yourself and go "aw crap." How thoughtful. Anyway. Dad's lost somewhere between five and seven pounds, as have several of his friends. Richard's lost eight. Seems clear everybody's lost some significant weight, even while putting on muscle mass (which I'm sure you all know weighs more than fat). He said they're eating as much as they can. I said that Mom may not be too amused by this story. (She wasn't all that amused when he made the mistake of pondering how he'd lost weight on our first cruise either, despite the midnight buffet.) But they're (rather masochistically) engaging in intense exercise for 6-8 hours a day, which is raising their baseline metabolism even while they're at rest. He figures they're probably burning between 5,000 and 7,000 calories a day, which...can't possibly be healthy. Some people have said that the hardest part of the tour in terms of adjusting afterwards is having to stop eating all the darn time. "The body is clearly still adjusting in terms of what's happening to it." Because, much like running a marathon, I suspect that this tour constitutes chronic physical abuse on your body.

On that uplifting note...

See post below; photo album of DVD #3 uploaded.