Pampa

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DAY 12

Drip, Drip, Drip...Flat, Flat, Flat

ROUTE: Dalhart TX to Pampa TX	DISTANCE: 111 Miles	WINDS: Easterly 10-15...on our nose
WEATHER: Showers and cool...48 at departure and 58 at destination...windy	TERRAIN: Stone cold flat till 50 miles then rolling	TOTAL CLIMBING: 3400 feet

DAILY DOINGS: Today was a day everyone on this ride will remember. We woke to thunder and rain and a forecast of chilly temperatures and headwinds all day. The entire day we were in and out of fog and rain. It was just a cool, raw day to say the least, but the riders handled it with aplomb. We definitely challenged my credo that a bad day on a bicycle is better than a good day at work. It took a lot of fortitude just to leave the motel today. As it turned out, it was a day that required everyone to dig deep into their psyche to finish the day's chore. We were in and out of showers most of the day and dodged thunderstorms as we neared Pampa, but the big news today was the relentless headwinds that pummeled the riders from the time they departed the motel until the final rider finished at 7:10. Other than the winds, the rain, and unseasonably cool temperatures, many riders were plagued with several flat tires that just made the cold temperatures cut into their core as they took the time to fix them. I probably changed 15 flats today and my hands are proof...I can hardly move my fingers and my palms are raw...just part of the day's work. Hopefully, I won't have so many to fix tomorrow, but it looks like another wet one.

The locals are happy to see us come through. It hasn't rained here in over 6 weeks. The motel owner thanked us for bringing the wet conditions...he remembered us from year before last in the fall when it poured when we came through then.

It was an exciting day to say the least. If I wasn't fixing flats, I was running around trying to insure everyone was out of harms way with thunderstorms. Team Alabama 0.75 (that's 3 of the 4 that were riding together), Stanley, Don, and Mark were huddled under a 4x4 porch on an abandoned building just out of Borger TX after hail started falling from the skies. As I understand it, Mike hadn't seen that sort of thing before so he was out frolicking in the hailstorm like a little kid in a rain shower (left #). After I showed up with the van, the stories started flying about the size of the hail. I heard everything from pea size to grapefruit size fell upon their heads as they scrambled to shelter. Now I've been around long enough to know that I believe them, but I don't see many "grapefruits" laying around mike. Mike said they had already had lots of time to melt before the photo...or maybe there was a SLIGHT exaggeration. What ever the story, I determined the hail was about Aggie Tall marble size...definitely big enough to get one's attention to say the least. Anyway, everyone (except maybe Mike, he was having too much fun) did the right thing by getting off the road and seeking shelter. It was a good thing there weren't any renegade grapefruit size ones that feel amongst the smaller ones. I don't think anyone else experienced hail, but several others were in some downpours as they approached town.

The last rider on the road was Mike from Team Alabama (probably because of all the excitement from the hail storm). He was riding with the last group and when he didn't show up where I was waiting for him, I figured he was in trouble...he'd had one more flat. I just didn't have the heart to put him in the van after he'd ridden so hard to finish the day. I fixed his flat and put him back on the road and followed him into town where I found Andy who was fixing a flat about a mile short of the motel. After finishing with Andy, we discovered a broken spoke...just one of those days. You'll also have to read the DUH today...team Alabama strikes again.

The riders will have to take my word for it since they couldn't see much farther than a quarter mile all day, but the terrain in the panhandle is interesting to say the least. We didn't see any elevation gain for almost 50 miles...the highest elevation would have to have been a curb they put up in a rest area...I mean absolutely flat. At one point (if it were clear today...trust me), I could see the horizon in all directions...no hills at all and if you didn't count the telephone poles (upper right), there wasn't much to keep you interested. I haven't seen anything like it since crossing Lake Michigan when we were on a boat and out of sight of land. At 68 miles, the road finally started to roll as we got close to Borger (below left). This area is one of the largest natural gas regions in the country and you can see refineries on the hillside just outside of town. Besides the large rangeland, there are some crops grown in this area too...corn, sorghum, sunflowers, and winter wheat, but mostly we only saw vast rangeland and petroleum rigs.

Pampa is a small town of about 18,000 whose economy was developed by the petroleum and agriculture industries. Land in this area went for about $10-$15 an acre which made this area a full fledged farming community shortly after the turn of the century...of course land costs much more now. The next big growth spurt came when the oil industry came to the area in 1925. There was also an Army Airfield training base here during WWII. It only existed for 3 years but during that time it had one of the best safety records in the Army Air Corps and trained over 6000 air cadets and 3500 mechanics. The base also served as an important factor in the growth of Pampa in the mid 1900s.

Well, it's getting late (I didn't start this until after 9:00) so I'd better sign off for now. Just think, in just a couple more hours we'll do it all again. Tomorrow we can sleep in since now we know it don't get daylight until 7:00! We also leave Texas and the great, smooth roads and enter Oklahoma where the roads are narrow but low in traffic volume. Hopefully the weather will be better and the winds will be favorable (but it would have to be different than the forecast). Tune in and see if we decide to get a horse instead of finishing on our bikes...maybe Will will be able to pick out a fast one. See you then.

PS: After posting, I realized I'd forgotten to mention the warm, freindly reception the Best Western gave us. After such a tough day in the saddle battling headwinds and rain (and hail in some cases), it was really nice that they welcomed us with open arms and provided protective sheets for our dirty bikes, rags to clean our bikes, and a welcome package that included water, an energy bar, and an apple. Nice touch...thank you BW! The small Panhandle town of Pampa has always been good to us...looking forward to seeing you again next year.

# Photo credit: Don McGoldrick

DAILY DISCERNING DIALOGUE:

-"If there's plumbing, I'm stopping." Sue at a small store.

-"This town is small and there's not much to do, but what you hear more than makes up for it." Waitress at breakfast.

-"The antelope is the lucky one, he's dead." Don when they had stopped to fix a flat in the cold rain next to a road kill antelope.

-"Mike said there'd be lots of flat today, but I thought he was talking about the terrain." Heard at one of the many stops to fix a flat tire.

-"Isn't it supposed to be warm this time of year?"
"It was over 100 two weeks ago...should of been here then."

-"We're living a dream!!!" Tom when he arrived at the motel.

DAILY DUH: This really didn't turn out to be a real DUH, but it almost made the DUH Hall of Fame! We had lots of flats today and Team Alabama wasn't immune. I came upon them while Joe was changing a flat and just after they had fixed Charlie's just a few minutes before. I was just in time with the pump as Joe was finishing putting his back together. Joe is really proud of what he learned in the flat tire clinic...now it's a snap to take off a rear wheel and fix his problems. I had just pumped up Joe's tire and was starting to pump up Charlie's when Joe said, "If there's one thing I've learned on this trip it's how to fix a rear tire." Joe was holding his wheel and no sooner had he said those words, I saw that his tube was pinched and was protruding from under his tire bead and about to explode any second. "Give me that tire!" I shouted as I grabbed his wheel and immediately let the air out of his tube just in the nick of time. Luckily, we saved his tube, tire, and bubble. The only thing that would have made the story funnier and made it a real DUH was if the tube would have exploded right after he said that...but it was a good thing that didn't happen as his other pair of biking shorts were packed away in the van.

DAILY DIGITAL DELIGHTS
This morning, Fred posed by a Texas Red Iron Prickless Cactus. We've heard about these rare plants but never thought we'd see one...wow! Definitely a high point in the day.	Don demonstrated the look of dread before leaving the motel this morning. "Have I packed my long johns?" He thought.
I really appreciated Bob's concern...he took the time from his pedaling to insure my heater was working in the van. "Bob, close the door!!! It's raining inside!"	After a long day of supporting riders, Karen had to resort to manual mode on her electric toothbrush when her batteries pooped out.
There's another finger in those rubber gloves Andy...you just have to blow harder!	Any question on which way the wind usually blows? Just look at the trees along the roadway.
Now it's confirmed...not quite "Grapefruit" size, but hail none the less. (#)