Day 10
Anybody can ride in sunshine

Not much in the way of things to report on the route today though aside from the rain.  We did enter our 4th state today and a nice state it is...but lots of space.  Northeast New Mexico and the Texas panhandle is pretty desolate.  The only action that was going on was lots of large cattle trucks streaming down the highway and the ever present freight trains that pass by every few minutes...we did roll through a couple of small towns today, but the key words here are "a couple."  Tonight we are staying at a Best Western motel right by railroad tracks so I'll probably be able to tell you how often they pass by by morning. 

The traffic was never a problem out here.  Hwy 54 has wide shoulders in New Mexico and Texas albeit when we got to Texas the shoulder isn't quite as smooth in spots.  There was plenty of room for us to ride even side by side on the shoulder as we passed the time in the saddle. 

We passed our first feed lot today.  Actually, the aroma wasn't as bad as usual, but there was enough methane in the air to choke a horse.  For those of you who don't know what a feed lot is, it's an area where they bring cattle to fatten before they are processed and there are thousands of them in every lot.  It's sort of a sad sight because you know that in about 6 weeks, every one of them will have met their fate and a new batch will take their place.  It is quite a sight...and quite a smell especially if you are down wind like we were today, but it's what makes this part of the country prosper.  I guess knowing where that Big Mac comes from makes one feel a little different about eating red meat.

We are off the interstates now so we don't have to worry so much about the radial tire wires we pick up in our tires, but now we have the notorious Texas Goatheads.  These little plants produce a round, prickly thorn that plays havoc with anything it touches.  At our SAGs, we had to be careful and not ride our bikes in the grass at all...if we did, we'd pick up so many goatheads that we might as well throw the tire away.  Also today we ran into a stretch of road that Texas had just reslagged...the area was full of sharp stones that pretty much made mincemeat out of our tires.  I know I just about ruined the two new tires I put on last night.  I have several big cuts in the tread...we'll see how long they last after today.  No end to the challenges we face on the road.

Most everyone was in by 3:00 in spite of the loss of an hour.  The tailwinds early in the day really made today seem short and easy...especially in relation to what we've had over the last couple of days.  Everyone was commenting how their average was the best so far even with all the rain.  Most spent the remainder of the day servicing bikes and checking their tires for future problems.

We are on Central time now and we'll be in this zone until Ohio...where the dreaded eastern time zone will befall us...more on that later I'm sure.  As I said, today was a recovery day.  Did you ever think a 97 mile ride would be for recovery?  Tomorrow we're forecast to have a favorable day...we'll take it.  As I sit here typing in the afternoon, I see the sun shining outside which really is spirit lifting...haven't seen that all day.  We'll see you again then as we traverse 3 states on our way to Kansas.  Tune in and see how we do.