-I am starting to go insane...I actually enjoyed city riding today, didn't mind a long hill, and was less bothered by the wind than usual
-I saw it out of the corner of my eye...too bad eyes aren't rectangular and thus do not have corners!
-Hmmm, pecans aren't that bad...even ones found on the side of the road
-Don't worry, they were shelled and under a pecan tree in an orchard
-Possibly the funniest thing I've seen all trip: all four of us are stopped at a red light between the right lane going straight and the right turn lane. The sun is to the left of us and a city bus pulls up to our right and stops. There happens to be a large picture of old men in suits on the side of the bus. I look over and see Paul using the shadow of his hand to rub one of the men's bald head. Absolutely hilarious!
-Sprinting for 10 miles into 15-20mph winds is be.....rutal.
-Flat #3...hope this isn't the new pace...2 in 3 days
-An egg is like a tree, you open it and get wood....umm sorry Paul but that's just crazy talk...maybe it makes more sense in French?
Today was a pretty good day overall. We didn't leave until about 10:30 because there were things that needed to be taken care of. We had a cross/head wind all day and it was pretty strong at times. Luckily it wasn't a dead headwind all day, but switched back and forth as we turned. It did make rising harder though. We had a spot picked out to stay with warmshowers but decided to go an extra 20ish miles to a nice New Mexico state campground. We did that because we had the light and it would make tomorrow's ride shorter. That is good for 2 reasons, the first being that tomorrow is more strong winds and probably more into us. The second reason is that it means we can be more rested for Wednesday, which is when we have to climb over 5000 feet in about 15 miles to a total of above 8200 feet. Oh joy, can't wait!
Today's ride was pretty nice in terms of scenery and flatness. We left El Paso on a long big hill but was almost totally flat after that. We rode past more mountains that were fake looking and really beautiful. Like tapestries and strangely 2 dimensional. We also rode through miles of pen orchards that was pretty cool to see. Good pecans too, yet another food I had no idea I liked. I also love bacon again, just saying.
I did get another flat tire today but luckily it was the front again and was the tube that I had all patched up. I think a patch came loose when I turned at one point. Luckily Ricky works at a bike shop and is an expert so the whole tube change was too quick to even take a picture of. We were back riding in under 10 minutes. I would've taken at least 20 probably.
These 3 treat me way to well. They treat me like a guest in a really good way. I just ate a nice meal and have a great dessert on the way and it's because they are so willing to share their food with me. Plus they are awesome and really fun to be around. I got lucky meeting them! Which is another funny point, I met them 5 miles before Texas and rode into the stats with them. We met up one other time for an hour or two and then I met them again last night and we rode out of the state together. So crazy that we were in Texas for over 2 weeks and did vastly different things in the state...but entered and exited together by chance really.
One more quick note, I am officially through Texas and in Radium Springs, NM. I don't think I came any closer to my $5,000 goal while in TX however. Please, if you enjoy reading my blog, and you haven't made a donation yet...consider doing so. I refuse to finish the trip until I read 5K! And depending on the route I choose, I have between 10 and 15 days left.
Nice work on arriving in New Mexico, Devin. One of your recent photos looks like a giant sand trap!
ReplyDeleteI forwarded your link to a number of my friends in the hopes that they would be intrigued and make a donation.
I'll try Facebook next!