We woke up around 8 to get ready to go. I took a shower this morning because I knew it would be a day or so before we made it to Leonard to visit Michael. Lynn made us a yummy breakfast again. Today we had eggs, cinnamon raisin toast, bacon, salted caramel hot cocoa, and orange mango juice. With full, happy bellies we got all packed. Curtis came over to see us off, so we got to see him once more. It was sad to be leaving because we just had so much fun. A mile or two into the ride, we found out that Joe's slow leak on his back tire that he's had for a while now is finally to the point that it won't hold any air at all anymore. We had to change the tube, so we decided to stop somewhere that would be off the road a little. The post office was right there, so that worked out perfect. While Joe fixed his tire, I mailed the phone/ wallet we found back in NM to the address that was on the lady's license. The only reason I still have it is that I had sent the lady a message on Facebook and was waiting to hear back from her. When I never heard back from her if the mailing address on the license was a valid mailing address to send it to her, I figured I better just send it. I hope it makes it back to her ok. With the tire all set and ready to go, we hit the road again. We rode through downtown Grapevine. It was all decked out for Christmas, which makes sense since it is "The Christmas Capitol of Texas." There were so many pretty decorations! All their roads here are so poorly made. Just like the other day, we rode on roads that had no shoulder and a curb right next to the white line. There are multiple lanes on almost every single road. Its amazing how there are just SO many cars. This area is so car dependent, it's quite sad. There is almost no infrastructure for buses or other forms of transportation. This is one place we know we wouldn't want to live, just because of that. Shortly after we got past Grapevine, we missed one of our turns- the roads are not marked well at all. Some have either no sign at all or signs that differ from what the map says- ie: the Farm Road # instead of the street name shown on the map. Neither of us saw it and realized we had gone way too far when we saw a Lowe's. I had looked up where they were located since I was in need of some more wire and I knew we weren't supposed to pass one for quite a while longer. While I went inside to buy another pack of wire, Joey looked at the map that was on the tablet and figured out how to get to our intended road. We had to do a little bit of back tracking, but not too much. Either way, there was still a lot of traffic. Somehow, we were riding along and Joe got another flat. We pulled over on the side of the road to fix it and he found a little piece of glass in the tire, so at least it wasn't another problem from the slow leaker we had earlier. While Joey was changing the tire, I worked on patching any of our tubes that had holes in them. At one point, Joe stepped in a red ant hill while we were there. They completely engulfed his foot and he was going crazy trying to get them off since a couple of them managed to bite him. Once the tire was fixed we continued on. We came to another road that we were pretty sure was mis-marked. This time we were almost positive that it was the road we were supposed to take. We were looking for Parker Rd. and based on the map that road looked like it had to be it. Every single sign on that road said the Farm Road number. We decided to go with it, and hope it was the right one. Never once did any sign say Parker, but we ended up finding our way just fine. It's a good thing we didn't plan on getting all the way to Michael's house in Leonard today. We had a lot of city riding to do, which is always a bit slower- especially since you have to leave time for you to get lost and unlost, and fixing two flats slowed us down too. At one point we found a Walmart and decided to get some food, since we were pretty much out of meal food. I got the stuff to make subs and we headed off to find a place to eat. We ended up eating on a bench outside of the gigantic city hall/library in The Colony. Joe and I decided to just have full half's so that we wouldn't have to eat any dinner. It was already around 2:30, so it worked out perfectly. We passed through a city called Frisco and thought about just staying there. In the end, we still had a little over an hour left of daylight, so we decided to keep going to McKinney, which is where we had originally hoped to make it today. It was about 15 more miles until we got to McKinney, but it didn't seem like it was as far because most of the area we had to ride through had houses and buildings to look at. We made a quick stop at Starbucks and then set off to find a place to camp. McKinney had some great sidewalks/ bike paths through most of the areas, so even though it was getting dark, we were pretty safe. We ended up camping behind one of the churches, right on the cement behind the back door- just in case there were sprinklers in the grass. There was a big floor mat that were a little squishy that we set up our tent on. It was the exact same size of the bottom of the tent, so it was like it was made for us. As we were laying in the tent, we snacked on a couple cookies and Oreo treats that Kim and Jason had sent with us. There was a security light inside the church, so we weren't in total darkness, which was nice. I tried for quite a while to find a station on the radio that just played Christmas music. I was so surprised that none of the stations that I could find only played Christmas music. There would be a Christmas song here and there, but that was it. I was a little disappointed by that. While we were laying in the tent, I thought that I heard some voices inside the church. Then a few minutes later I heard a beeping sound that sounded like an alarm. After that, it was all quiet for the remainder of the night, so we don't know what that was. I made one little bicycle since I was excited to have wire again and did a little typing. We went to bed pretty early again. We rode 54.08 miles today. Can't wait to see Michael tomorrow when we get to Leonard!
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Our first rest day since we left Phoenix. Joey woke up semi-early as usual and was nice enough to let me sleep in a little this morning. It was such a nice change! I didn't wake up until around 9! Lynn made some amazing pumpkin scones for breakfast. They were delicious- right hot out of the oven! Joey and I pretty much ate all of the ones that she made! After that yummy breakfast, I relaxed in bed and worked on typing for a little bit. It sure was a much comfier place to type than in the cold tent laying on the ground propped up by my handlebar bag! As I was typing, I listened to Christmas music, too. Around 12:30 we headed over to Bobby and Patricia's house (more family members) for part of the family's Christmas Dinner. Kim and Jason were there, along with Curt and Rita. We also got to see the relatives from Colorado (Jerry and Marcia, Jeremiah and Jake (and meet his wife Robyn)) again. There were of course a whole bunch of other people there that we didn't know either. It was so nice to get to go to a Christmas dinner, especially since we don't know where we will be ON Christmas. They had some yummy snacks including tortilla chips and chicken wing dip and more of those little Oreo bars that we love! Dinner was equally amazing. Two kinds of ham (one smoked and one roasted), mashed potatoes, corn casserole, beans, and so many other yummy goodies! We ate so much it's not even funny. After dinner, and a little time chit chatting with everyone, Mike and Lynn and Joey and I headed back across the street to their house. It is so great that they all live so close together! That afternoon, Mike and Lynn took us to the bike shop to see if we could turn my old wheel in under warranty and get a new one sent home in case we need it later on. The bike shop made a little bit of a problem out of it saying that we would probably need the receipt from when we bought the bike- which would be pretty much impossible since we were touring. But, they took the wheel anyways and told us they would see what they could do. It's so strange they made a big deal out of this because when we took Joe's wheel in to get the warranty on it when we were in Missoula, they didn't ask any questions, they just did it. They knew we were touring and knew we needed the wheel. Hopefully everything will workout with this bike shop here and we will get a new one sent home without too much trouble. We made a quick stop at Wal-Mart on the way back to the house so that we could get a new can of fuel since we had finally used up the other one. This can should last us all the way home, or close to it. For the rest of the day we just relaxed. I was ready for a nap since we ate so much earlier, but just relaxing ended up being enough. Lynn and I looked at Google maps to try to figure out the best possible route for us to take to get out of the area tomorrow. Mike and Lynn offered to take us out to hwy 380 so we didn't have to deal with the traffic, but we figured that we had plenty of time and so we might as well just ride. Once we had our route figured out and written down, I had a chance to use their computer to upload photos. It's been since Phoenix since I've had a lot of time to upload. I got a few uploaded when we were in Roswell, but the library computers usually aren't very fast and we are usually only allowed to use them for about an hour. Mike and Lynn's computer on the other hand was really fast! I got every picture uploaded in no time! For dinner, Lynn made us grilled cheese sandwiches with a couple pieces of avocado on the side and bbq kettle cooked potato chips. YUMMY! Later on, Curt came over to see if we wanted to join them across the street for some ice cream! You betcha! Mike and Lynn stayed home, but Joey and I couldn't pass up the offer for ice cream! On the way over, we saw Bobby and Patricia outside. It worked out good because at first we thought everyone was at their house, but it was then that we found out they were at Curt and Rita's house across the street. Good thing they all live so close together, it made it really easy. When we got there, Kim, Rita, Marcia, Jake, Robyn and Jeremiah were playing a very intense game of cards. It was a game called Pounce. My eyes lit up right when we walked in because I just love playing cards! The game was really neat-kind of like a giant game of solitaire where each player gets their own deck of cards. It is a very fast moving game, that's for sure. Joey and I each got HUGE bowls of vanilla ice cream with chocolate syrup on top. The kind of ice cream was called Blue Bell and everyone was raving about it. I can see why- it was so creamy! That was the kind of choice here in TX! As I ate my ice cream, I watched intently to figure out how the game was played. It was a simple concept, but there was just so much to look at during the game! After ice cream, Rita gave up her spot in the game and let me take over so I could learn. It was SO much fun! I can't wait to get a chance to teach it to family back home- it is such a blast! While I was in card heaven, Joey relaxed on the couch and watched football with Curt, Jason and Jerry. What a fun night! It was so sad to have to leave because we knew we wouldn't see them in the morning before we hit the road. Rita gave us a TX licence plate to add to our collection. It was an older one that had a lizard on it! We also got a little card from Kim and Jason along with a whole bag of goodies--including more Oreo things! I definitely have to get the recipe for those! As we walked back to Mike and Lynn's house, I was sad that we would already be leaving. Every time we get somewhere the time there just goes so fast. We have had so much fun, I guess it is inevitable!
When we woke up this morning and looked around, it almost looked as if it hadn't rained at all. It is so dry here that the ground must have just soaked up all the rain water like a sponge. We ate the cereal and milk that we bought at the store last night and were then on our way. We made a quick pit stop at the gas station on the way out of town. In doing so we met a nice guy who inquired about our trip. He said a little prayer for us for safe travels and that we would make it back home when we wanted to. It was a very good day today- we had a TAILWIND!! We couldn't have been happier! The miles flew by- that wind pushed us along. It was a beautiful sunny day- nothing like the cloudy chilly day we had yesterday. At the store yesterday, I bought some treats for us-- Nutty butty bars and Zebra Cakes. Nothing that is at all healthy, but they sure are tasty! About 15 miles into the ride, we stopped for a quick break at a gas station and I had a Zebra cake. Later on, we made it to the town of Rhome. There was a McDonald's that was part of a huge truck stop for the highway. We checked the directions so we knew how to get to Mike and Lynn's house (Kim and Jason's Aunt and Uncle) where we would be staying. There was also a TV that had the news on with updates about the shooting at the elementary school. It is just so sad. We've heard mixed stories and it seems they keep changing some of the details, so it will be interesting to take some time later on to watch the news and see what really happened. From there, we went out in search of a place to eat lunch. As always, we had our eyes peeled for a picnic table, but didn't end up seeing one in the little town. So, we just found a spot that would be out of the wind and sat their for lunch. The curb was pretty tall, so we were able to easily lean our bikes right there. We finally poured the last little bit of the gallon of Coleman fuel in our stove that we bought in Bellingham, WA! That can sure did last us a LONG time! Having cereal and milk and a lot more sandwiches has really saved on the fuel. We used SO much fuel in Canada when we were on the way to AK. That steady diet of oatmeal, mac and cheese, and rice required us to cook for every meal. So glad that we have grocery stores everywhere down here. Last night I picked up another package of cheddarwurst sausage to add to our mac and cheese since that was a nice change the other day. We had a nice little lunch break, and had a little snack for dessert too. The rest of the ride we continued to fly down the road. When we got closer to the suburbs of Dallas, we passed the Texas race track, which was huge. It was then that the traffic started to get out of control. SO many vehicles. We had it all mapped out so that we could get off the busier road as soon as possible, but as we were riding along, we couldn't find the road we were supposed to turn on. The roads just seem to go all over here. We continued down the busy road and figured out an alternative route. It seems like every road is insanely busy, so I guess it didn't matter. Almost all the roads are 4 lane and there is not an inch of shoulder on any of them. Just a big curb right next to the white line. Once we got to a road that had a sidewalk, we took that for most of the way. It was much better on the side walk, even if it did end in random places forcing us to ride on the grass for a little bit. It didn't matter, it was still WAY better than trying to combat the cars. Once we got our new route figured out, we didn't have any trouble at all finding our way to the address Kim and Jason gave us. When we got there, a couple of their relatives were there visiting from Colorado and Kansas. They took us over to Mike and Lynn's house so we could get settled and showered while we waited for them to get home (they were at a Christmas party until about 5). They had such a beautiful home, and a super cute kitty named Molly! I took a shower first and was just finishing getting ready when they got home. They were all dressed up and looking "spiffy" when they walked in the door. Every year, the family Christmas party they go to has a different theme- this year was Kentucky Derby. Lynn had a pretty dress on and a big wide brimmed hat that was all decorated and Mike had a nice suit on- they looked like they fit the theme pretty well! It would be pretty fun to have themed Christmas parties! It was so great to seem them again! We enjoyed talking with them and ended up watching the news on the shooting a little more. It is just so heartbreaking to watch. After Joey took a shower, we were treated to a great dinner that Lynn had made. During the winter, Lynn loves to make soup. She had made a chicken and salsa soup, that was very close to one of my favorite meals at home! Topped with tortilla chips, shredded cheese, sour cream and avocado, we had a great meal! I had two huge bowls of it; I just couldn't get enough of it. SO good. Kim and Jason and her parents Curt and Rita came over later that evening to visit for a while. We had a great time talking with all of them. Kim even brought over some goodies- muffins and these amazing Oreo fudge melt in your mouth amazing treats. We couldn't help ourselves and ended up eating all of the Oreo things! After they headed home, the four of us watched the movie 21 Jumpstreet, which was so funny. I am so glad that we had a chance to see this family again! Another wonderful day to add to our trip. This trip has been just so incredible-we are so blessed. We had a shorter day today- that was much easier thanks to the tail wind. Our miles totaled 50.98.
We woke up feeling great this morning. No sore bones or backs like when we sleep on the floor. The bed was just so comfortable; I could have laid there forever and would have been happy just enjoying how comfy it was. We got a chance to see Terri for a brief moment this morning before she dashed off to work. Once we were up and about, Robert made some amazing blueberry pancakes and scrambled eggs for us. He must have gotten tired of making pancakes because Joey had 2nds and 3rds, and I ate a lot too. SO many pancakes- it was wonderful! Robert even let us try some of his Quinua and eggs that he has almost every morning. It's amazing- before this trip we had never heard of Quinua, but there have been quite a few people that we've stayed with that eat it on a regular basis. After a great breakfast, we finished packing and then got ready to hit the road. We said our goodbyes and were in such a great mood because of how well we slept and the wonderful breakfast we had, too. For the first time in a while, it was a very overcast day. There was a 30% chance of rain and/or a thunderstorm sometime today. Of course we are hoping that it doesn't rain, but if it does, that will be the first rain we've seen since somewhere way up north on the west coast. We've had so many days with a headwind, and today was no exception. This whole head wind thing is really starting to get old. About 15 miles from where we started this morning was a little town that we ended up taking a quick break in. Just as we were about to start riding again, the rain started. Joe switched from waring his sweatshirt to putting on his waterproof cycling jacket. Luckily, it wasn't pouring like the last week or so in Alaska. It was more of a light rain. I actually didn't mind the rain at all since it had been so long since we've ridden in any. The wind was still against us, but we managed to make it to Jacksboro for lunch. We stopped at the library for a few minutes on the way in and were happy to get out of the rain for a minute. The rain had stopped sometime within the short time we were inside, but the wind was twice as strong when we came back out. Getting into the main area of town was a tough ride since the wind was blowing us around from what seemed like all directions. Even just stopping at the stop light we were being blown around just standing there. We were ready for lunch after battling the wind for the first half of the day and were really hoping to be able to find someplace indoors to eat, just because of the weather. Sure enough, we were lucky again! We stopped at the fire hall since it looked like someone was there. Upon asking the fireman if we might be able to eat our cereal and milk (which we were now having for lunch instead of breakfast since we had such a great breakfast this morning) inside, he said sure! We would have been happy just sitting on the floor where ever just because we were out of the weather. But, he took us upstairs to where their "living quarters" are and let us eat at their dining room table. It was then that we first heard about the horrible tragedy in Connecticut that happened this morning. Mike, the fireman, told us about how there was a shooting at a school and proceeded to find the news station on TV because he didn't know any of the real details of what happened. So, while we ate our lunch, we watched in horror as we learned more of the details of what happened. For quite a while after we were done eating, I was in kind of a daze just watching the news. Neither of us could believe that someone could do that to so many little kids. I had a very hard time tearing myself away from the TV to get back on the bike and ride. With tears in my eyes, we got ready to ride to the next town. The rain had stopped and the wind seemed to have died down a little when we started out again. Almost the entire rest of the day was a blur. I didn't pay any attention to what we were riding by as I couldn't do anything but think about those that lost their lives this morning and about how tragic it really was. When we made it to the Bridgeport, it was just getting dark, like usual. We stopped at the grocery store, which was an IGA, just like at home. Since we no longer have Safeway stores, we've seen a lot more of IGA's and other local grocery stores. Either way, I still miss Safeway! After getting a couple things at the store, we headed to figure out a place to camp for the night. The town was set up kind of weird. There was a main street, but it seemed as though everything was very spread out. We passed by a couple churches, but thought the best place tonight would be at the town park. There was a huge amphitheater/pavilion that looked perfect. We ate our dinner at one of the picnic tables outside of it just because there were lights so we could see what we were doing. As we were enjoying our "Voila" meal and some bread, we were discussing how we needed to call Kim and Jason (a couple of the RVers that we met in Denali) to touch base with them since we would be there tomorrow. About a minute later, Joe's phone rang- it was Jason! They must have read our mind. Joe and I are both pretty excited that we get to see them again. After dinner we headed into the amphitheater and dragged our bikes up onto the cement stage. There were a couple picnic tables on the stage, but that was it. We got our tent all set up and relaxed for a little while since it was still only around 7pm. Joey talked to his Mom a little and found out a few more details to the tragedy that happened this morning. Just when we decided to get out of the tent to brush our teeth, we heard what sounded like rain on the rooftop of the pavilion. As we were standing there brushing our teeth, the rain got worse- much, much worse. All of a sudden, the wind picked up and the rain just came pouring down. It was blowing in the open sides of the pavilion and flooding the parts of the park that we could see. We couldn't believe that it was raining so hard, it was almost like a monsoon-the rain was just coming down in sheets. It was so stormy that the flags on the flag pole across the street got blown right off. We just stood there watching the rain, being so thankful that it happened now and not when we were riding. The crazy thing is that we had no idea that it was even supposed to storm like that tonight. We were so lucky that we decided to camp on the stage where we were elevated from where the water was blowing in the pavilion and where we would be nice and dry since we were surrounded by 3 walls. If we would have camped in the grass somewhere in the park, our tent would have definitely leaked from the amount of water coming down and the wind. Everything would have been soaked- it would have been a nightmare for sure! We went to sleep listening to the sound of rain on the rooftop. We had a little bit shorter of a day today, but it was still slow going with the wind. Our miles totaled 58.44 today.
It wasn't nearly as chilly this morning as it has been the last few days, so it was a little easier getting up and out of our sleeping bags. After getting all packed up, we headed across town to the grocery store to get a some cereal and milk for breakfast. We were happy to find tables inside the grocery store to eat, because it was still chilly enough, around 35 degrees, that eating outside wouldn't have been very enjoyable. After a nice filling breakfast, we started heading out of town. We made a quick stop at the Subway/ gas station to fill up on water since we realized we still needed to do that. While there, we got talking with a couple nice ladies about our trip. I didn't realize it until after we left, but they gave Joey $8 to get a couple hot drinks since it was cold. That was just so nice of them! I'm sure we will find a good time to have some hot cocoa to warm us up! We rode back through the town square with all of the Christmas decorations- they were just so pretty all lit up last night! Another day with a side/head wind. There were a few flat spots in the beginning, but the terrain consisted mainly of rolling hills today. Although it is really gross, I will mention it anyways just because we thought it was so strange. Every day we see tons of roadkill on the side of the road, ranging from deer to armadillos. But today we saw something we've never seen before- a HUGE pig, which we were pretty sure was a wild pig, but can't be sure. We were just amazed at how big it was. The wind slowed us down a little, but even still we were able to keep our speed around 10 mph for most of the way. As we were climbing one of the hills, we could see what looked like a gigantic cow standing at the top of it. As we got closer, it still looked like a huge cow. Sure enough it was- but he was made of steel. They had a huge statue of a longhorn at the top of the hill! We had our lunch break in the town of Throckmorton at the picnic tables outside of the library. For the first time in quite a while, we had Spaghetti-os. I was happy that I bought a loaf of french bread at the grocery store this morning, because this little town didn't have a grocery store. During our break, Joey put a new chain on my bike, since mine was stretched out and ready to be changed. One thing that is fun about riding through areas where there is livestock is that all the animals react differently to us when we go by. Some cows or horses will just stand there and stare at you while others will run "with" you. During this afternoon's ride, we had a whole herd of cows running in the field next to us. As we got further and further down the road, every cow that the pack caught up to joined the running group. It was pretty fun to watch. When we were still about 15 miles from the town we wanted to make it to tonight, we went through the tiny little town of New Castle. The wind was still there slowing us down, but we made it into the town of Graham just as the sun was going down. This town had a town square like in Haskell, where the courthouse is in the middle and the square is built up around it. We had to ride a good ways through town before finding the grocery store. Even though it was getting cold out, we decided to get some ice cream to eat at the tables in the store. We also got our cereal and milk for tomorrow and some stuff for lunch tomorrow too. After our little treat, we headed off to find the nearest church, which looked relatively close based on the map. Not too long after we got back on the 4 lane road with no shoulder, a truck pulled up next to us and said he was a cyclist too, and would follow us to where we were going so we didn't have to worry about vehicles not seeing us (it wasn't a very good stretch of road to be riding at night, but we didn't have any choice). We rode for a while, but didn't see the church. So, we pulled off into a parking lot to see if the man in the truck knew of the church we were trying to find. Sure enough he did- and it was further than it showed on the map. He offered for us to just throw our bikes in the back and he would take us there so we didn't have to ride any longer on that road at night. It ended up being less than a mile more to get to the church, but it was still nice to not worry. Robert gave us his phone number just in case we ended up needing any help and we gave him our website in return. The church was a perfect place to set up the tent because it was kind of out of the main city area. Unfortunately there wasn't anyone around to ask, but it looked like we would be fine there. We heard that there was a low chance of thunderstorms tonight, so we set up under their overhang, just by the chance that it would rain. Like usual, Joe was busy in the tent setting up the air mattresses and sleeping bags, while I was outside cooking dinner. Suddenly, we see a white truck pull into the church driveway- it was Robert again! This time he had his wife Terri with him. They had come back to see if we wanted to sleep in a bed and have a shower!! Terri said she was surprised when he got home the first time and we weren't with him. They had also looked at our website and saw that we were certified to be teachers. Terri is a teacher and she said that they just had to come back and get us. Robert joked around that we were probably really efficient and would have our tent and dinner going by the time the got there, and sure enough we did. Our mac and cheese and cheddarwurst sausage dinner was almost done, so once it was, I drained the water out and figured we would just take it with us in my lap. Robert and Terri waited as we packed up everything and got the bikes back in the truck. We were so excited to know we were going to have a shower, and a bed. At this point, the shower was much needed since we hadn't had one since we were in Rosewell, NM (6 days ago!). With it being so cold out though, we didn't sweat much, so it wasn't as bad as other stretches that we've gone without a shower. We didn't have far to go to get to their house, probably only a couple miles. After unloading everything, we had a chance to do much needed laundry, take our wonderful showers, and then enjoy our dinner- in nice bowls at the kitchen counter. One of the best things about their house is that they have the cutest friendliest kitty ever- her name is Izzy! She loved attention and I loved giving it to her, of course. We had a very relaxing evening and enjoyed getting to talk with Robert and Terri for a little while. The bed was SO comfortable- much much better than sleeping on our air mattresses that don't keep the air anymore and are flat by morning. What an unexpected end to the day- but a fabulous one at that! Our miles totaled 76.80 miles. Joey has been really happy lately since we have been getting a lot of miles done- the time since we were in Phoenix really has flown by since we've been riding so much!
We woke up early today since it was a little warmer out. We've had a slow leak on both back wheels for a few days now. Mine is worse than Joey's, now, so we planned to fix it at lunch today. Joey pumped the tire up and we figured it would hold the air long enough to make it to lunch, or at least only need to be pumped up once more between now and then. We figured it would be nicer to chance the tire when it warmed up a little more so that Joey's hands aren't frozen trying to do it. We had some oatmeal for breakfast and were on the road around 9:15. We were so happy that it was warmer today! We both had to shed layers within the first 5 miles, since we started off wearing the facemask, pants and coats. The wind was actually pretty helpful today. It wasn't a compete tailwind, but depending on which way the road turned, it would give us a little push here and there. When we got to Clairmont we found out it was pretty much a ghost town. Their town sign said "Welcome to Clairmont-gone but never forgotten." The rolling hills continued for most of the day. At one point I got so warm that I had to take off sweatshirt, face mask, warm coat, and booties, which was a good sign! The cold front had moved out and the nice weather we had expected to have for most of the time down here was back! There was another little picnic area the perfect distance for us to have lunch at. While I made some mac and cheese, Joey switched my back wheels and put my new one on when he fixed the slow leak flat. The old wheel (original wheel that came on the bike when I bought it) had cracks where the nipples were starting to pull through every other spoke. The wheel had 15,115 miles on it, so I guess that's understandable. Since it wasn't too bad carrying the new wheel since Rosewell when we got it in the mail, it wasn't any big deal to carry the old wheel until we could find a bike shop that would be able to send it in for the warranty so we could get a new wheel sent home. As Joe was pumping up the back tire after changing the wheel, the unexpected happened. The pump broke! It was no longer had any pressure and wasn't putting any more air in the tire. Luckily he was able to get 60 psi in the tire (usual inflation is 90), so it was rideable, just a little soft. Even still, it was a really big problem to have a broken pump because we still had Joe's slow leaker that we had to pump up at the start of every day. We only had about 3 CO2 cartridges for emergencies, but were really hoping not to have to use them. Worried that we wouldn't make it all the way to the next town to buy a new pump, we thought we would have to detour to Abiline, TX to get a new one. That would take us an extra day out of the way, but it was still closer that the next town that would have a bike shop heading east. We called Grammy to have her look up some info just to be sure. While she was doing a little research, Joe figured out the main problem was the O ring. So, with fingers crossed, we headed out towards the next town on our route, which was about 12 miles away. We were hoping that there would be a hardware store there and that we would be able to find an O ring that worked in the pump. The wind was in our face for those last 12 miles. Shortly after arriving in the town of Aspermont, I got chased by a couple dogs running right down the middle of the road. The good news-- there was a hardware store! After much searching and trial and error, we found an O ring that would work. It wasn't perfect, but it was good enough! YAYY! Now we don't have to go way out of our way to ride to Abilene! The guy at the hardware store was awesome- he was so impressed that he gave us the O ring, and a couple extra just in case, at no charge. We had a working pump again! We stopped at the library real quick before heading out of town to fill up on water and send a couple emails. A guy there asked what we were doing and when we told him, he asked if we were hungry. He said there was a great restaurant in town that had amazing soup. That is where he was headed, but since we had just eaten, we were full and didn't have room in our bellies for soup. It was really nice of the "soup guy" to invite us to join him though! We had a great tail wind for a little while on the way out of town. It continued to warm up and so we stopped so I could take off my pants. We pulled off at the end of someone's driveway so we would be off the road a little. While we were standing there, they came home and talked with us for a few minutes. The guy was very excited about our trip. I love when others get excited about what we are doing because it "re-ignites the flame" in us and makes us excited about what we are doing again. It is so easy to get caught up in just riding and our routine that we only think about the now and forget about the big picture and what we've already done. After leaving town, we had more rolling hills before it turned into totally flat farm land again. The wind got us going at 20 mph for a couple miles before the road turned, which helped quite a bit. After that we were back to having a side wind, and we felt like we would never get there. My bike was making a little squeaking noise, which sounded like it was coming from the front, but we weren't sure what it was. Towards the end of the ride, we rode through the town of Rule. Since we had such a long lunch break because Joey changed the wheel, and had another long break in Aspermount, it was already getting pretty "late". The sun was getting lower in the sky and for a second we thought about just camping there, but in the end we decided to continue on. We only had 10 more miles to get to the next town of Haskell, which was our hoped for destination for the night. We rolled into town just after it got dark, but there were street lights so we didn't have to worry. Our first stop was the Dairy Queen, which appear to be in almost every town in TX, even if there is only 600 people. We treated ourselves to Blizzards and split an order of french fries. I got a chance to charge the tablet while we ate and was surprised to even find that they had free wifi. While there we talked with a nice lady who asked us a bunch of questions about our trip. After our little break inside, we headed out and rode around to find a place to camp. We checked to see if there was anyone at a couple churches, but there weren't. A couple people at DQ did tell us about the town park, though, and said we shouldn't have any problem camping there. So that's what we did. It was a wonderful spot to camp. We set up right under the gazebo that was all decorated with Christmas lights! It was a perfect home away from home- there were the Christmas lights, along with a light inside the gazebo, more outlets than we could ever use, garbage cans, and picnic tables. It was absolutely perfect- we are so glad we decided to go that extra 10 miles to get here! There was a local country radio station in town, so there was good reception on our little green radio. They even played a few Christmas songs which made me very happy. Joe talked to his Dad a little and found out that it was only going to get down to 35 tonight! It was nice enough to eat outside and enjoy just relaxing outside the tent. We had another one of our new favorite meals (Voila dinners) and I sat outside making a few more of our "business cards" since our stock was running low. It is kind of amazing to me how many people we've met. This was my 3rd pack of index cards since we started making cards in South Dakota. Each pack has 100 cards in them and we cut the cards in half to make the "business cards." If we used every one of the cards (which I know there were a couple that were ruined), that would mean we've already met 350-400 people that we gave cards to! How crazy! What a wonderful night. It really did feel like summer tonight in comparison to when it was 15 degrees out! We were very lucky that everything worked out today with our air pump and making it to Haskell! We rode 74.36 miles today.
Boy was it a cold night- even colder than when woke up to snow yesterday. A lady said it was supposed to get down to 9 degrees last night, and I think she might have been right! We packed up and headed to the grocery store to get some cereal and milk. Even on cold days- it just tastes so much better and fills us up for so much longer. I just wanted to walk around the store for a while to "defrost" since it was nice and warm in there. It was nice that the grocery store had a bathroom so we didn't have to seek one out at a gas station somewhere. We headed back to the laundry mat to see if we could eat in the chairs in their little entry way since we knew it would be nice and warm in there. The guy working the dry cleaning didn't have any problem with it at all- guess he knew it was cold out too! While we ate our breakfast, we were just so happy to be indoors where it was warm. Since we had milk left from the last half gallon we bought, we didn't have to buy any this morning. The only downfall was that there were ice chunks in our milk it was so cold- it froze a little last night, but not the night before when we woke up to the snow. The tablet was almost dead, so we let that charge for a little bit while I finished typing (I was too sleepy and cold to finish it last night.) The guy at the laundry mat told us that the radio said it had warmed up to a whopping 18 degrees already- and it was only around 9:30 am. We have had some slow mornings with this cold, but there isn't much we can do about it. The wind did not cooperate at all this morning and ended up having a light headwind all day. It is such a bummer that we've had so many days of headwinds when it was supposed to be the opposite. As we rode along, it looked like there was snow on the sides of the road, but there was no snow. there was so much cotton on the side of the road that it looked like snow. There was a little cotton in NM (along with red chilli peppers scattered everywhere), but nothing in comparison to here. The ride consisted mostly of very long straight roads, but it was a gradual uphill for most of the way to Post, where we would have lunch. The last couple miles into Post were downhill as we came off of the ridge. We thought maybe we would go to Pizza Hut for buffet if there happened to be one in town. It was so nice not eating in the cold yesterday and not having to cook any dinner later, too. The weather was also looking like it was going to warm up again after today, so we figured it would work out fine to eat out one more time. The best part is that we got to town perfect time for their buffet, which usually goes from 11:30-1; and there was indeed a Pizza Hut! Being a bit hopeful, we pulled into the parking lot. Unfortunately it ended up being one of the only Pizza Hut restaurants that no longer had a buffet. We were pretty bummed, but then again, I guess we didn't really need to eat out AGAIN, since we just did yesterday. We stopped at McDonald's to fill up on water and then went to search for the library- which took us forever to find. When we did, we took a little break to check on a few things online. I thought I would upload a few pics while we were there, but facebook was blocked, so that wasn't going to happen. The ladies in the library were not the friendliest people, which is odd because usually the people in the library are very nice. They didn't seem to like that we were there- I don't know if it was because we were "outsiders" or what, but they weren't very nice. First the buffet, then having a hard time finding the library, then the miserable people in the library- I didn't like this town very much. One thing that I thought was funny was that whole town sent everyone to McDonald's to use the bathroom. Before leaving town, we restocked on food at the store and decided to get a rotisserri chicken for lunch along with some garlic bread. We ate on a little park bench in town in the sunshine. We were so happy that the sun was out, otherwise it would have been really bad eating outside. By the time we were done at the library and grocery store, it had warmed up a little, so it was more bearable. We headed out of town into the headwind again, luckily it wasn't too strong and it died down almost completely by the end of the day's ride. When we left, we were worried that we wouldn't make it to our planned destination, but we knew we had to go for it. The hills were just slowing us down pretty good for this afternoon's ride, since there were more of them now and they were steeper. A couple miles outside of town, we found 2 brand new unopened Powerade's on the side of the road. We were a little weary to pick them up, but they just looked like they rolled out of the back of someone's truck so we figured we would go for it. Sometimes it's worth it to be daring. It turned out they were fine; we didn't get sick or die. There wasn't much out there in that section after post. We went by an old abandoned farm house and couple cows, and that was pretty much it. Between the headwind and the hills (and probably waking up to the cold last night), we were pretty tired today. As the sun started to go down, we still had about 7 miles to go to get to the next little town of Clairmont. We were very happy to see a picnic area sign about 4 miles before we planned to stop- perfect place to spend the night. We've passed by a few of these, but they were never in the right place to camp. It was just what we needed- a garbage, shelter, and a picnic table. We had one of our "Voila" chicken and veggie pasta dinners and bread for dinner along with some Hershey kisses for dessert. Joe put our food on top of the shelter just in case there happened to be raccoons; we didn't want any repeats of the other night. We relaxed in the tent for a while before going to bed. It was SO wonderful to not have to rush and try to get everything set up and get into our sleeping bags at the speed of light. The weather was actually pretty bearable, chilly of course, but probably only in the 30-40s. SO much better! After those two really cold nights, 30s felt like summer weather. We made it pretty close to where we hoped to, and were very happy to have a place to stop a little earlier than expected. Our miles totaled 61.66 today.
We were just so cold last night. I woke up in the middle of the night and had to put my sweatshirt and sweatpants on inside my sleeping bag to try to combat the cold. This morning was the first time since the beginning of the trip that I ever remember Joey saying let's just stay in our sleeping bag for a while and hope it warms up. We heard a noise outside and when I went to look, didn't see what was making it. But I did see something else--SNOW!!! I couldn't believe it! Who knew it snowed in TX! About 10 minutes later as we were laying there, we heard a noise that sounded like rain hitting our tent. Then we realized what it was-- sprinklers. We were dumbfounded thinking that there would be sprinklers on in the middle of winter, but there were. There was nothing we could do at that point but wait in our tent until they went off, otherwise we would have gotten drenched and frozen. After they went off, it was still so cold that the parts of the tent that got wet, which was most of it, froze solid. We decided to heat our water up for our oatmeal inside the tent in a an attempt to warm up a bit. It ended up being way more of a challenge than we ever would have thought. Joe had a really hard time getting the stove to light since it was so cold; we were worried at that point we wouldn't be having any breakfast this morning. But the adventure continued, when he finally got it lit, we then had another battle to face. The water in all of our water bottles was a frozen block of ice. As we were sitting there chipping away at the ice in the water bottles with a fork, we heard a nice voice call out, "Y'all want to come inside and warm up a bit?" Of course we did!! It was the pastor of the church coming to save the day. Just like that our morning adventure was over and we were happily warming up in the comforts of the church dining room. We even got to use a real stove to heat some tap water, that wasn't frozen! The pastor also put on some water in the coffee pot so we could make some hot cocoa. We had fun talking to Pastor Gene, and a nice lady named Jeanette, who was there getting lunch ready for a family that had a funeral today. It was so wonderful eating inside- it would have been very miserable eating breakfast outside this morning, if we ever ended up getting enough of the ice chipped away and melted to make our oatmeal. Joe put the tent in the sunshine while we ate our breakfast in hopes that it would defrost so he could get it put away. Pastor Gene said it was 15 this morning when he woke up at 5am, so it could have gotten even colder than that in the middle of the night! Our coldest time on the trip so far is here in Texas! Guess we are glad we didn't go to the Grand Canyon to have more days like this, especially since Joey didn't have his new sleeping bag at that time yet- so he would have definitely froze. We didn't expect to see weather this cold until possibly Kansas and Missouri since they are so much farther north. The front should move out in a couple days, so the good news is that the cold shouldn't last forever and it should warm up again. Once we were full, warmed up and packed, we headed off. It was quarter to 11 before we got onto the road, probably one of the latest starts we've had in a very, very long time. Somehow we had an incredible tail wind-FINALLY!! That wind got us to the next town that was about 28 miles away in about an hour an a half. It remained cold for a while, but the sun was already melting the little layer of snow. When we got to that next town, Brownfield, it had only warmed up to about 38 degrees. We stopped at McDonald's for a quick internet check and then decided to go out for Chinese Buffet at the restaurant next door to avoid eating in the cold. That ended up being the best decision- the food was yummy and it was nice and warm inside. We also met a really nice girl, our waitress, named Liz. She saw us pull up on our bikes and asked us where we were traveling to and from, etc. After hearing that we camp, even when it's as cold as it was last night, she invited us over to her place for a warm place to sleep, a bed, and a hot shower if we wanted it. I of course wanted to stay, but being that we only had about 28 miles, and a beautiful tail wind, we had to keep going. We couldn't risk staying and having a terrible headwind the next day- that's happened before. But even still, it was so great to know we had people like Liz looking out for us. We stopped at the grocery store on the way out of town and then continued down the long flat road. The wind died down a little in the afternoon, so we didn't go as fast as this morning, but it was still a tail wind so we were very happy. It remained cold all day so we had to wear our face mask and long pants for its entirety. Eventually made it to the town of Tahoka, where we would stay for the night. We looked around town at where we might camp when we arrived, but it was too cold to stay outside for the whole time. So, since it was only around 6pm, went to the warm laundry mat to see if we could sit in there for a little while. No one was there, but the door was open, so that's what we did. It was so nice and warm in there. We watched a little tv (the CMA's were on) and I got to do a little typing where it was warm. Around 7:30ish, headed to find a place to set up our tent. Another ridiculously cold night tonight. We were so cold that we set up the tent as fast as we could and then just went straight to bed. It was WAY too cold to even consider being out of your sleeping bag- it's one of those kind of nights where if you have to pee, you better believe that you are going to hold it until morning because it's just too cold to go outside at all. We rode 64.70 miles today.
It was pretty chilly last night and when we woke up, it was just SO windy. The walls of our tent were blowing all over the place. I was not looking forward to today because I had a bad feeling before I even looked outside that the wind would be against us for yet another day. Sure enough, the wind was coming from the NE. All of our food made it through the night just fine, so the raccoon never came back and if he did, couldn't get to any of it. We had the little packages of breakfast cereal, yogurt and juice that Peggy gave us for breakfast this morning and were happy to eat in our tent where it was a little warmer and out of the wind. The clouds off to the west of us almost looked like they could be snow clouds, so we will see what happens- it sure did feel cold enough that it could snow. We layered up with our sweatshirts and coats and even had to get out our face masks and thick gloves for the first time in quite a while. The wind was just blowing us all over, even as we were just pushing our bikes through the field to get back to the road. It was going to be a very long day. We weren't even sure if we would make it to the Texas line like we had hoped. Joey did a great job pushing the wind and I stayed in the draft so that I could keep up. We slowly made it down the road, feeling like we were hardly going anywhere. It was so frustrating. We had pushed through the wind for the majority of the first 6,000 miles of the trip, and when it was supposed to be easy miles with a tail wind, we still had a headwind. It took us quite a while to get through the first 15 -20 miles to the first town of Tatum, which is where we had originally planned to get to yesterday. The thermometer in town showed that it was only 39 degrees, and that was after it had warmed up a little from the sun (it was around 10:30-11 when we got to town). We stopped at the gas station and decided to get a big cup of hot cocoa to keep us going. It was also a good excuse to get out of the wind for a little while. When we got back on the road, we continued to putz along. We planned on having our lunch at the border of Texas, which was about 20 miles away. However, it took a while to get there, so we were pretty hungry before we reached that point. There was a restaurant/bar that was kind of out in the middle of nowhere that had a front porch. The restaurant wasn't open, so we figured we wouldn't be bothering anyone if we stopped there for lunch. It was out of the wind too, which was a nice break. We ate the last of our burritos and a couple of a string cheese sticks that we had left. From where we had lunch we had about 7 miles to get to the border. For some reason, those miles seemed to go a little faster, probably because we weren't thinking about food. Texas had a nice big sign to welcome us and a better road. No more rumble strips! We were surprised to see that there was no Welcome to NM sign when we looked back, especially since where we entered the state there were 2 signs! We were pretty excited to already be in another state. After we get through Texas, we will be going through the states even faster! After taking our traditional state sign picture we had a little snack (another cheese stick and a couple Hershey kisses!). We had about 15 miles to go until we made it to the first town in Texas. It was a struggle for sure, but we were determined to get there. Although it usually warms up by the afternoon, the wind was still so cold that we had our face masks and all our warm gear on for the entire day. As usual now, the sun was setting pretty fast. We were so happy to make it to town because then we had a chance to find a place to camp that was out of the wind. As the sun was setting, it got really cold- way colder than it has been that is for usre. It was going to be another very cold night, we could already tell it was going to be much colder than last night. We were lucky enough to find a church in town that had a little fenced in courtyard behind it. Luckily, the gate to the courtyard didn't have a lock on it and we were able to get out of the wind a little bit. We set up the tent in record time and decided to cook right in the tent. We cracked the door a little bit so we wouldn't get fumed out and got our dinner going. It heated up the tent really nicely which was a tremendous help. We enjoyed our "Voila" dinner with veggies, chicken and pasta again. Despite the fact that we knew we would have to wash dishes in the cold, it was wonderful to have a nice hot meal out in the cold. We washed the dishes as quickly as we could and then crawled back into our sleeping bags for the remainder of the night. It was so cold that I couldn't type like normal on the full attachable keyboard. So, I crawled completely inside my sleeping bag and just typed on the onscreen keyboard, which was a much slower process. But in the end, I figured it was better than not getting any typing done. The cold weather and it getting dark so early really makes it tough to get what I would like to get done. The temperature outside around 9pm had to be below 30 already-- it is going to be a tough night. Amazingly, we made it to Texas today! We rode a tough 49.46 miles today.
We slept great inside where it was nice and warm, especially since we got to sleep in beds! Both of us were very happy to have one less night out in the cold weather, but unfortunately, a few people have mentioned to us that there was a cold front moving in. When we were in the mountains yesterday and the day before, we heard that they are expecting snow by the beginning of the week! I guess we will have to see how it goes. Peggy made us a whole bunch of chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast this morning. We both ate so many that we might not even need lunch today, and if we do, it will just be a small snack I'm sure. We were full to the brim, and those will keep us going for quite a lot of miles. After our great breakfast, we got everything packed up. Peggy headed into town to check the post office one more time in case our wheel came in the mail yet, since it wasn't here yesterday. We figured that if by chance it did come in, we would just meet her in town. Wouldn't ya know, we had another crappy headwind again today. It wasn't as strong as it could have been, but either way, it was still a headwind. We were so bummed, yet another day fighting the wind. It feels like that's almost all we ever do. When we got almost into town, we got a call from Peggy- amazingly, the wheel had come in! She met us right as we were heading into town and we were able to just take the wheel out of the big box and strap it to Joey's bike. It was nice that we didn't have to carry the box too! So, with wheel in tow, we headed into the main part of town. As expected, there were more alien themed things around. We stopped briefly at the National Alien and UFO research museum, but didn't go all the way in as there was a charge. Even still, we could walk around the lobby and get a good sense for what was inside. From there, we rode past the shops with aliens painted in the windows and stores with "alien themed" names, over to McDonald's. I just wanted to go there because I had a feeling it would be a neat one. Sure enough, it was! The whole front of the building looked like a UFO- probably the coolest Playplace ever! The inside of the McDonld's was futuristic and "Space-like," too. With full water bottles and a few napkins for the road, we headed out of town into the wind. It was a flat ride for the first few miles before we had a couple hills to climb near the rivers. Once we were over those, it was flat again, but yet that wind still kept slowing us down. Around the 30 mile mark, we stopped for a quick snack a little in a pull off with an old mail box for an abandoned house that was across the street. We ended up having a couple of the little burritos and a muffin or two while sitting on our blue tarp in the sunshine. If only the wind would turn around so we could go nice and fast. The sun helped it warm up a little, but the wind itself was still chilly. After lunch, we continued on. The further we got, the more we realized we probably wouldn't make it all the way to where we hoped. As we plodded along, we passed by so many oil rigs drilling for oil. Sometimes we could smell the oil in the air while other times we just heard the creaking of the rig as it pumped up and down. That fence that lined the road on both sides was still present and making us think it was going to be a challenge to find a place to camp, as it was quickly getting dark. Once that sun went under, it got cold really fast. So, we knew we had better find a place to set up the tent soon. We ended up finding an opening in the fence that had a cattle guard we could cross to get further off the road. Since it was nothing but flat land, we figured the most "hidden" place would be behind one of the oil rigs that was no longer in use. It hid our bikes and our tent pretty well from the road and even provided a tiny bit of a wind break. We've camped in some strange places, but who would have thought we would ever came next to one of them! We were happy that we had a couple of those burritos left from Peggy's so that we didn't have to worry about cooking any dinner. Once everything was set up and we ate our dinner and headed off to bed. I got a little typing done, but it was so chilly that it made it difficult. We had been relaxing for about 45 minutes when we heard something outside. We got out my bike light and looked outside. What did we see but a pesky racoon trying to get into my pannier that held the food. We both got out of the tent to scare him away and he left. Sometimes once is enough and they stay away, but this HUGE raccoon was pesky and just came back. So, we took out the bear canister-- which we were glad we didn't send home after we were out of bear country- and got as much of the food packed in there as we could. We had more food than normal because Peggy had given us so much for the next few days. The rest of the food we put in our other food bag and Joey tied that to a bar on the oil rig where the raccoon wouldn't be able to get it. The whole time we were packing the food, the raccoon was off about 50 yards away just sitting there watching us and waiting for us to "leave." When we went back in the tent, we just sat their listening and waiting, knowing the raccoon would come back. Sure enough he came back and tried to get in the bear canister, which obviously was a losing battle for him. He went back to the food pannier, which probably still had a little smell of food even though it was not empty. The raccoon tried ripping at the pannier, which we put a stop to as soon as we heard it for fear that he would ruin it. We scared him away and as he was running away, Joey threw some rocks in his direction to try to get him to stay away. That seemed to keep him away longer. He came back one last time and when he couldn't get to any of the food that he smelled gave up and finally left for good. It's been quite a long time since we've had to deal with any raccoons! At least we had a little adventure for the night, and we were able to protect our food. Once the raccoon was finally gone, it sure was nice to be able to just stay in our nice warm sleeping bags! Another tough day of riding. The cold front is slowly moving in, so it will probably get colder. They are also calling for snow here soon, so we will see how that goes. Hopefully tomorrow the wind cooperates so that we can get to Texas! We rode 62.61 miles today.
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