Another one bites the dust....

 Monday, September 14

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     I stand corrected on something I said the other day:  After Kim read my journal, he said that while he’d definitely stop for a herd of elk, he’s not sure about a herd of longhorn….they’re cows and he’s seen a lot of cows.  I guess stopping to get a picture of longhorns will be my job then. J

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    I don’t know why birds even bother living in this windy area.  They take off and then it’s like they hit an invisible force field and have to go back to ground.   I’d move if I was a bird.   

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As we ride along, I either see things or wonder about things that require a Google search when we stop.  I make notes so I remember to follow through on these things.  Google search for the day:

    *After riding 10 days in the sun, I wondered if it’s possible to overdose on vitamin D…since sunlight is a source.  Checked it on Google today….this is the paragraph that put my mind at ease:  “It's nearly impossible to get too much vitamin D from sunlight or from foods (unless you take way too much cod liver oil). Nearly all vitamin D overdoses come from supplements.”  Since I don’t take cod liver oil or supplements, it seems I’m in the clear.  Ride on!! J

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     Twenty eight miles down the road from the hotel, we stopped at Elk City, OK, to get tires on the trailer.  We were planning on doing that in Amarillo, but Kim was already eager for a break from the wind.  Another customer came over to talk bikes with Kim and they ended up talking riding and hunting, too. J Earlier, we stopped along the highway so I could put my camera in the saddlebag. I knew my harness would hold it, but it was a little disconcerting to have it blowing sideways off into space. 

     Our first day in Oklahoma, we were in hill country.  Rolling roads…fun to ride. According to what we’re seeing, we are now in the plains area.  A man in the Oklahoma tire store put it this way…’This is plains county…from here on out, it’s plains country’, then he went on to say that means that trees will stop…it’ll just be flat land. Doesn’t sound so scenic.  (By the way, he was right…about 20 miles into Texas, I was noticing the trees were few and far between and not so tree like as shrub like. But there is a definite scenic quality to the change in landscape.)   

    We’ve been advised that we’re in wind country and that’s not likely to change in Texas or New Mexico.  Our camping plans may have to be reassessed. Decided to cabin camp at the Amarillo KOA.  It’s the best of both worlds: like in a hotel, we’re in an air conditioned room, out of the weather….and we get the joys of camping: a campfire, cooking out, the 2 a.m. trek to the bathroom and possibly waiting in line for the shower. J It costs less than half a hotel room…and bonus! we get to save 10% with our KOA membership.  (As it turns out, the campground is in a protected area and the wind has died down so a tent would do okay….but also, as it turns out, neither of us was in the mood to put up a tent, so a cabin is good for tonight.)

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   The class I took, to get my cycle endorsement, stressed the ‘SEE’ principle when riding:

                Search---always be scanning for any potential riding hazard

                Evaluate---assess and determine possible course of action

                Execute---be ready to respond

So, today I found myself doing that with tumbleweeds, thinking about what my reaction would be to getting hit in the face with one....because the wind was that fierce.  The tumbleweeds were not just rolling along the ground, they were flying through the air!!  

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        On our way to Erick, OK, we passed an array of maybe 20 windmill tops in a lawn by the road.  Turned around to get a picture.   A man in a truck was just leaving the driveway and another one stopped to chat. The first gentleman continued on his way and the other gentleman got out of his truck to talk to us.  Said that the guy who just left was the owner of the place and the one who had put all those windmills there.  He works on/repairs windmills and still scampers up to the top of them, despite being 80 years old!  Because windmills are mostly decorative in our part of the country, I’ve never thought about the need for windmill repairmen.  But we’ve seen many operational windmills the last couple of days, so in this area there would be a need.

    Our reason for going to Erick, OK, was to visit the Roger Miller Museum.  We drove through town and didn’t see it, so we stopped at a gas station. Clerk gave us directions and also mentioned another store worth stopping at…said the owner was a fun guy to talk to.  What she didn’t mention was that the museum is only open Wednesday through Saturday…and well, we’ll never know about the owner of the other store because it was closed, too.  I was really looking forward to the Roger Miller part of the day.  Erick appears to be a dying town….most stores were closed or maybe that was just because it’s Monday.

    Crossed into Texas at about 2 p.m.  Two more states and we’ll have ridden in every state west of the Mississippi.  But we don’t want to just bust through them to say we did it…we want to enjoy what we’re doing and seeing.  Speed limit on US 40 is now 75 mph.  Pulling the trailer and fighting the wind really handicaps Bernie, so best we were doing was 60 or so.  Kim and I usually stagger ride…he’s in front on the inside lane, I’m behind in the outside lane.  But today, I found it best to be in the inside lane so I had room to move sideways when the wind kicked me over.  Didn’t dare get close to Kim because he had the bike and trailer both reacting to the wind.

    Phil directed us to take the 40 business exit approaching Amarillo….road that was recently chip sealed with no lane lines as yet.  As a semi was passing us, movement on the road caught my eye...thought Kim hit a piece of rubber and that’s what had skittered across the road.  Then he pulls off the road, looks around his bike, but doesn’t say anything when I ask what’s up.  Finally he asked if anything flew off his bike…said he heard a clattering racket and then his bike just died.  Oh, shit! We’re out in the middle of nowhere…this is not a good thing.  I told him what I had seen but didn’t think it flew off his bike, just maybe a piece of rubber his bike kicked up.  We walked back to where he thought it happened…and found 4 metal stakes either in or at the edge of the road.  Bernie had hit one…Kim heard the clatter, I saw it go rolling across the road.  Got back to the bike….it would turn over but not start.  He got to looking underneath it….turns out when the stake flew up into his bike, it sliced an electrical wire harness (2 wires involved).   As I’m panicking about what we’re going to do, he decides he might be able to fix it.  Gets a couple of tools out of the tool box, spends about 10 long minutes under the bike….and then I hold my breath as he goes to start Bernie.  Shazam!! It worked!!  Unfreakinbelievable!!  He had spliced the wires back together and after he was sure it would start, put a bit of Shoe Goo and more tape to hold it until he could get something to make sure it was really secure.  Picked up some flex tubing and zip ties that he hopes will get us through the rest of the trip.  I was (and still am) totally in awe of what he did!  J      Side note to this:  As Kim is under the bike and I’m trying to put things back in the trailer, a car pulls up alongside me.  Since it obvious we’re not stopped to look at the scenery, I’m sure it’s someone who wants to know if we’re okay.  As I turn and get ready to respond that we’re fine, he asks “Excuse me, but is this the Route 66 road?”  Didn’t see that question coming…. J

Observations from the road:

*Riding in this kind of wind is like trying to read a book in front of a fan.   

*Stopping every 30 miles to get a break from the wind is really gonna slow us down.

*A slight wind can make a hot day tolerable….a fierce wind can numb your mind.  L

*I want to see a live armadillo.

*Haven’t noticed many flying bugs in Oklahoma or Texas.  Grasshoppers, yes...bugs, no.

 

Today’s mileage:  184 miles           Total miles:  2,120 miles