Day Seventeen - 5/10/2003

Route 66 dirt road

Texas Cows

What's up?

Lucille:

May 10 - Saturday - My choice of exploration for Tucumcari this morning was the Tucumcari Historical Museum.  I made a good choice.  It was a very interesting museum housed in an old 3-story schoolhouse.  My favorite was their collection of beautiful quilts.  I then went to the 2 antique shops in town and both were closed, so I hopped on I-40 and drove 108 miles to Amarillo.  I just relaxed in the motel and was happy to hear a knock on the door at 2:30 New Mexico time, 3:30 Texas time.  I'm still amazed at how fast those guys do 100 miles if the conditions are favorable.  We had a good meal at the Olive Garden.  We've been having a lot of Mexican food lately, and need a change of routine occasionally. I have decided that if I live to be 100, I will never meet another 2 guys who are as positive-thinking and patient as these two characters I'm travelling with.  Again tonight as we're about ready to call it a night, Tom announces that guess what?  He just noticed his rear tire has a flat.  Eric checks his bike, and guess what?  His bike has a flat also.  Tom is grateful that the tires on his bike are so easy to remove, and both think it is great luck that this was noticed while in the room out of the wind.  This has happened a lot on this trip.  There are these little thin pieces of wire on the road that work their way into the tires.  I would be screaming if I had to change so many tires!

We were the only ones on dirt 66

Windmill for Ed

New name for Texas being discussed

Welcome to Texas

Total Trip Distance: 1511.27

TOM:

Day 17 - Tucumcari, NM to Amarillo, TX 108 miles.  This route starts at an elevation of 4100 feet and ends at 3700 feet with one valley at 3850 feet and one peak at 4260 feet.  This was a very interesting day.  We started on Route 66 out of Tucumcari and traveled for 28 miles on a fairly nice frontage road. At the end of the 28 miles, the road  had a sign that the pavement was ending and the road started to turn away from Interstate 40 Freeway at the same time. We travelled for quite a while on a dirt road without knowing for sure that this was still Route 66. Eric saw a sign that it was Route 66 next to a farm house.  At this time we could no longer see I-40. After travelling for about 8 miles we saw a sign almost hand painted that access to I-40 was 6 miles ahead. During this time we saw some real back country scenes with a few farm houses and cattle ranches.  We saw no cars at all.  When we completed the 14 miles we were in Texas by about half a mile.  We got on I-40 for 18 miles and it was great!  The shoulder was wide and smooth.  Smooth was the most important feature.  Next we got off  I-40 onto a frontage road, again Route 66, which took us to Amarillo.  One of the biggest changes that I saw today was the land was more green, more ranches, grain silos, more moisture in the air (no longer the deep dark blue as in the desert).  We saw several windmills today. We had the western wind behind us all day and that made the trip easer to make.  It was another great day!

Tucumcari,NM to Amarillo, TX 108 miles.  This route starts at an elevation of 4100 feet and ends at 3700 feet with one valley at 3850 feet and one peak at 4260 feet.

ERIC:

Day 17 - (5/10/03) We had another great day today.  We rode out of Tucumcari, NM on Route 66.  14 miles before we reached Texas the road turned to dirt.  The riding was harder, but we still made a good time.  I enjoyed the little taste of mountain biking.  When we reached Texas the ride continued to be easy.  We had good wind to our back.  The Texas scenery has been just as I expected.  Lots and lots of open space, farmland, and cows.  We are spending Saturday night in Amarillo, TX.  At dinner tonight we saw all the local high school students all decked out in their prom outfits.  It was fun watching them.  Tomorrow will be another long day as we ride across the pan handle of Texas to Shamrock, TX.