Yesterday, rain, hail, headwinds. Today, sunny, warm, tailwinds. :)
Data from today tell the tale: 3:03; 72 miles; 346' climb; 4,215 Calories. I raced the wind!
You know you’re in Texas when the hotel’s waffles are in the
shape of the state!
Directions for today’s ride, turn left out of the hotel, ride 71.6 miles, and turn right into next hotel.
Highlights: Big Tex,
DQ at the SAG.
Guymon promotes itself with the slogan, "Queen City of
the Panhandle." Some cynics apparently have coined another slogan,
"Home of the Most Lied-About Weather in the U.S." There's a huge slaughter house here; they process 16,000 pigs per day; that's a lot of bacon.
Tucumcari, Dalhart, Guymon, Liberal, all exist because of
the railroads. Highway 54 runs parallel
to the railroad tracks. Tomorrow we continue on 54 to Liberal, Kansas; we will have been in four states in four days.
During the 1930’s, a prolonged drought and poor soil
conservation created dust storms and the region became known as the “Dust
Bowl.” Farmers were forced to abandon
their homes and many “Okies” departed in hopes of a better life in
California. If you have not read The
Grapes of Wrath, do.
Big Tex. It used to be the entrance to a restaurant in Dalhart.
Irrigation system
What today's road looks like - straight and flat.
Check out the size of the windmill blades!
Grain elevators - America's castles
Fast ride today! The good wind and weather today is your reward for getting through yesterday. And I'm betting that no one worried about getting lost today, unless of course they missed the next hotel.
ReplyDeleteLove the waffles! And the rest of the photos - this is truly a nation of wonders that most of us never get to see "for real."
ReplyDeleteOde to Waffles
ReplyDeleteBy Phoebe
Waffles are tasty
With butter, syrup, or plain
Get in my belly
That's Texas from under the earth.
ReplyDelete