Day 14 Sat th may Dodge city to Great Bend

Up at 5:55 for breakfast at 6. The Hotel put on a special breakfast just for us. Egg, sausage, bacon, pasties, biscuit and gravy and some fresh fruit. We loaded at 7 and left. We rode with Jim (the mechanic) and Judy (in charge of the meals) to the fist SAG.

Another feed lot.

Get out of Dodge!!

Although the route map says it is a flat day with the head wind it felt like going p Raymond road with a head wind.

Is this the down hill?

Not half way for us though.

We had lunch here.

A little church.

Another historical monument

This is the view you See of an upcoming small town from 20 miles away. They are sustained by grain processing/storage for all the cattle.

Distance today was  86 miles in 5:22. Mostly with a dead on head wind.

Day 13 Liberal to Dodge

Up at 7 ish a choice of pancake house or hotel breakfast. We ted for the hotel, whilst most wen to pancake house. Pancake house was en rout so they loaded at 7 an biked down while we ate an loaded at 8. The plan being that no-one left before 8 as we were expecting tail winds on a reasonable flat and short day. Starting off in warmish conditions and a wind with some tail component we arrived at the one and only SAG for the day before 10. This was lunch.
Before lunch we passed the lone tree historical marker.

We also passed numerous signs and directions to the infamous Dalton gang hideout. How the authorities took years to find it amazed the whole group.

Where are those buggers?

Maybe they ain't open for the law yet.

The hideout came with an escape tunnel. Here we stopped for lunch.

Boss man Mike. Brrr it's cold (25C)

Dawdling at lunch  and investigating the free components of the gang headquarters we headed towards Dodge. At times we cruised at over 30 miles an hour but mostly in the mid to high 20's. If you had felt inclined this could have been a very fast ride. Given that the rooms were probably not going to be ready too early we tried to keep a moderate pace.

This is a car sales yard in Fowler. No cars but was open for business.

Claimed this plant for the Fowlers.

Into Dodge and the hotel is in Wyatt Earp Blvd.

Give me some of Doc's medicne.

Inside pool and recreation area in motel

Six shooters at noon.

Drive in fast food. Only n USA

Some of the riders been sightseing just ariving.

Distance:84 miles in 3:42.

Day 12Dalhart to Liberal

The weather was for gusty head winds. Mike checked out his fancy iPhone and decided that sunrise was 6:35 so we had breakfast at 6 it was then he realised sunrise was 6:53. (We have moved into another time zone yesterday clocks forward another hour). It was difficult to gauge the temperature. The fancy phone said 10C but on the road it was a round 5C. The promised head winds were just starting gently as we left the hotel around 6:50. Vehicles still had lights on but is was getting light quick After sunrise and riding into the low sun Jason had his first encounter with the dreaded wire.

Ho do I fix this Mike?

This was just up the road from where the support van had stopped and along came Mike to fix poor Jason's tyre. We battled the increasing head wind t the first SAG. We started with Anthony he waited while we  (MIKE) fixed Jason's puncture then off again. Somewhere in this time we hooked onto a group of lads who decided o do some excessive tootling. We let them go. We crossed the state line into Oklahoma.

Are we there yet?

To fed all the cattle they need lots of grain. There are silos everywhere.

More head wind and onto lunch. Jason wanted to stop at Hooker and invest his money but due to the popularity there were no welcome signs. The wind was increasing an variable in direction but had a mostly head wind component. All the speedies except the big boy from Norway and his mate had tired by now and we passed them and crawled towards Liberal. About 4 miles from Liberal yo cross into Kansas. Our third state for the day.

Apparently Liberal is the origin of The wizard of OZ and there is a museum etc.

On the road today we saw a coyote and a badger. The Coyote looked like roadrunner had bettered him again as did the badger.

Distance today was 113 miles in 6:53 with a max sped of 25 mph ( this was in the last few km coming off a bridge). There was no need  for the big chain ring today. Whereas yesterday there was no need for the small. tomorrow is forecast for tailwinds. Ye ha. The legs are feeling OK and cycling is still not a chore. And look there is now some green stuff not all dry desert.

Day 11 Tucmcari to Dalhart

The day dawned nice and warm. Wind was favourable. Up at 7 breakfast just after, lock and load at 8 and off. After a gentle start through town we had a brief spurt ( around  40 minutes) of excessive tootling at 35 mph we arrived at the first sag.

See the wind blow.

After that we settled down and let the racers go. We crossed out of NM into Texas.

Soft pedalled into lunch still sitting on 25-30 mph. The wind was not square on the back was giving a decent push. Just before Dalhart we passed the giant feed lots where they fatten up the cattle.

We travelled 96 miles in 3:54 mostly just ticking the legs over. Tomorrow the wind is supposed to be strong an in our faces.

Arriving at the motel I went to the office to get quarters and soap for washing which they duly sold me. I went to the laundry and loaded up the machine with clothes soap and money only to discover that they had no washer only a dryer. To cut to the chase we used the motel washer and drier for free and they refunded my $1.50 I put in the drier.

Day 10 Las Vegas to Tucumcari

What a change a day makes. Nice and sunny although a bit chilly. The tv said 29F but Jason recorded more like 4 C. After yesterdays brutal day Mike delayed the departure until 8:15 to give us some respite especially the poor people who arrived later in the evening. Anyway we were awoken but what I think was the fire alarm at 5:45. Before we cold leave the room it was switched off. Back to bed. We drifted down to breakfast around 7. Had the route maps given out at 7:45 . Onto the highway and go until Tucumcari then into the motel. The route profile looked good, around 20 miles of gentle climbing. There was snow on the ground.

Then  a 2000 foot descent. Not too steep with nice sweeping corners.

You can make out the road on the hills far away.

The wind gods once again gave us a slight tail wind so we made good time to the first SAG. Karen had the 1000 miles sign here although her math was way off as we passed 1000 miles  earlier. he said i was a goo place to stop.

 After the SAG we passed a couple of US post offices which appeared to be "the town". Then there was the steep climb only 10% for 1.2 k's. It was a nice constant gradient. Stop for lunch and off to the hotel. We arrived at 2:32 having down 110 miles in 5:39. A good day for biking. To top things off the hotel provided cleaning rags and some snacks on arrival.

The weather has just predicted goo tail winds and similar weather for the next three day. Bring it on.



Day 9 Albuquerque to Las Vegas (NM)

The forecast was for showers and snow. Temps at 32 F (0C). Up at 5:55, Breakfast at 6:00. Load and leave at 7. It was cold around 0C. Straight out of the car park we were climbing. The fist 25 miles was climbing then a short respite and more climbing. During this time we passed a couple who had left early. (today is a long day with lots of climbing,135 miles and 8100 feet). The sky was changing quickly. It was fin then looked menacing then fine. However on the climb we hit a snow fall. Light flakes of snow drifted down. We passed through a town with snow on the roofs. And climbed our way to the first SAG. We arrived there first and it was cold. Taking your gloves off to get a bar froze the fingers. Then off heading for lunch.

Nice Sky

Looks like rain/snow

Where's it gone

There was a brief descent then up the last major climb of the day. Lunch was at a fire station.

Jason with Karen and Judy the support staff. We were first to lunch.

The fire station.

The firefighters offered their facilities but they were off on a call before we could take advantage. We headed off before getting too cold. A short climb then 1200 feet of descent on the I 25 so nice and gentle. This had a wide smooth shoulder. Along here we biked through a heavy snow storm. Visibility was reduced and it really built up on the clothes. Along here we sped up a little as it was pretty chilly snow was coming from all directions. The Van passed us just before the last SAG and the snow stopped as well. We signed into the SAG and headed of. It was rolling country and a slight head ind for the last 30 odd miles. Finally reaching the hotel at 4:15. Making 136 miles in 8:24. Jason ordered Pizza online as there are no eating places close by. We went down to see if the gear was here and yes it had left the last SAG when some riders were still 10 miles from it. They will have a long day. We unloaded the trailer and just as we go back to the room and the pizza arrived. Great timing. Preparing for another day tomorrow.

Snow at the hotel.