Day 88, October 28th 2007 (Denton,TX to Denton,TX)

I wasn't planning on taking a day off today, but it seemed like a good place and time for one. When I woke up it was in an excellent bed and I had slept too well. Since we had stayed in Grapevine for the evening, we had a good 20 mile drive to get back to Denton for the day. Once we were back at Jay C's place I was able to take a nice shower and then enjoy breakfast. He had prepared some eggs and toast and it was a perfect way to begin the day. I had the entire day in front of me and since it was a college town I was anxious to see more of the campus. I didn't want to get back on the bike and since Jay C lived so close to the campus I decided to walk. It had been awhile since I had gone for a walk and so it was nice to use my legs for a different use other than pedalling. I walked through the campus and then up the street to the downtown area. It was a nice little square in the downtown area and it was nice to sit and enjoy some of the area. I was told that there was an interesting movie theatre a mile up the road and it sounded like a good way to kill a couple of hours. It was a perfect day to be outside in Texas, again. I went the mile and when I arrived at the theatre I was able to see what separated it from most theatres. It was called the Movie Tavern. They were a restaurant and a movie theatre combined to give you food and theatre at the same time. After the first movie that I watched I decided to see another because I wanted to try some of their food. It was closer to dinner time and it made more sense to order food at this point in the day. It was a very cool set-up and I really enjoyed having a great meal while enjoying a film. It was a nice set up that they had and it worked very well. When I had finished watching movies for the afternoon, I started to hike back to Jay C's. He had called and told me that he was going to be on campus at the library for awhile and so I wasn't supposed to expect him back for a little while. He had left the door unlocked for me and when I returned I used the kitchen to make a little pasta. Tomorrow was going to be another day on the road and I wanted to make sure I had the energy to go the distance. My body was going to be well rested after the lengthy day that I had just endured.
Daily mileage: 0.0 miles
Total mileage: 5,340.8 miles

Day 87, October 27th 2007 (Jacksboro,TX to Denton,TX)

I was very motivated to get to Denton and have a nice place to stay for a night. It had been a couple of days on the road without a shower, and even longer since I had stayed with someone from warm showers. I was looking forward to being able to meet someone new from the area and to see what was happening in the town of Denton. I started riding at around 9. It was still a little chilly riding early in the morning, maybe 40 degrees. It seemed to usually warm up around 10 to 10:30 so I warmed myself up for the first couple of hours and then I would start to really warm up with the temperature. The wind seemed to continue to not do very much, and for that I was pleased. One thing that seemed to remain the same were the rolling hills in the area. I was riding up and down hills through farm land and I was seeing a lot of the same characteristics of back home in Iowa. I went for the first half of the day and then was just going to pull over for lunch. I figured that I would have a couple of my famous peanut butter sandwiches and then I looked down because my back was practically coming to a stop on its' own. I thought that I had a flat or something, but my bike was stopping on its' own. As I peered down I saw that my bread that had been hanging on the rear rack had swung down and was caught between my rear wheel and my chain. The bag had torn open and bread was being shredded out of the rear of my bicycle by the wheel as it continued to turn. It took me a little while to scrape out all of the remnants of bread that had become glued to my chain and then I started to look for other options for lunch. There was buffet for only $5.50 and so I decided to go and surprise some of the folk in the area. It's always great to see the reaction on people's faces as I come in and shovel a few plates down and then get back on my bike and continue to ride. The food was good and I was starting to approach Dallas as I left. The cities were definitely growing in much larger sizes and the traffic grew as well. I had heavy traffic blowing by me on the road and I was forced to deal with the shoulder of the road. I wasn't able to spend as much of my time looking around as I was spending keeping an eye on the drivers approaching me from behind. There wasn't much around me at this point besides business buildings and restaurants, so I really wasn't missing out on too much. The desolate land now laid behind me and it was the traumatizing large cities that laid ahead. When I was approaching Denton I called the host on the warm shower's list, Jay C, to let him know I was near. He gave me all the directions that I needed to get to his house and it seemed nearly impossible to mess things up. As I came in to the area I was able to see that this was a college town. I had no idea that it was a college area until now, but it was apparently a fairly large school. With about 25,000 students it was easily the largest town I had been in for a good few weeks. When I reached Jay C at his apartment , it was nice to be able to stay with someone my age for the first time. It was a very nice place that I was able to put my things in and call home for an evening. I was given that great warm shower that I had longed for and then I was able to get to chat with Jay C. He was going to school for an English major and he was nearing the end to the degree. I was able to watch football for the first time in awhile and tried to catch up with what was happening and what I had missed. The World Series was also in effect and I had missed a couple of the games and apparently I hadn't missed very much. The Colorado Rockies were being pummeled by the Red Sox and it sounded like a pour display for a World Series match up. Jay C had mentioned that for the evening there was a Halloween costume party that one of his friends was going to have in his home town, about 20 miles away. I had almost completely forgotten about Halloween and the idea of being able to where the same thing that I had been wearing as a costume seemed easy and could be kind of fun. So we went to this Halloween party that started small, but ended up being fairly large. It was funny with some of the conversations I had with some of the people at the party. It would usually start with them commenting on my sweet shorts. Then I would tell them that these were the shorts I had been wearing for quite awhile now. They guessed right away that I was dressed as a touring cyclist and then I would say yes, because I was. It usually took a few more minutes for them to realize that I wasn't just being in character of my costume, and that I was actually touring around the country. It was an eventful evening with some very classic moments. I really needed a video camera at this point of the trip to capture some of the expressions on some of the people's faces. They almost seemed mystified that I was actually on this journey, and some walked away thinking that I was lying to them. I was able to meet a few of Jay C's friends and one whom was Justin. Justin lived only a few minutes away from the place where the party was being held and when we had enough for the evening we went to his place to call it a night. Justin was great to chat with since he was also planning on taking some time off after this next semester to pull a long trip. He was going to attempt hitchhiking around Mexico and with the appropriate gear, it sounded like an incredible time. I tried to answer some of his questions as best as possible and only wished the best for his journey that lay ahead. I had an incredibly nice bed to sleep in for the evening and it was a great way to end an eventful day. I was running into so many great people along this trip. At a place like I was at for the evening, it was too difficult to write about all of the great people that I met.

Daily mileage: 66.1 miles
Average speed: 12.2 mph
Total mileage: 5,340.8 miles

Day 86, October 26th 2007 (Throckmorton,TX to Jacksboro,TX)

It was incredible how well I slept last night. A great lawn to sleep on had been tough to come by until Texas. Waking up to my hot bowl of oatmeal I was able to chat with David and his friend. David's friend had come into town late last night, and he was in town to preach for a weekend retreat in the area. He was a very cool guy to be able to chat with and he had also been on the road earlier this summer. In August he had taken a couple of weeks off to ride his motorcycle a good few thousand miles. I wish I could have taken a few days to stick around for the retreat, but I had arrangement ahead of me on the road. I had contacted someone on the warm shower's list and was projected to be there on Saturday. So I wasn't able to stick around and see how things happened to turn out, but I did have a couple of easy rides ahead of me. With about 140 miles from here to Denton, it was going to be a relaxing next couple of days. After cleaning everything up I was out for a ride. I was very thankful for the wonderful weather I had managed to receive in Texas. There was hardly any wind again for the afternoon, and it was in the low 70's. I had a few towns to stop in before I finished for the day, 70 miles away. With the rolling hills in front of me, I was having to work a little harder. There really wasn't too much to talk about as far as the scenery. Just another day going through Texas and moving East. The roads seemed to change at every county from good to bad. Then from bad to good. I would be riding on excellent pavement and then on the plastered gravel that I had mentioned before. Needless to say, I was glad to see the town I was ending in for the day when I did. It was probably 3:30 and I had a good few hours of daylight ahead of me. I didn't see a park anywhere in the town, but I targeted a church and darted for it. I was able to get a hold of the pastor at the church and was okay to put my tent in the lawn. It was another great patch of land that seemed far enough away from town to avoid too much trouble on this Friday evening. With all of the daylight ahead of me still, I was able to enjoy the afternoon. I sat and relaxed and then took a nice walk through the town. It was a town of about 5,000 people and with it came a lot of little shops. It was great to see some of the Texan culture. With about an hour of daylight remaining, I walked back to my tent. I cooked a heaping bowl of pasta and watched as the sun went down. Tomorrow was going to be a warm shower, and I was ready for one again.

Daily mileage: 70.8 miles
Average speed: 13.0 mph
Total mileage: 5,274.7 miles

Day 85, October 25th 2007 (Jayton,TX to Throckmorton,TX)

AS I was getting out of my tent this morning I was greeted by Pastor David. He had just shown up to the church, and I had just woken up for the morning. The sun was just starting to rise and I was welcomed inside the church for a hot cup of coffee. Once I was sipping some excellent coffee with all of its' magnificent caffeine, I was offerred breakfast. Before I knew what was going on I had a plate full of french toast to go along with the morning coffee. I really enjoyed talking with David, he seemed to have a gret concern about the youth growing up today. I agreed with him on many things, and it was great to see how well he was able to incorporate sports and christianity on youths in the area. Two very strong and important issues today were being incorporated in this one area of Texas. It was an exceptional way to start the day on the road and it was a great boost that I needed in this area. The land was about the same as I left Jayton, but there were a few more rolling hills. The scenery seemed to remain about the same as I had been seeing. The only thing that seemed different was that I hadn't seen any cotton fields. There seemed to be quite a few wheat fields and other plots of land that had been torn up at this time of the year, but not a single sign of cotton anywhere. Thw wind was still blowing from the north to the south and I was beginning to think that it wasn't going to change anytime soon. I would probably be riding with a crosswind for a good portion of the next few days. It seemed okay with me at this point, as long as I didn't have 40 mph gusts of wind. With only 30 miles left to go for the day, the afternoon had gone by like a breeze. I stopped to enjoy some lunch in a small little town of Texas and pondered how great these small towns were. When in New Mexico it seemed like a small town on the nmap could have a population of one family and you had no way of knowing until you arrived. Which led me to think of when I was told that only one and a half million people lived in the entire state of New Mexico. Now, only one state east of New Mexico O didn't seem to have much of a problem with the small towns. Each town usually had at least 500-1,000 peopla and sometimes even more. Every 30 miles I was more than likely going to run into a gas station, civilization, and water. It may not seem like a very big deal, but this was everything I had to look forward to out in this open area of the country. Water was so crucial to have, and now I was in an endless supply. So I left for the last 30 miles of the day and was thankful for being given in abundance on my travels, and now here in Texas. When I pulled into town I decided to find a church to set up tent again for the evening. It was a town of about 1,000 people and I very quickly noticed a First United Methodist Church. It had an incredibly huge lawn and seemed like a great place to sleep. I went inside the building, since I had seen a car in the parking lot, to ask permission to set up camp. There was a great lady, Diane, working in the church and she happily contacted the pastor for me. In only a few moments after she had contacted the pastor, the phone was in my hand and I was being invited over for dinner. I couldn't wait to spend another evening indulging in something other than my pasta. After I put my tent up and had everything ready to go for the eveningm Monty came down to where I was. Monty was the pastor of the church and only lived a couple of houses away. We walked into his beautiful home and I was able to meet his wife, Ashley, and their two younger kids. One of their younger ones was about 2 and the other was only 6 months. It was great to be brought into such an incredible family with open arms. The rest of the evening was full of great fellowship and a chance to play a role in eachother's lives. After the meal was over I was given an opportunity to take a shower. I was squeaky clean in only a few minutes and was feeling much better without the sweat and grime. I was given food in abundance before I left the house, and I was incredibly thankful for all of the hospitality I had recieved. I was now able to sleep full and clean, an excellent combination to have.
Daily mileage: 89.1 miles
Average speed: 13.4 mph
Total mileage: 5,203.9 miles

Day 84, October 24th 2007 (Brownfield,TX to Jayton,TX)

I was feeling much better this morning. After about two full days of rest I was feeling great. I was ready to venture out of Brownfield and see what the rest of Texas had to offer. The morning was incredible and wasn't nearly as windy as a couple of days ago. I was going east and it felt as if the wind might have been coming from the northwest. It wasn't completely at my back, but it was good enough for me. I was seeing a lot of the same terrain where I was. Cotton fields were everywhere and I was even able to see a couple of planes sweeping over the fields. It was a new style of farming that I hadn't seen before, but it looked fairly cool. As the day went on the wind started to pick up. It also wasn't coming from the northwest anymore. The wind was blowing from the north to the south by noon and although it wasn't as violent as I had witnessed before, it was still blowing strong. I was able to keep pushing ahead without having to worry about falling over from the wind. It was in the lower 70's for the afternoon and it felt nice and cool with the wind. The wind seemed to change about the same time that the scenery did. It was still very flat, but there didn't seem to be as many crops or cotton fields. It seemed like almost a green marsh land with little cacti growing around. It was a different sort of scenery to see and it was nice to finally have some change in the state. Another thing that had changed was the road. I almost got off of my bike and kissed the pavement because it had changed from gravel pavement to actual pavement. My rear end and I were so happy to experience a different road to go with the surroundings. I continued on for the afternoon and even with the wind I was feeling great. My body had rested for so long that it was looking to do something today. I didn't even pay attention to the amount of miles that I was putting in, but I reached the destination I had picked for the day at around 4. I had only been riding for about 6 hours and had put in 90 miles already. I looked around the area and I almost missed the town because I blinked. There were two houses and a cemetery in the area and it was the smallest town I had witnessed in Texas. The next town was 15 miles from here and with all of the daylight I had ahead of me I decided to keep going. When I reached the next town it was well deserved. I had to go north for the final 8 miles to get into town, and I was dead against the wind. Although the town of Jayton was only a little over 500 people, they did have running water. They also had a church at the edge of town. I wasn't sure if they had a Wednesday night service, but I was willing to find out. There were a few cars in the parking lot which seemed like a good sign. I pulled up just as a few younger kids did, and I was able to find out that there was a high school gathering at the church for the evening. The pastor had just finished with a service for the evening and I was able to get a few of my needs met for the evening. He told me I could camp on the church property, but first I had to have a meal at the church. It was a hot bowl of chili that was on the menu with some chips as well. All of the youth were engulfing their bowls of chili and I never passed up a warm meal when I was offered it, so very quickly I was just another kid engulfing my bowl of chili. It was an excellent way to end a long day on the road. Although I wasn't able to attend a service for the evening, I was able to chat with Pastor David Jones. I was so thankful for his being so hospitable, and it seemed to me yet more great thing that had been bestowed upon me. After I had eaten and set-up tent the pastor was still working at the church. He came out and let me know that if I needed anything over the course of the next couple of hours that he would be in the church and I was welcome to come in. After those hours, he pointed to where he lived and welcomed me to use anything that I made need in case of an emergency. It was an incredible luxury to have this much help for one evening. I went to sleep stuffed and in the midst of very good people.
Daily mileage: 108.6 miles
Average speed: 12.5 mph
Total mileage: 5,114.8 miles

Day 83, October 23rd 2007 (Brownfield,TX to Brownfield,TX)

Well, I guess I'm not superman. I woke up this morning and was still feeling sick. I didn't plan on being sick throughout the trip, but I guess I should have. I have been on the road for so long that I'm surprised I haven't been sick earlier than now. I was really thinking that if I was going to be sick it was probably going to be somewhere in the mountains where I had to get used to the elevation or the diverse temperatures. That wasn't how it worked out at all though. Here I was back in the Central Time Zone, which I had grown up in all my life. Back in the flat land where I was most used to seeing this type of scenery and this type of land. Last but not least, here I was sick in the one part of the country that I had been able to relate with to home for the first time in over a couple of months. With a raging headache and an upset stomach, I was hoping to take some medicine and then feel better tomorrow. The only problem was that to get the medicine I was going to have to get out of the bed and then go to the store some 3 miles away. I paid the lady that ran the motel for one more night and then got the directions to the nearby store, 3 miles away. I was able to get the medicine that I thought might do the trick, and for the rest of the afternoon it was time to rest and let the medicine do the rest of the work. Another night to stay at the luxurious Economy Inn Motel.
Daily mileage: 6.2 miles
Total mileage: 5,006.2 miles

Day 82, October 22nd 2007 (Plains,TX to Brownfield,TX)

I tried to wake up early this morning, but it wasn't possible. I was a little tired, but the main problem was that it was too cold. There was a strong wind blowing in the area and it made it even colder outside than what it could have been. I figured I would wait until the sunrise and then get up. The sun rose and the temperature still seemed to be very cold outside. The strong wind made it nearly impossible to stay warm. When it was 8:15 I went out of my tent and bared the cold weather. I packed everything up and went to the nearest gas station to fill up my water bottles. When I asked the lady at the register why it was so cold, I wished I hadn't have heard her response. Apparently there was a cold front that was coming through and this is what I was going to have to deal with for the next week. I was so happy to be out of the mountains and drop to a lower elevation, mostly because I was looking forward to the warmer temperatures. With the cold front blowing through here though, it would appear colder than the mountains. Nothing was able to block the wind so it was me riding out in the middle of the wind storm. With the great news that I was given for the morning, I was on my way. I was practically being knocked over on my bicycle as I was heading eastbound. The wind was blowing from the north to the south and I was having a tough time riding straight. Both hands were on the wheel at all times and it was an excruciating ride for the day. Each car that would drive by would block the wind for a split second, and then the wind would smack me again. I was going about half the speed that I wanted to be going for the day. I was really hoping for the wind to remain going east as I went to bed last night, but it had changed. Besides the wind knocking me around I had cotton fields on both of my sides for practically the entire ride. Although different than the mountains, it was still something different to see and I was able to get a great look at them with the speed I was travelling at. After riding for 3 and a half hours I had gone 35 miles and I had made it to the first town on my list for the day. I was exhausted and feeling sick from being tossed around all afternoon. I had to stop into the local library to not only warm up, but to see what I was facing outside. It was 55 degrees outside at 2 in the afternoon, and their were gusts of wind up to 40 mph. I was only sitting inside for about an hour and decided I was going to call it a day. I was feeling sick and I needed some good rest. I hadn't taken a day off for awhile now and so I figured today was the best out of any to take a day off. The weather for the rest of the week was supposed to be in the low 70's and have about half the amount of wind blowing through. I had stumbled into a fairly bad day for the weather it seemed and I didn't mind sitting this one out. I found a motel for 30 dollars for the night and I checked in. It was only about 5 pm at this point and after eating I slept. Rest seemed to be the only thing that might make me feel better at this point.

Daily mileage: 35.5 miles

Average speed: 9.8 mph

Total mileage: 5,000.0 miles

Day 81, October 21st 2007 (Roswell,NM to Plains,TX)

After a great night of sleep I started the ride in the morning. The wind seemed to be coming out of the northwest and I was headed east for some of the day and then southeast for another portion of the day. The weather channel hadn't lied about their projection for the temperature because it was in the low 70's and was very comfortable riding in shorts and a jersey. I had a couple of rolling hills for about 5 miles and then it was over. I haven't seen this much flat land in a long time. I think the last time I saw this much flat land in front and all around me was when I was in Nebraska some two months ago. The wind was crucial to making my ride a good ride or a bad ride and today it seemed to be making it a fairly good ride. I was moving right along and all around me was farm land. It seemed like there were a lot of tractors and cattle in the fields. After about 40 miles into the ride I pulled over at a very nice rest stop and enjoyed lunch. I was there for about a half hour and then was back on the road to put in some more miles. With the wind blowing directly behind me at this point, since I was now going south east, I was flying. I was averaging around 20 mph with the wind directly behind me and nothing was in front of me to slow me down. My day continued with the flat land, great weather, perfect roads, and the wind at my back. Then I was about 85 miles into the ride and I had just reached Texas. I figured I was doing great for time since it was only 5 pm and I still had two hours of sunlight, at least, before getting to the next town, 20 miles away. Well, in Texas I had been warned about the roads and now I was able to experience their roadwork. The idea of a road seemed to be, throw down some gravel and then plaster it to the road. I had seen it before and all that it really meant was that I couldn't go nearly as fast as I was going before. I had to also get up off of my seat about every 30 seconds because you don't want to have to ride over every bump on the gravel for very long. Then after a couple of seconds in the state I read another sign that told me I was in the Central Time Zone. I had just lost an hour in no time and I was going to have to start pedalling a little harder to make it to the next town before the sun went down. I was feeling fairly good in my legs since I hadn't had to do very much so far throughout the day, and I started to muscle myself across the gross terrain. I hoped that the roads wouldn't be like this the entire way through Texas because it was really annoying and really bothersome to my rear end. I continued forward and with it now being 7:15 pm, I made it into town. I still had a couple of minutes of daylight and asked the first person I saw where the nearest park was located. I was only a couple of blocks away and so I started to pedal to the park so that I could set up tent. I set up tent and it seemed like the wind was starting to pick up and the temperature was dropping significantly as well. It was still okay to be outside with the weather, but it seemed very cold for such a lower elevation that I was now at. After making a pot full of pasta I went into my sleeping bag and listened to the wind howling around me.

Daily mileage: 104.4 miles

Average speed: 13.8 mph

Total mileage: 4,964.5 miles

Day 80, October 20th 2007 (Carrizozo,NM to Roswell,NM)

There was only one mountain climb remaining before I reached the smaller hills and the flat land that lay ahead. I started with about 5 miles of flat land and then started my ascent. I was climbing up for a good while, but I knew that this was it. The last mountain I was going to face on my trip. I plunged forward and with every pedal forward I was more and more anxious to reach the top. I had left late enough in the morning that it wasn't very cold outside and with working up the hill, I was actually working up a sweat. I finally reached the top and was at the summit at 6,940 feet. I wasn't at the top long enough to say I was even there because it followed right away with a plunge down. I flew and didn't look back. This was the beginning to a few rolling hills, but not a single mountain would lay ahead. I had finished the hardest and most difficult part of my travels, I thought. The rolling hills that faced ahead of me were easy to get through with the wind that was almost at my back the entire way. It was a slight cross wind, but mostly a tail wind and I was going fast enough to feel like I was going to make it to Roswell fairly early. By the time the afternoon arrived, it had started to get a lot hotter outside. I wasn't sure what the exact temperature was, but it felt fairly hot. One hill after another, it seemed like I had left the mountains but was now in for a lot of rolling hills. It wasn't too bad considering that I was mostly moving towards a lower elevation and each downhill was a little longer than the following uphill. By the time I had made it to about 30 miles outside of Roswell, I could see the city. I had just climbed a monster of a hill and I was now looking down at the city and flat land. Everywhere around the city was completely flat and there didn't even seem to be a bump in the terrain. It was great. I was in Roswell,NM by 3:30 in the afternoon and with it being so hot and the fact that I was done with the mountains I decided that it was time to celebrate. I checked into a motel and the lady gave me an incredible deal. The room was supposed to be 35 dollars but since I had arrived on my bicycle she told me that I could stay for around 30 dollars including tax. It was the cheapest motel I had checked into, but it had everything that I needed. I put my things away and decided to take care of the second order of business. I was hungry and had seen a buffet for only 8 dollars. I pulled in and after 5 plates of food and about an hour later, I left to go back to the hotel. I was stuffed and could only lay down at this point. It felt great to be able to be inside and out of the heat for a little while. I was able to see the weather for Roswell and I was able to see what was going on. It was about 90 degrees today and for the next week the temperature was going to be in the low 70's. I had apparently come at one of their hotter times. After coming to terms with the situation and resting for a little while, I went to check out the rest of Roswell. I was a little surprised that I hadn't seen any UFOs flying over the city, but it seemed like they were everywhere in the city. Every little shop had some martian in the window and aliens seemed to be the topic of the town. It was a large town because there was a college in the area, but it really didn't seem like the 50,000 that it said it had. I rode my bike up and down and around the area for a little while and then pulled into a restaurant. I was able to talk with a couple of guys who were going hunting and they were both very curious as to what I was doing. They learned that I was biking across the country for an organization and they were very helpful. They picked up my tab and then went on to donate money towards the cause. It was great to see such great hospitality from a couple of guys that were probably only a few years older than me, and I followed this by going back to my hotel room. I was looking forward to being able to ride on some flat lands tomorrow and I couldn't wait to see if the wind would be at my back again. The hotel room was great and the mattress was even better.

Daily mileage: 101.2 miles

Average speed: 16.2 mph

Total mileage: 4,860.1 miles

Day 79,October 19th 2007 (Socorro,NM to Carrizozo,NM)

I guess that they had good intentions when they first made the mattress. Every time that I wake up in one, I always feel better. It was great to have a nice warm house to sleep in as well. When I woke up, there was a great piping hot breakfast that was served. Eggs with black bean corn salsa, blueberry muffins, and sausage. I couldn't have been blessed with a better breakfast to start the day. I was able to shower again this morning and I took my time because I didn't think that I was going to have one again for awhile. Karl and Patty had been so great to me since I came to town that when they asked me if i wanted to stay another day, it was very hard to say no. I was looking to get on the road and further out of the mountains over the next couple of days. Not only was the weather perfect outside for the day, but having come into town so early the night before, I was feeling rested and ready to go. I was so happy that I was at a little over 4,600 feet and it seemed like it was only going to get to a lower elevation from this point forward. Before I took off from the great stay that I had, Patty made sure to send me away with something. She had wrapped up a very large chunk of the amazing chocolate cake that she had made the night before and then wished me luck on my journey. The cake was so good the night before that I knew this piece, although very large, wasn't going to last very long. When I left the house, I went to Karl's bike shop, that was downtown, and made some arrangements for a few things to be sent to me later down the road. It was great to have excellent assistance while in the area, and I was looking forward to the road ahead. I was set out with directions to get me onto highway 380 without having to get on the interstate and my bike was sparkling new for the road. I made my way south for a few miles to get onto 380 and the wind didn't feel too bad. I had left Socorro around 12:15 and with the perfect temperature that I had been given, it was a great day. I was actually riding in shorts and a jersey again. When I made it to highway 380 it was the beginning to a road that I was going to be on for quite awhile. So when I was on the excellent paved road and started to hear a majority of the cars honking, it was good for a change. The cars were few and far between and when they honked, it was followed with a wave and all five fingers showing. It was an excellent sign to have good drivers who gave me a lot of space and encouragement. The road that I was riding on seemed to be more of a flat road compared to the rolling hills I had been used to. There were a couple of good climbs and a couple of good descents, but mostly it was fairly flat. It really made for an excellent ride through the afternoon, and for the first time in awhile I welcomed the heat. It was a lot of high desert around me and when I made the two good climbs for the day, that was the only time that I saw much for taller trees. There seemed to be a lot of little shrubs over the desert plains. After about 40 miles into the ride I pulled over for lunch. I made the usual peanut butter sandwiches, but the entire time I was eying the chocolate cake I had been given. Before long I had engulfed the entire chocolate cake and I had enough sugar in me to send me on my way. It was a gorgeous day and finished with some spectacular views of what was called the Valley of Fires. I was able to ride through a few miles of the valley going from the west to the east. Going from the north to the south I think it stretched about 40 miles. It was land that was full of lava rock and all sorts of little shrubs that had grown in on top of the rocks. It was a great sight to finish with before the sun started to go down and I rolled into Carrizozo. There were a lot of things in town that seemed to suit my needs. They had a large park that was directly next to a large and fully stocked gas station. I was able to have all the water I wanted and the park was so large that it seemed like a great place to camp undisturbed. I set up tent and it was great to see that when the sun went down, the temperature didn't drop too significantly. It stayed fairly cool and I was actually able to endure the outdoors much later than normal. This was something that I had longed for while I was camping above 6,000 feet. It was amazing that I was at 5,200 feet where I was at, and somehow it seemed so much more tolerable to endure the weather outdoors. I was really starting to look forward to the day ahead because as soon as I hit Roswell,NM, I was going to be around 3,500 feet and it was said to be flat land on ahead.

Daily mileage: 78.0 miles
Average speed: 13.4 mph

Total mileage: 4,758.9 miles

Day 78, October 18th 2007 (Pie Town,NM to Socorro,NM)

Oh how sweet it is to ride downhill. I couldn't believe how fast I was moving today. I left the Great Divide in Pie Town and was on a downhill right from the beginning. The scenery was gorgeous as I dropped elevation. I was weaving in and out of the high mountains and there were some great rock formations on the sides. I was riding a lot faster than I had expected to ride for the day and after an hour and a half I took my first break. It was in a small town only 30 miles away from where I had started to ride. I grabbed a couple of things at the store and started to eat a little more for a snack when a man approached me. He had two prosthetic legs and a jersey on that read JESUS. He looked to be around 55 or 60 years of age and he asked if that was my bike sitting over there. I told him it was and what I was doing. He then told me what he was doing. With two legs blown off in the Vietnam War, he was now running across the country. He had started in California and was going to work his way to the East coast and then move up the east coast to Maryland. His wife was driving behind him and after he put in around 10 miles for the day, they would rest in their van. He would then wake up the next morning and then put in another 10 miles for the day. He had started his trip at the beginning of July and was planning on having done the trip by the following year. His name was Jean and to do what he was doing seemed like an incredible feat. He had probably always wanted to do this and now, even with both legs gone, he had found a way to make his dream come true. I was happy that I had stopped where I had when I had because he had such an incredible story to share. When I hopped back on my bike, I had a strong wind at my back. I was going nowhere but downhill it seemed. I was applying about no effort at all and I was almost to Socorro,NM where I was planning on staying with a family from warm showers that I had contacted a couple of days earlier. I figured if I left at the time that I did in the morning, 9 am, that I would probably arrive around 4 pm. Well it was now 1:30 pm and I had just pulled into Socorro,NM. With the wind at my back and dropping down to an elevation of 4,600 feet, there was nothing holding me back from putting in my fastest pace since I had been on the road. I was feeling great and like I could have kept on going, but to have a place to rest and do laundry was too much to pass up. I went to a bike shop where I was said to meet with Karl when I came into town. He was working in the shop and it couldn't have worked out any better than the way that it did. With Karl being the owner of the shop, I was able to have my chain replaced for free and then also pick up a couple of spare tubes and patches. I was glad that I had somehow made it this far without having a flat, and it worked out great that everything was right here for me. After having everything looking like new on my bike, we rode our bikes to Karl's house. He lived only a couple of miles away and when we arrived at his house I was able to do some laundry, take a shower, and all of those other things I hadn't done in about a week. I wasn't at the house very long before his family arrived home from school. He had 4 daughters and they were 7,5,3, and 6 weeks. It was just like being at home. After getting to meet the family, I was able to use their computer. They had a wide selection of music and it was great to be able to get some new music again before I had to take off. Listening to the same thing over and over again, really can get fairly old after awhile. I was feeling on top of the world with clean clothes and I was now actually able to sit in the same room as myself and tolerate my own smell. Patty, Karl's wife, had been slaving away in the kitchen while I had been on the computer and had prepared a feast. Chicken stir-fry, rice, and a great salad. I was so happy that I was able to have a change of food for once and I couldn't believe how great the food was. With the meal she had prepared a large chocolate cake for desert and it was a great way to load up on all of the carbs that I had depleted. It was so good to be able to talk with Karl and Patty and they each had so many great stories to tell. Even with the kids to take care of, they managed to place plenty of their time accommodating to my needs. One of which was just conversation, one thing I wasn't able to have much of while on the road. I was able to hear some funny stories about Patty hiring some of the people in town to work at her coffee shop, and how Karl came to own a bike shop in town. Karl had been a professional cyclist for about 6 years in the states and with his large background in the field, the shop found it's home in Socorro,NM. After the feast and the good atmosphere that had arisen around it, we made my bed for the night and I was able to sleep on a very comfortable futon mattress.
Daily mileage: 86.4 miles
Average speed: 19.1 mph
Total mileage: 4,680.9 miles

Day 77, October 17th 2007 (30 miles north of Fence Lake,NM to Pie Town,NM)

I was glad to see that when I woke up this morning, it was to the sun going up and not to someone hassling me over the course of the evening. There had been a few showers overhead during the night and I was so proud of my tent for having stood with the storms that had come through. It seemed like it held the rain out better now than when it had with a fixed pole. I had great weather overhead and nothing but blue skies. Besides the temperature it looked like it was going to be a good day. It seemed like as long as I could endure the cold weather for the first couple of hours in the morning that it would start to warm up and everything would be alright after that point. The wind really made for an interesting day to today and as did the fact that I was in such a desolate country. After making myself a hot bowl of oatmeal for the morning I only had a couple of water bottles that were full for the first 30 miles into Fence Lake. I figured once I made it to Fence Lake that I would have no problem filling up my water bottles and I would be set to go for the rest of the day. Since it was so cold outside and I was heading directly into the wind for the first 30 miles, I really didn't suck down too much water. I managed to somehow make it into town off of only half of a bottle of water over the course of three hours into the wind. I was glad that I had only used that much water because when I made it into town, it looked as if the town had died. No cars, no people, and only a couple of houses were in the area. I figured that with the next town being only 20 miles down the road that I could probably make it there without a problem and then I could get myself to some more water. It was finally starting to warm up a little outside and it was probably around 60 degrees outside. I had the wind at my back it seemed for the next 20 miles and it was nice to have the wind going from the west to the east. I made it to the next town and I had the same problem as the town before, no one was around. I luckily had still managed to not use very much water and still had one full water bottle at my side. The only problem I could see was that it was getting a little warmer outside and I was going to have to go the next 20 miles with a strong cross wind to get to the next town. The area that I was riding through seemed to constantly be changing between forest area to a high desert area. From trees to no trees, and then from up one hill to down the next hill. It was constant rolling hills as it had been for the previous few days and I was happy when I finally stumbled into the next town and they had the one supply I had been looking for all day. They didn't have any ice to put in with the water and it didn't matter. The water would get so cold from just the temperature outside that just having water was incredible. I filled up all my water bottles after I sucked down a couple bottles full of water and then started the rest of my journey east for the remainder of the day. I was only planning on going to a town called Pie Town today and it couldn't have ended any smoother than the way that it did. I had one big climb going out of the town I was in and with the wind at my back, I was practically pushed up the hill. I hardly pedalled at all for the remainder of the 20 miles to Pie Town and I made it feeling great. With one hour of daylight to spare I figured that I might be able to eat and then enjoy some of what Pie Town had to offer with it's one cafe and entire population of maybe 25 people. I was planning on at least having some pie while I was in town. Well, I set up camp at a park that was in town, just off of the road, and made some dinner. I was on the Great Divide and it felt cool to be sleeping directly on the Great Divide. I'm not sure what it was, but there was something about it. When I finished my dinner it was so cold with the wind and the temperature had dropped to such a significant measure that the only thing I could do was crawl into my tent. I was a little disappointed that I wasn't going to be able to have some pie, but it was too cold to even move in the outdoors. I think that since I was nearly at 8,000 feet that might have had something to do with it, but who knows for sure. I was safe and secure in this remote little town for the night and it was a lot better of a place to set up camp compared to where I had set up the night before.
Daily mileage: 92.8 miles
Average speed: 11.9 mph
Total mileage: 4,594.5 miles

Day 76, October 16th 2007 (Yah-tahey,NM to 30 miles north of Fence Lake,NM)

My first thing that I wanted to do today was go to a bike shop and get a few things taken care of with my bike. My chain had probably 1,300 miles on it at this point and I didn't want to stretch it out too much so that it would ruin my cassette. Just like yesterday I had to wait to get out of my tent because it was too cold if I went out too early. My elevation was somewhere around 6,000 feet at this point and it seemed a little cooler when I woke up. I was out of the tent and headed towards the first big city that I had seen in awhile and that I was going to see for quite awhile. the town was Gallup,NM and it had a population of somewhere around 7,000 people so I was hoping that it might have a bike shop in town. As I made it towards the downtown and only had about 10 miles in for the day I saw a bike shop directly on the corner. It didn't open until 10 and it was currently 9:45 so I waited the few minutes for someone to show up. I was prepared this time with an extra 10 speed chain just in case if they didn't carry any and I didn't see why there was going to be any problem to get what I needed fixed. When the mechanic arrived he took my bike back and surprised me. He said that even though I had put so many miles on the chain at this point, I could still get a few more out of it. He told me that I might as well ride to the next town with a bike shop, some 250 miles down the road. I was happy that I was going to be able to get a few more miles out of the chain that I had and I was only hoping that he was accurate with his information so that I wouldn't have to replace my entire system again. I figured since I was already downtown that I might as well take care of a few things on the computer at the library and so I spent a good couple of hours in town. When I got up to leave, my bike had suffered another flat. I was happy to see that it was only my front tire and that made for an easy fix. I was also glad to see that i was only one block from the bike shop so I was going to be able to take it down the block and then use there tools inside to make the repair quick and easy. They had no problem with me using their shop and in only a few minutes I was back on the road. It was about 2 in the afternoon when I finally left Gallup and I knew that with the sun going down in the afternoon that I wasn't going to be able to put in a monster amount of miles. I was about 30 miles down the road and facing an incredibly strong head wind. The wind seemed to be blowing straight from the south to the north and I was going straight south into it. I was planning on taking myself a little south into New Mexico ad then start heading east so that I could keep off of some busy roads and avoid a lot of the traffic. It was about at this point that I realized what I had forgotten at the bike shop. I knew that there was something that I was forgetting when I took off, and it seemed so apparent that I couldn't believe that I had forgotten. With blowing all of the tubes that I had, I needed to pick up a couple of extra and I had forgotten. I only had one spare patch with me at this point and I really was crossing my fingers that nothing would happen. With all of the goat heads in the area I knew that I was going to have to watch where I set my bike a little more closely and really hope that nothing seriously bad would happen to make this trip to the next bike shop end up in a hitchhike. As I went from one road to another the traffic was practically no where to be seen. It was a great time to enjoy more of the scenery in the area, but the weather was starting to take a turn for the worst. I had seen some clouds overhead, but having not seen rain since practically Oregon, I wasn't quite sure what to make of what was forming overhead. It started to sprinkle a little and I was glad that it was only sprinkling at this elevation because at this time of the year it could have been maybe hail or snow. The rain didn't last long and I was out of it before it started it seemed. The sun was starting to go down and all around me I could see large black clouds. They were really everywhere around me, but I seemed to be in one little spot that didn't have any thunderstorms. I think there were clouds maybe in a two mile radius around me and I could see the mist in the air of where the rain was pouring down, but I wasn't feeling a drop. Since I was in such a barren part of the state and I had only seen a couple of cars on the road that I was on, I decided this would be a good place to stop. I didn't feel like pushing into the thunderstorms and I was thankful that I had somehow managed to find the one spot that didn't have any rain. I had another 30 miles to go before the next town and although there really wasn't a good place to set up my tent for the night, I didn't have much of a choice. I was only about 10 feet off of the side of the road and my tent could be seen as clear as day to anyone that was driving by. The only saving grace that I had in this situation was that the area was completely deserted to all civilization and I didn't think that anyone was going to approach me over the course of the evening. I wasn't tired since I was only awake for about 12 hours each day at this point, but the sun and the temperature were my deadlines and I had just reached my deadline for the day.
Daily mileage: 47.7 miles
Average speed: 10.6 mph
Total mileage: 4,501.7 miles

Day 75, October 15th 2007 (Keams Canyon,AZ to Yah-ta-hey,NM)

I wanted to get an early start this morning and figured since I went to sleep around 8 pm that I wouldn't have a problem getting up early and out on the road. When I opened my eyes at around 5 and tried to get out of my tent I quickly jumped back in my tent. It was way too cold to be doing anything outside at this point and I was going to have to wait a little later before I jumped on the bike. So weather I liked it or not I had to sleep in a little longer. I decided at around 6 that I was going to have to endure the temperature at some point so I jumped out with all of my gear on and I started to pack up. I had been told from Joe, the family I had just recently stayed with, that the time was going to change as soon as I entered the Navajo tribe's land. I decided that if the time was going to change and I was going to lose an hour than I might as well put myself one hour ahead to start the day. So when I say I woke up at 6 it was actually going to be 7 only a few miles down the road. I was glad that I had been told that the time would change as soon as I changed over to another tribal land because I had thought that it wouldn't change until I entered New Mexico, some 70 miles down the road. Once I was on the bike and I started to ride, it was freezing. I had just purchased a pair of gloves the night before at the local store and I was glad that I had done so. My hands, even with the gloves on, were still freezing from the wind. I was dealing with a crosswind to start the morning and since there wasn't very much to block the wind, everything felt freezing. It must have been about 30 to 40 degrees at the most when I was riding and I probably should have stayed in the tent a little longer before starting to ride. My elevation was above 5,000 feet and it didn't seem that I was going to be going anywhere lower than that for the day. I was dealing with a lot of rolling hills it seemed and I was going more uphill than downhill. After I finished the first 30 miles of journey for the day I was in the Navajo land. The time had changed one hour ahead and I was starting to adjust to the difference. I was also able to start to warm up a little as well because the sun was coming out. It was around 10 am and I pulled over at a gas station to pick up a couple of things for lunch and to take off some of the extra layers that I had put on for the day. When I sat outside with my lunch it didn't take very long before I decide that I wasn't eating in the best spot. I started eating my lunch and there were two stray dogs that approached me with their puppy dog eyes and they started to lick their lips, showing that they were hungry. I continued eating and didn't really enjoy making them feel starved as I consumed my food, but I didn't want to start feeding them and then have them follow me down for the rest of my journey. Then another stray dog showed up and then as soon as the forth one showed up and I had only consumed two peanut butter sandwiches, I decided to pack up my lunch and move somewhere else. It was incredible to me to see so many stray dogs running around and I wasn't quite sure where they were all coming from, but I didn't want to stay and see how many more would show up. I finished the rest of my lunch a couple of blocks down the road and didn't seem to have anymore problems with any dogs and then I hit the road. I couldn't have asked for a better day to ride at this point. The cold weather was gone at this point and I it was so much more enjoyable to not be too hot or too cold, but to be riding in about 70 degrees. The scenery that I was able to enjoy along my trip was a lot of canyons in Arizona at a high desert. I wasn't seeing anything that was green and everything seemed to be dry and dead in the area. Nothing was growing and everything on the side of the road seemed to be one goat head bush after another. Yes, that's right, the goat heads were back. I believe that they only grow in the desert area and they were the nastiest things to have to see again. I hadn't had any problems with them so far throughout the day and I was glad that they weren't all over the road and in my way. Before long I was in New Mexico and I was able to notice a few differences with my surroundings. There seemed to be a few amount of greater rock formations to look at in the area, and there were also some trees in the area. It looked mostly like a forest area and it was nice to actually see some things growing for a change. I didn't plan on riding too far into New Mexico for the day and I was starting to look for any place on the side of the road to pitch my tent for the night. There was a town just up the road about 15 miles and since I had the wind at my back at this point I figured it would be a nice ride to finish the day. I made it to the town with still about an hour of sunlight remaining and I saw a nice big fairground on my right that seemed to be a perfect place to set up tent for the night. I pulled my bike in and I looked around for a place that was a little hidden from the road and that might be the best place to call it a night. I was starving for some pasta and couldn't wait to eat and then call it a night. I pushed my bike around behind a small shelter and it seemed like the perfect place. What I didn't realize as I pushed my bike along was that I had rolled my bike through about every goat head patch in the area. When I looked down at my tires they were covered with little goat heads over every inch of the wheel. My plans of making dinner were now put back for a little while and a new set of plans were placed in front of me. I spent the next hour taking the little goat heads out of my tires and then having to replace each one of my tubes because they had been destroyed beyond repair. By the time I had my bike taken care of, it was almost freezing outside. It was only 7 pm and the sun had just gone down. So I quickly spent the remainder of my evening fixing dinner and then crawling into my warm sleeping bag to survive the temperatures.
Daily mileage: 90.5 miles
Average speed: 12.9 mph
Total mileage: 4,454.0 miles