E72.56 miles in under 7:00...elevation climbed...344ft...descent....1194 ft... Maximum speed...22.1
Total trip miles...851.98...total elevation climbed...22,738 ft.
I was awakened very early by housekeeping, and I told them to go away. I woke up at 8:30, but yesterday it was 7:30 because of the time zone change. It was cold, humid, wet and cloudy from last night's rain so I wanted to sleep in and get a later start. The forecast was for the wind to change to a tailwind as the day went on, and the clouds were supposed to break up after noon.
I felt like I was riding in a relative urban jungle today, passing through three towns before settling into the fourth town I came to. The first 32 miles were cold and cloudy and the wind was just a slight hindrance. The terrain was very flat, US54 was pretty nice, with a great shoulder, and very little chip seal. There were really no scenic highlights, just ranches and farms, irrigation rigs and grain silos. The first town I came to at that 32 mile mark, Stafford, was basically just an intersection, a huge grain storage facility, and a few businesses. There was a Subway, so I stopped for lunch, and watched the clouds start to break up, and I was certain I saw the flags at the Subway showing a tailwind.
The next town, Texhoma, was twenty miles away, and after stripping down one layer, I enjoyed some sun and a little help from the wind, and passed the time waiting for another train to go by so I could wave and get the engineer to blow his horn at me. At least six trains blew at me, and I saw several more on the train tracks that run parallel to US 54. Texhoma, was another town just like the last, only with a little downtown area off to the left of the main road. The state line, of course, was right in the middle of town, hence Texhoma. The grain storage in town was for wheat, so that must be a big crop that is not in yet. Once in Oklahoma, there were several wind farms of about 15-20 wind turbines each, and also some old school oil rigs, not all cattle and farmland like in Texas. Guymon was only another twenty miles down the road, and there was one more town, between Texhoma and Guymon, which included Okłahoma Panhandle University. US 54 was nice with great shoulders in Oklahoma, the only difference being a median strip, so it was just like an interstate. The grass had also been mowed in the median and along the road, so it seemed less wild than the stretch in Texas. The wind really kicked up on this stretch, and it didn't give me as much of a push as I had hoped. It was a side wind, hitting 25-30 mph on occasion, and it just slowed me down and made it tough to steer. It felt like someone was hanging on to my panniers. The last five miles took forever, because I could see the town, but it seemed like I just wasn't getting closer. I finally pulled into the Pioneer Motel, which is a real craphole by the way, and promptly couldn't get out of my clips before tipping over in the parking lot. Nice. Just a little blood and nothing broken on the bike, fortunately.
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