This Is An Epic Adventure

Riding Day 20

The fellas all slept well and woke up primed for the day ahead. Dustin and Ana were up and about as well, and we fell into our morning ritual of making camp coffee and dinning on either Quaker Maple & Brown Sugar, or Apple Cinnamon, oatmeal. The creatures living in and around the lake were also stirring to life, the conversation was mellow, and the day ahead felt ripe

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We started riding around 9am, and the ominous words describing the initial portion of the ride kept flashing in my mind. “The first 36 miles out of Camp Wood are difficult.” This is the only time on the entire Southern Tier route that the word “difficult” is used as a descriptor. The mountains east of San Diego had been brutal, as were the mountains between Tempe, AZ and Globe, AZ. The headwinds between Globe and Lordsburg, NM had been awful…so how difficult could this section be??? We were about to find out.

The first few miles were a gradual progression of ups and downs as we slowly gained altitude. The road was fairly quiet traffic-wise, albeit a bit rough, but all the roads in Texas are a bit rough once you leave the major arteries. It appears that they build these roads by putting down asphalt or tar, and then throw down gravel and roll it flat. Seems like a great system for cars, but not so much for bikes. Anyway, at about the five mile point we came to the first behemoth of the day. It seemed to just appear, a long serpent of the above-mentioned substances that snaked out of sight at about an 8% grade. Odie and I only made it about one-third of the way up before we had to stop and walk to the top. From there we rode over rolling hills that we could handle, before encountering another steep monster of a hill a few miles later that we once again had to walk up. The Bob was trying to get us to throw Hank on the bike rack so he could drive us to the top, but in solidarity with the other tribe members who don’t have a support vehicle, we refused and walked a mile or so to the top. We finally made it to the 36-mile point, relieved to have survived, having put the “difficult” stuff behind us. But then 4 miles down the road we encountered another steep hill that caused us to dismount and walk yet again, and this time I was so spent that we had to stop walking and rest several times to finally make it to the crest. That was the last of the really big hills, but there were still plenty of garden variety hills to be dealt with, and the temps were in the mid to high 80’s with a heaping helping of humidity thrown in for good measure. So, after one hell of a grueling day, we threw in the towel after 50.83 miles and found a spot to camp

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Tonight, we’re camped in another rest stop alongside Highway 187. It’s a great spot, very quiet save for the chorus of coyotes, their wails carried to us by a stiff breeze as I write. In every other state we’ve passed through, there were many open areas and BLM land to dry camp on, but not in Texas. Texas seems to be the land of formidable fences and No Trespassing signs. It’s like every square inch of soil belongs to somebody, and apparently, they’re not in to sharing or being hospitable. Walmart lets you camp in their parking lots, and that might be our home tomorrow night, depending on where we end up. We also just found out that tomorrow is the first day of turkey hunting season, and it appears we’re at ground zero for that event. We heard some turkeys gobbling early this morning, wonder if they have any inkling of how their world is about to be upended

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After today, we’re 1,378 miles into the journey, and tomorrow’s milage will put us beyond the halfway point. The last month blurs in my mind when I try to remember specifics, but as Ana said this morning as we were all breaking camp, “This is an epic adventure,” and whether I can recall all the nuance and small moments doesn’t change that fact. The Bob, Odie and I are so fortunate to be sharing this journey of a lifetime, a journey that will leave its mark on all of us for the rest of our time on earth…