Share The Road - On the road - Day 12

DAY 12
60 miles - 1900 foot climb
Santa Rosa, NM to Tucumari, NM

I thought we were going to get through NM today, but we need to make sure to get our paper work done as well. So, we’ll have a relatively short ride today. We’re also starting later than normal -- about 7:30. Feels hot already.

More later...

Turned out to be a great ride -- a rocket ride on interstate 40. I’m a much bigger fan of the small roads -- off the beaten path, but since today was about getting to the destination early and being ready for tonight’s event, it worked.

“Tonight’s event?” you ask. YES! We are in Tucumcari, NM and Gary noticed last night that they had some sort of celebration going on here. Chris followed up with the Chamber of Commerce and it turns out to be a celebration they do yearly -- a celebration of Route 66. Man, Route 66 does have some cool history. We caught just a piece of a documentary on the History Channel yesterday about Route 66 and I’d like to learn more -- having seen just the bit of it I did yesterday and what I’ve seen today.

So, tonight, we will be handing out bands and trying to get people to sign the commitment cards. We have so many bands and cards to get out. But I really feel tonight could be the beginning of a new focus on the trip. Up to this point, we’ve really been doing a lot of troubleshooting. It’s been about the physical difficulties (pain and discomfort from the exertion and the elements) as well as the problems with the SAG vehicle and sometimes communication between each other and/or the people we need to help us.

Through all of it, we have treated each other well and we are becoming a stronger team with each day. That’s something I’m very proud of. We’ve all taken small steps away from our own position and toward the team position. As I’ve said before, I think Chris deserves an awful lot of credit for that. I’ve nicknamed him “glue” because he’s really kept things together.

More later...

The festival was fantastic. Bluegrass music, great rural America feel and all the watermelon we could eat. The guys with the machettes cutting up the melons were pretty intimidating...except for the fact that they were about 80 years old. Those blades though...

We gave out tons of bands and got lots of signatures. It really made me feel great about what we are doing -- it was an affirmation of our presence and why we’re doing this trip at all. We spent a lot of time in the first week and a half adjusting to how the trip was going to work -- physically and mentally. There are times where it’s just so taxing to do the physical part that the getting the word out part gets lost.