Share The Road - On the road - Day 13

DAY 13
Tucumcari, NM to Dalhart, TX
95 total miles, 1900 foot climb

Today’s ride was relatively easy. We’re still descending out of the altitude of the Rockies. For the most part it feels like a flat run.

We have been blessed with good weather so far. There was a tornado that blew through here just a few days ago. We are in Dorothy country as of tomorrow -- Liberal, KS (there’s even a museum dedicated to her).

Gary really flew on the road today. It was nice to see him feeling so well physically. I was doing great right up until the last run where I fell off mentally. It’s tough sometimes getting thrown out of the present moment. There was great aggressiveness in me - I was focussed on things that didn’t have anything to do with the tour and that I couldn’t do anything about and that was frustrating me. I was not connected with the road as I usually am. I tried just riding like crazy to work it out of my head, but that’s not very authentic or resonant power. After a while, I just got to a place of surrender. I know there’s nothing to prove out here on the road and I’ll never outrun my mind. Instead of pressing “it” out of me, I just let go. I’m still feeling drained by the aggressiveness and my attempts to control.

Coming into town, we rode by perhaps the nastiest place on earth -- a feed site for about 10,000 cattle (I may be underbidding that guess, truthfully). Oh my God -- what a stench. Now, I’m a vegetarian, true, but even when I ate meat I thought mass cattle were pretty nasty. The slaughterhouse in CA on I-5 between Fresno/Bakersfield is bad, but this was worse. Then again, I’ve never ridden my bike by the one on the I-5.

We get into Dalhart and we’re not sure what the next step is. Chris tried the local Chamber of Commerce but it seems we missed whatever local goods were going to be going on by a day on either side (ironically, we face the same situation in Liberal tomorrow). We decide to try the local library to see if we can get internet and lo and behold we hit the jackpot: the librarian loves our story and calls a local reporter/photographer who interviews Gary. I get the whole thing on tape. We get a little crowd around us and hand out some bands and get commitment cards. The most moving commitment was from the reporter himself -- an admittedly obese and at-risk diabetic man. He said he didn’t just sign or commit to things lightly so he read what the card was asking of him very carefully. After a moment, he nodded and said, yes, he would do it. This, again, affirms the work we’re doing. I’m very impressed with Gary’s enthusiasm and knowledge. It’s fun to watch him work.

We’re headed to an authentic Texas BBQ tonight at a place called “Hodie’s” -- this ought to be interesting...

LATER...

Well, I survived the BBQ and the boys absoultely went ballistic over it. At first I said I didn’t think there was anything for me there. But then I felt bad as I could see how much the guys wanted to try authentic TX BBQ. So I did my part and had a big salad (mostly iceburg...) and six bowls of beans. I actually tried the fried okra, too. I got what I needed and they were very, very happy. It’s about the team.