There’s a phenomenon I’ve been experiencing in Oklahoma and Texas, and today was a really striking example of it.
Many of these little towns have a grain elevator that you can see from a long ways away. My brain thinks a “long ways” is about one or two miles, but it can be as much as four or five miles. The air is really clear, and the terrain between the grain elevator and me is featureless.
When you combine this with a headwind, and an almost imperceptible ascent, it becomes an almost comically unending slog to reach it. It’s very discouraging. I’ve stopped looking at my speed while I’m riding, because it is just very demoralizing to pedal constantly and go 9 or 10 miles per hour.
I stopped a lot to look for horned lizards and rattlesnakes, but no luck! I saw a single mouse once. 😁
Today’s route was entirely on empty roads paralleling I-40. The noise from the trucks on I-40 is constant and adds to the noise from the omnipresent wind. I’m looking forward to getting into some hillier territory where there is a break from wind.
I am staying in the Fabulous 40 Motel in Adrian, which is at the midpoint of Route 66. I stopped for dinner and pie at the Midpoint Cafe, which is a famous landmark on Route 66, and it was lovely!
Tomorrow’s going to be a really long day of more headwinds, and I will be staying in Tucumcari after I cross the border into New Mexico.
