Tuesday, July 7th
We hit the road at 6:45 this morning and had a nice ride in the early sunshine. We hit a 6-mile-long fog bank near Fort Smith, AR, but were soon back in the sun. It looked like it was gonna be a scorcher today.
We stopped for lunch in Shawnee, OK, and then pushed on to Amarillo, Texas. George Strait might have made it to Amarillo by morning, but we did not! It was about 5:30 pm when we arrived. After nearly 11 hours on the road, we decided not to continue for another 2 hours to Tucumcari, NM, our original goal. We got a tent site at the KOA in Amarillo, TX.
The winds today were challenging. We had stiff quartering crosswinds most of the afternoon. Dealing with passing semi trucks was interesting, but after a few hundred of them, you figure out how to manage them ok. The hot dry wind was also quite different than Sunday’s ride in the rain. All of our wet gear was dried out now!
The thermometer at the campground said 105 degrees. But it was probably more like 92 in the shade.
The KOA in Amarillo was pretty nice. They even brought dinner to our campsite (for a fee). It was delivered in a golf cart with steer horns on the front and moo-ing horn – the Kow Poke Express!
While we were eating, another rider showed up at camp. Chris was from New Zealand. He was in the US to ride for a month. Very neat person to talk to. He had just restored a friend’s old BMW and his friend was letting him ride it around the country. He was starting with Route 66 and this was his first night on the road. He planned to visit Chicago and then ride to Atlanta before the end of the month. We put in a plug for riding the Blue Ridge Parkway when he got to the east side of the country.
One of the stories Chris shared was about his adventure as a crew technician on the 2005 Peking to Paris rally. His skills as an electrical engineer helped him keep his driver’s vintage car running. He even made it on screen in the documentary film, for a few seconds. The rich guys who could afford to buy, restore, and then beat up vintage cars on such an adventure got most of the screen time.
| Mileage | |
| Today | 558.8 |
| Trip Total | 1,603.2 |
