Greetings from Amarillo, TX! For those of you who are Spanish-challenged, ‘Amarillo’ means yellow and the ride into the city proved its name – lots of yellowish fields and nothing else. I had a really good ride today, despite the 90 miles (60 of which were uphill) and the 99 degrees and the fact that we were on the same road for 75 miles straight (our longest stretch on one road at a time). I rode with Emily who I don’t normally ride with and we had some good convo which always speeds the ride up. Plus I’ve starting keeping my cyclometer on the cadence setting instead of the distance setting so I’m not looking down to see how far I’ve gone every 2/10 of a mile. Emily, Christine, Breanna and I stopped at Dairy Queen for some delicious treats before we cruised into the YMCA where we are staying…gym to sleep in, lots of showers, computers, food provided. Tomorrow we have a day off which is amazing. I’m not sure that there’s too much to do in Amarillo but just a day to relax is much needed.
Yesterday, Saturday 7/14 I wrote the group journal:
Hey everyone! Today was the day of fairy tale roads and scenery. We road from Altus, OK back into Texas – 75 miles to Memphis. And there was literally nothing in between these two towns. Our landscape for the day was absolutely beautiful…first there were flat fields and crops and then we began to hit the red clay hills. The colors were what hit me the most. The day was perfect with bright blue skies and white puffy clouds. The gray road and green surrounding crops just added to it all. At one point, there was a yellow crop plane and a red barn to add to the picture. I know this sounds corny but it really was beautiful. It makes the ride so much more enjoyable when there are things to look at…not just angry cars passing by on a boring highway. The other great thing was that I think I only saw about 10 cars today…and they were nice cars who actually passed into the other lane. I rode with Lindsey and Laura for most of the day and we had some great conversation as well as some amazing ice cream at Sonic when we arrived in Memphis. We are staying at the Methodist Church and a big thanks to the parishioners who made us snacks, dinner and dessert!
Friday the 13th from Wichita Falls, TX to Altus, OK was the day of rain. Around mile 6 we hit a terrible storm. I literally felt like I was in the Wizard of Oz. We had to get off the road and some of us went to a random house that had a front porch. We waited it out for about 45 minutes and then had to plug on in the rain. That was at about 8am and the rain didn’t stop until 1pm. Thankfully I rode with Team Tardy and we got through it with the per usual entertainment and frequent stops to places like Whattaburger. Random note: There are a ton of fast food chains down here that don’t exist up north…like Whattaburger and Sonic. Anyway, the ride finally ended in sunshine and Oklahoma didn’t disappoint. Sue, our contact for Habitat and the Catholic Church we stayed in, made us cookies and Gatorade, as well as dinner and lunch for the next day (yumm brisket!). We got to meet a Habitat homeowner who was about to move in to his new house. The house was one of the nicest Habitat houses I’ve seen, with a storm cellar for tornados and all. We were supposed to give a presentation after dinner but Relay For Life (yay for random small towns having this event) was going on that night and most of the town was participating in that. The next morning we got free breakfast at McDonalds (it sat in my stomach surprisingly well, haha).
Side notes:
*On our day out of Dallas, we rode right through the Dallas-Fort Worth airport. Isn’t it one of the most traveled airports in the country?
*I’ve sent out some postcards but if you’re a college grad with a random address, you need to send it to me if you want a postcard!!!
*On a more personal note, I made a decision while riding the other day that I need to be more positive. I was getting sick of myself because I was always so negative…always complaining, in a bad mood, assuming the worst, not excited to ride. It wasn’t extreme because most of you know that I don’t ever get extremely down, but it was a definite change. So I’ve decided that I need to refresh the attitude, especially since we’ve got our toughest times ahead (here we come Rockies!).
Yesterday, Saturday 7/14 I wrote the group journal:
Hey everyone! Today was the day of fairy tale roads and scenery. We road from Altus, OK back into Texas – 75 miles to Memphis. And there was literally nothing in between these two towns. Our landscape for the day was absolutely beautiful…first there were flat fields and crops and then we began to hit the red clay hills. The colors were what hit me the most. The day was perfect with bright blue skies and white puffy clouds. The gray road and green surrounding crops just added to it all. At one point, there was a yellow crop plane and a red barn to add to the picture. I know this sounds corny but it really was beautiful. It makes the ride so much more enjoyable when there are things to look at…not just angry cars passing by on a boring highway. The other great thing was that I think I only saw about 10 cars today…and they were nice cars who actually passed into the other lane. I rode with Lindsey and Laura for most of the day and we had some great conversation as well as some amazing ice cream at Sonic when we arrived in Memphis. We are staying at the Methodist Church and a big thanks to the parishioners who made us snacks, dinner and dessert!
Friday the 13th from Wichita Falls, TX to Altus, OK was the day of rain. Around mile 6 we hit a terrible storm. I literally felt like I was in the Wizard of Oz. We had to get off the road and some of us went to a random house that had a front porch. We waited it out for about 45 minutes and then had to plug on in the rain. That was at about 8am and the rain didn’t stop until 1pm. Thankfully I rode with Team Tardy and we got through it with the per usual entertainment and frequent stops to places like Whattaburger. Random note: There are a ton of fast food chains down here that don’t exist up north…like Whattaburger and Sonic. Anyway, the ride finally ended in sunshine and Oklahoma didn’t disappoint. Sue, our contact for Habitat and the Catholic Church we stayed in, made us cookies and Gatorade, as well as dinner and lunch for the next day (yumm brisket!). We got to meet a Habitat homeowner who was about to move in to his new house. The house was one of the nicest Habitat houses I’ve seen, with a storm cellar for tornados and all. We were supposed to give a presentation after dinner but Relay For Life (yay for random small towns having this event) was going on that night and most of the town was participating in that. The next morning we got free breakfast at McDonalds (it sat in my stomach surprisingly well, haha).Side notes:
*On our day out of Dallas, we rode right through the Dallas-Fort Worth airport. Isn’t it one of the most traveled airports in the country?
*I’ve sent out some postcards but if you’re a college grad with a random address, you need to send it to me if you want a postcard!!!
*On a more personal note, I made a decision while riding the other day that I need to be more positive. I was getting sick of myself because I was always so negative…always complaining, in a bad mood, assuming the worst, not excited to ride. It wasn’t extreme because most of you know that I don’t ever get extremely down, but it was a definite change. So I’ve decided that I need to refresh the attitude, especially since we’ve got our toughest times ahead (here we come Rockies!).
Much Texas love.
2 comments:
Hi Cait -
Back in the country and caught up on your blog! Thought of you every night as we dressed up for dinner. One more month! Just think - you should have no trouble with the altitude in the Rockies after living there and in Quito!
Love, Mom
Hey lovely,
Just wanted to say that i think about you every time i see bikers on the roads around here, which has been a ton recently, and i can't wait to hear/see more of your adventures!
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