17-04-25 Day 17

Santa Rosa, NM to Tucumcari, NM

The WIND Saga continues in New Mexico.  Our day on the bikes began at 8 am with a stiff wind attacking us as we began our quest east.  Behold! We had a stiff tailwind from the first mile to the final miles with the exception of a 5 mile stretch. The five mile stretch came after 13 miles of bliss as we were pushed along at times in excess of 20 mph. Then, we turned north on this near cow-path like road. The only thing that qualified this as a road was the road sign and a stop sign when we made our turn into the crosswind. The surface of the road was not really paved, rather, it was a compact stone with periodic side to side lose gravel. A one lane wide, no berm or shoulder, rough terrain, path. Just plain terrible. During this five mile path, as we passed open pastures, the steers were snickering as we slowly passed. In spite of this, we had a good day.

We've not spoken much about the wildlife so today on our travels we were treated to seeing a flock of turkey and a lone deer, which was a step up from the prairie dogs and ground squirrels over the past week.

The photo below is a typical view of the road ahead Karen and I have seen over and over again as we have traveled across Arizona and New Mexico. Many times we've crested a small mountain top to be treated to a view such as this. Road straight ahead  as long as you can see with vast open landscape on both sides. You make the 8-12 mile ride across the basin to be treated to yet another stretch of road as you top the next hill or mountain. Beautiful. Zoom in on this photo to appreciate it to its fullest.

After our first small climb of the mourning just outside of Santa Rosa.
The road lay ahead of us an the wind behind us.
We could see the hill in the distance that was 7 miles out.

Our Route 66 welcome into Tucumcari this afternoon.

Our lunch stop today recommended by a local native of Tucumcari

Throwback Route 66 gas station, for viewing pleasure only. Across from Del's Restaurant.