Day 13 Amerillo TX

Today brought us from San Jon, NM to Amerillo, TX.  We're now in centrat time zone. The temperature reached 100 degrees today so hydration was especially important. Of course my support staff (Claire) was right with me every few miles to keep me from frying out there..  I was relegated to Route I40 for a while this morning, but was able to transition to Route 66 for the entire afternoon.  This is essentially a boring road paralleling the interstate, like a service road.  The landscape is pretty flat, with cattle and open range stretching as far as the eye can see. Here's the link to today's route map.

When we reached Amarillo I found the bike shop (Hills Sport Shop).  This was the first bike shop in 270 miles. I stocked up with more tire tubes and a new hydration system.  It sits in the aerobars and has a tube for drinking without reaching for the water bottle.  This should be an improvement because I'm getting blown around on the highway and drinking puts me in an unstable position.

I also decided to change the route today, which will affect us for the next several days.  We've started to see more civilization by heading to Amarillo.  The new route should take us through Oklahoma City and up to St Louis, continuing to loosely follow the old Route 66.  In St. Louis we'll re-join the original route. I'm betting there will be more alternate paved roads on this new route because there should be more population as we head east.

My friends at Cape Cod Rehab are tracking us closely. They posted US maps in their locations and are displaying our daily progress. Thanks Joe, and all at CCR for your support!

Joe Carroll and Eric Wheeler of Cape Cod Rehab

Cowboy Wannabe