Deep in the Heart of Texas ( The Panhandle That Is)

Tuesday May 26th , Tucumcari NM to Dalhart TX, 96 miles

Fair to say today was not anyone's favorite ride.  Although the temperature was moderate we rode into a headwind the entire day.  Even utilizing a pace line (when cyclists line up in a straight line for drafting purposes) with 7 or 8 experienced riders for most of the ride, my group only averaged 13 miles per hour, which made for a long day.  And the scenery for the most part was monotonous. Everyone is pretty wiped out from the past two days.

However we did reach a major milestone, crossing the Texas State line.  We will only be in Texas one night as we transverse its northern Panhandle.  Dalhart  is historically a Dust Bowl town.  A few miles outside town we passed the XIT Feeders, an amazing sight (and smell).  I saw literally tens of thousand cattle tightly penned into enormous feed areas.  It was a bit disturbing.  But only a bit, as I has no problem eating a KC strip steak for dinner.

Above- pumped up after crossing into Texas

Above- a very small portion of the enormous XIT cattle feeders