Bicycle Journey Progress

The journey begins on July 29th and ends on September 11th, 2023

Ride Progress: ABOUT TO START!
Daily summaries:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75

quarta-feira, 23 de maio de 2012

Day 39 – 05/11/2012 – Tucumcari, NM

The day started easy with winds blowing towards West. We covered the first 26 miles very quickly maintaining a speed of 13.5 mph in average, but with many stretches of 20+ mph. While on the road a pack of Harley-Davidson motorcycle riders passed by us, greeting us one by one. Then we arrived to the midpoint of Route 66 which is located on a small city called Adrian. This city has just 169 residents, the smallest we have passed through so far.


Within that city most of the stores and gas stations were closed. The only place opened serving coffee and food was a nice café. We decided to stop by and eat something before moving on. For our surprise, all motorcycle riders were in the café as well, along with many other tourists. It was completely full, so we took the last available table. There was just one waitress for the entire place, and getting coffee and lunch ended up taking an hour and a half, but the food was good and having some time to talk and rest was nice too.



Once we were back on the road the miles passed by easily with the help of the wind pushing us forward. We soon arrived at a ghost city called Glen Rio located right in the border of Texas and New Mexico. We stopped to take pictures at the state line sign and, one mile further, stopped at a rest area to eat and drink something. We had chocolate milk, bananas and bread with us so we were able to put a small meal together. The New Mexico visitor center was nice with many guides and maps available for free, along with good coffee also free.


After eating and seeing the place we were back on the road. We still have forty more miles to go, but they were passing by really easily. Then, I had a flat tire. I was just too tired to fix that old tire and decided to put the new one on the rear of my bike. This new tires are puncture proof, so we should not have to worry about it anymore. We stopped by a gas station to inflate my new tire properly but the compressor was broken. A few feet away we found a tire shop, but they didn’t have a proper gauge or equipment to put the correct pressure for this tire which is 95 psi. They put the maximum they could - 60 psi - and we moved on.

A few miles later, my uncle had a flat tire too. He still wanted to use his old tire so, while he fixed his, I exchanged my front tire for the new one as well.

When we arrived in Tucumcari, our planned destination, we stopped to get food at a local supermarket. As many other cities we have seen on Route 66, this city was full of closed business and ghost buildings. A few places were opened and we found a cheap hotel on the West side of the town.


In the hotel room my uncle decided to put his new tires as well. We then prepared a nice dinner, showered and went to sleep early to prepare for the next day.