Route 66 day 19

 Our last long day (78 miles) of the trip took us from Tucumcari to Vega, Texas -- our final state, as well as last time zone change.  We are now in Central time zone.  It was a relatively easy ride with more downhill than uphill, a couple of fast pace lines, little interstate, no flats, a tailwind, and some optional gravel.  Once again the weather was great -- started chilly around 50 and made it to the low 80s.  We opted for 15 miles of gravel to avoid a few miles of interstate.  No fence jumping today, and in Texas they don't put fences around the interstate so all we had to do in 2 places was to rides over a ditch, which was well traveled. The gravel was well maintained with some some sections that were firm like concrete (but not as smooth) and others that were a little sandy.  I tended to ride the gravel next to the hard pack so the gravel would smooth out the ride. There was one bridge that was out (picture below) but some people did ride over it.

There wasn't much to see today.  The highlights were more old cars in Tucumcari, some nice frontage roads, some nice gravel roads, 15 miles of windmills on very flat terrain, and the midpoint of Route 66, which means that we are actually traveling more than half of the route.  The midpoint is marked by the Midpoint Cafe. (pictures below)

Vega is another town that has a 4 lane Business I40 and you wonder why it is 4 lanes.  We pass through a flashing red light stop sign, as our indicator that there is some traffic at some time.  Once again there are a number of closed motels.  Within walking distance (1/2 mile) there are 2 restaurants, then again we are not in the center of town. 

 

An old Edsel in Tucumcari.  I wouldn't be surprised if there are more old cars on Route 66 than anywhere else.

 

another mural 

 

The worlds biggest flip flop -- I don't know why...

 

 

did you know that there is a sign that indicates that the pavement is changing to gravel?  Here it is...

 

scenes from the gravel section.  I don't think that the pictures of the road surface really captures the road... The first one tries to capture the hard surface with the darker gray gravel next to it.

 

 

the bridge that was out:

 

a bridge that was really out..

 

there must be a story around this.  I have no idea what 'modern' meant...

 

pictures of the Midpoint cafe (where we did have lunch).  They said that they were filming a PBS special. while we were there, as well as a local news story.





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