April 10: Springer to Clayton, New Mexico
Today was our last full day of riding in New Mexico. We’re taking a rest day tomorrow, but after that, we’ll be leaving New Mexico and entering Texas and Oklahoma. Originally, the plan was to cut the corner of Texas and then proceed into Oklahoma, but we’re told there’s major highway construction on Highway 87 just across the border in Texas. It looks like we’d better take an alternate route and that means passing through Oklahoma first.
High wind warnings have been out today for northeast New Mexico. Fortunately, the wind was blowing from the southwest, so it was a lot of help. Temperatures were near 80 degrees today though and that was hard to take after being snowbound in Chama just four days ago.
The road between Springer and Clayton is very nice! A smooth, clean, wide shoulder. Very little traffic. But, boy, not a lot trees out this way! I encountered uncountable long, gradual uphills followed by long, gradual downhills. See the picture on the right to get a feel for the terrain.
To pass the time, I started wondering if I could somehow strap the camera on my bicycle to get some pictures of me riding. Below are a couple of the better ones that didn’t include closeups of the back of my calf and didn’t include a nice view up my nostrils.
