Day 31 - Hereford to Conway TX

Originally I was planning to camp more than stay in motels, but since KOA tent sites are often $40 a night while motels just $50 or $60 and easier to find, I have been staying in them more so I can have a bed and easier access to a shower. Nonetheless, I have been fairly zero waste using my own container of shampoo/body wash and just a few bars of soap from the first couple of motels.

I don't use the disposable cups.

Or disposable drinks.

Or disposable toiletries.

In Texas, people need to be reminded to share the road with motorcycles. Nonetheless, pretty much all the motorists have been very considerate for me as a bicyclist. However, I am pretty unusual looking with lots of bright colors.

The roads I've been riding mostly all have very wide smooth shoulders and railroads next to them. Freight trains seem to run every 20 or 30 minutes sometimes and are very, very long -- 1-1.5 miles each.

While not as spectacular as in New Mexico and Arizona, there were some wildflowers blooming.

When I got to Canyon TX, my GPS routing directed me down a side road that paralleled the main road. But many side roads have large puddles across them. I rode through this one but riding through puddles can be treacherous as you cannot easily see potholes and other hazards below the water.

So I rejoined the main road to admire the puddles from the side but not need to ride through them.

Canyon has a very big cowboy to welcome visitors.

It also has a very modern library.

I'm not sure if this is a crop or a fallow field. There are many green agricultural fields here in Texas.

Here is a train carrying wind turbine blades. Notice it takes 2 extra long cars (60' each?) for each turbine blade.

A special carrying arm allows side-to-side movement on one end so the 2 cars to make it around turns.

Here are some cows that ran away from me at first than all turned to face me.

Entering Amarillo.

Alas I continued to run across lots of roadkill. Mostly skunks but this looks like a coyote.

And one deer.

Here is a typical small Texas town. Not much more than what you see here.

My GPS directions routed me down a county road. Alas all the county roads around here seem to be unpaved dirt.

My GPS directions wanted me to go 8 miles down this dirt road.

But I opted to go north along a smoother looking dirt road as I could see an interstate in the distance with a paved frontage road. Not as short but I appreciate pavement after getting stuck behind a small lake across an earlier dirt road.

At least this dirt road was pretty smooth -- as smooth as many paved roads. I'm very glad to have dry weather though. In the rain this would be sticky mud. I hope to stick to pavement going forward.

My shadow and some wind turbines in the distance.

Very glad to have made it to the paved access road.

At last I'm getting close to Route 66 -- the mother road.

And now I'm on it!

But with a 70 mph speed limit (!!!!). Luckily this road was very empty. Over the course of about 10 miles I only encountered one pickup truck and it was going slowly while pulling a trailer.

Here is my and Olivia's shadow on Route 66.

There were lots and lots of big wind turbines in this area.

And some grizzled old trees.

At last I'm entering Conway TX, my destination for the evening.

Someone buried some VW bugs here nose first. Some people from Indiana took my picture and you can see one of them here off to the side.

My motel for the evening. No, not the haunted husk of an old 66 gas station but the Executive Inn behind it :-)