Day 11—Tucumcari NM to Dalhart, TX, 97 miles. This was one of our shortest rides and a “rest” day, given that we’d only be spending about 4-5 hours on the bike instead of 6 hours plus. We had a chance to “sleep in” with a baggage load time of 8:30 am (normally about 0700). The winds were again prevailing out of the west and the road pointed east most of the way. Although the pavement in NM was pretty rough, it smoothed out considerably after we crossed the Texas border. We were sailing along about 26-29 mph for the first couple hours, enjoying the push from Mother Nature and drafting in a group of about 9. Our ride leader, Mike Munk, counseled me at the early rest stop (25 miles) that he “didn’t really like to see that” because with that many riders drafting along a quasi-busy road with a limited shoulder, the potential for injury increases. I couldn’t argue with that, so we departed the rest stop in smaller groups and had some great conversation along the way. As the heat increased to above 90, I got the chance to pull more and more and enjoyed every minute of it. Very little climbing today, and the same should hold true for the road to Pampa tomorrow. I think our average speed today was almost 25 mph, so that should give you an idea of how fast we were moving as a group. Today we were moving so quickly that a couple of the guys who already knew one another were chiding each other to “slow it down” as we closed in on Dalhart. Around here you can literally and figuratively “smell the barn” (Note: Huge stockyards just west of Dalhart will hurry you to move upwind soonest!) You can certainly see the strength and fitness of all these folks improve despite the fact that they are riding lots and lots of miles every day. My fitness level continues improve despite the small setback I had last Saturday night. Hard to believe that we will be in Savannah in just over 2 weeks! This is definitely a grand adventure and I hope you are enjoying the ride as much as I. Stay healthy, Steve