Tailwind Riding

We woke up this morning in the Winnett city park. The sun was out and the wind was whipping.... in the direction that we were riding. Yippee! We quickly packed up camp and hit the road. When riding with panniers, a strong tailwind feels like you are being pulled along by parachutes attached to the bicycle (alternatively, a headwind feels like a cruel form of resistance training). We made excellent time on our ride and made it the 78 hilly miles to Jordan before 3:30. Just as we were arriving, a looming black cloud approached town. We ditched our bikes, removed the tent from the panniers, and pitched it in under 5 minutes. Just as we were ducking under the rainfly with the last of our belongings, the rain began. We were very pleased with our tent pitching prowess!

Along the ride today we encountered a stretch of road that was littered with cows and calves. We nervously rode through all of them hoping they wouldn't attack or stampede us. After winding in an out of all of the cows and cow pies (in the picture they are mostly off of the road because a car had recently gone through) we saw that there were a bunch of cowboys and cowgirls (cowchildren?) with their horses saddled up. They must have been taking a lunch break.

Tomorrow we are riding 68 miles to Circle. The road we will be taking is down to one lane about 30 miles east of Jordan due to water erosion. We are crossing our fingers (and toes) and hoping the road remains open for at least one more day.

On a funny note - the mom pointed out to me today that we are developing helmet strap tanlines!

Addendum number one: Also, clearly she still isn't getting enough one on one mother-daughter time because we are laying here face to face in the tent as I get ready to read and she says "can't we just talk for a while?" What have we been doing all day?

Addendum number two: just as I wrote addendum number one a dog appeared under the fly of our tent! We are in the middle of a tear inspiring laugh session.