I wanted to see my nephew before he went to Korea to teach English for a year so I took off to New Mexico to see him. As usual I dragged my tail and time got away from me and it looked like I wasn't going to be able to do it in time. Then a stroke of genius came to me--it is not too late if you just drive up to Lubbock and begin/end there! I planned to park at the airport until I got there and it was $9 a day!!!!! Went to a church there in town and asked if there was anyone there who would let me park in front of their house. BOOM! I was gone....
Made it to Clovis after an 11:00 start. Strong southerly winds the whole way. Stayed in the Red Roof Inn there. Next AM I got up to find I had left a vital part of my bike pump back at home!!! Had to ride over to Wallyworld to get their best (terrible, useless) pump. Did I mention that overnight the winds had changed over to a strong northerly wind??? Hey, as long as it is not in my face. I finally called my brother who lives near Albuquerque to tell him of my surprise trip to make sure he and his son would be there when/if I got there. He called back about two hours later and said he was going to come get me, as the winds were absolutely howling up where he lived in the mountains just east of Albuquerque. He said he'd meet me in Fort Sumner, and we agreed on a time based on me averaging 15mph. I found myself easily cruising at 18-20mph however, going from Melrose to Fort Sumner, as there is a nice decline. A nice thing about towns in NM is they put the elevation on the town sign instead of the population. So I knew Melrose was 4600 feet and Ft. Sumner was 4200 feet.
By the rime I got there I'd decided what I was going to do--buy my brother a tank of gas, buy him and my nephew a steak dinner, and then take off back for Clovis. We had a great meal, I got to hug my nephew good-bye, and I was on my way. Stayed at the same hotel in Clovis. Next morning it was colder than I wanted as I took off for Lubbock. My fingers got numb and I got a Thrifty Nickel newspaper and put it inside of my jersey to keep me warm. Went flatless until just outside of Littlefield. As I'm putting my tire back together and hoping my Walmart pump would pull out a miracle and get me back up to 110psi, a white van pulls up and a guy gets out and asks me if I need any help. It turns out he is just the guy who placed sixth in the world triathlon championships and won the Texas triathlon--a super nice guy named Bill. We threw my bike in his tri-van and went to his house where he showed me his stable of bikes--including a nice recumbent that I also own--an HP Street Machine!!! He took me back to where we had met on US84 and I made the rest of the trip uneventfully.  
I was a little afraid about the NM roads, as the last time I had travelled on them I had three flats in 60 miles! BUT they were very well maintained and swept with wide shoulders. The trip from Lubbock to Fort Sumner is basically flat with small towns every thirty miles or so along the way.
Mileage totals--Lubbock to Clovis, 98 miles; Clovis to Ft. Sumner and back, 132; and Clovis to Lubbock, 97 miles. Hey, that leaves me 1 mile short of Lubbock, doesn't it????

Okay, now I feel like some superhuman being........
 
I came back early from my trip so I could do this race here in Abilene.....the Race for Kid's Sake. I won it!!!!! A guy started coming on me with about ten miles to go and I started panicking, but then a huge downhill section came along and I was able to bury him. Nobody messes with a recumbent on a downhill!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Averaged 19.4mph for 31 miles.

I bet that felt great!
 
Quote from reever on Oct 4^th, 2014, 5:24pm: