Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire On the road again.

Pump is working this morning, maybe one or both of us was dizzy with the heat yesterday afternoon on 87.

Who TF are you and what have you done with Travis?

Oh... I had to find out what kinda iphone I had to replace the case.

Its an 8, I know you was worried.

Right now its Great Falls or bust, whichever comes first, via Capitan NM, Las Vegas NM, Walden CO, and Old Faithful.

I seen photos of where you live, it look just like where I am except with grass and soil and stuff.

Where does the Hi Line start?

My wife said I should try being more cordial.

After she came to, I decided she was right.

70 or 80 miles north of Great Falls or so.

The Hi-Line is defined as any town along route 2 between Shelby and North Dakota.

Anything north of 2 but south of Canada, would also be considered the Hi-Line.

Been there many many times.

Hiking too!

Enjoy the hill climb.

Geno

Man, the Internet is amazing...

I write a quick question here in Sweden, and in just 8 minutes a guy on a bike tour in the USA answers it...

... and rips on me for being a weenie! Which I guess compared to him, is true!

Seriously, thanks for the info!

John

Them two Harley riders that pulled up wanted to talk to me about Jesus. I guess that could be real helpful when it’s 100+ on the asphalt and you’re changing a freaking flat tire. Problem is when you look homeless people think you are homeless and therefore in need of Jesus.

Anyways we got off that pretty quick and started to talk about motorcycles. They were just getting back from a trip to the hill country which means pretty much we were headed in the same direction. They were all proud because they had just done 1000 miles weekend.

Naturally the topic drifted towards flat tires, mag wheels on both those bikes, tubeless tires, neither of those guys had so much as a tire rivet/CO2 repair kit. I asked them what they were going to do if they had a flat, their answer was call the Harley shop

What kind of maroon leaves on a cross-country trip without the slightest idea of how to fix a flat on their motorcycle?

I didn’t think of it at the time but they weren’t using earplugs either, damn, I coulda saved their hearing 20 years down the line.

You can order and ship gear to a post office ahead of your arrival. The PO will generally hold packages for 30-days, but it's best to do a little set-up and confirm in advance.

Sweden? Ask if they have a furry one to keep your boys warm

Browsing the net there’s bike shop three days away in Roswell, and if I can climb the 70 miles to Capitan from there where good friends live, I can re-equip in Ruidoso.

Say hi to Dexter NM for me. You're going to have a great ride and scenery from Roswell up the hill.

Geno

Damn Mike. Capitan, NM is a long ass DRIVE for me!
Can’t imagine on a bike.
You’ll be near Billy The Kid’s old stomping grounds. Lincoln & Tularosa. Lincoln being where he escaped jail and hanging. I think he killed some folks in Tularosa. 🤠

Mike, watch the water, you need to eat some food with all that water. when you first start out (takes about 2 weeks) your body will be dumping tons of salt OUT in your sweat. After about 2 weeks, your body figures it out and preserves the salt in the body, sweats mostly water then, much less salt.

maybe living in house without AC, you are acclimated.

too much water will lower your sodium, no joke, can be life threatening.

Hyponatremia

Looks like some storms on the TX / NM border ahead on Mike’s travel route. Hope he finds some shelter or a good Motel.

To get everyone caught up.....

Rolled into Lamesa late, stayed in a motel. The next morning I got on Google maps and surveyed possible routes, ate and finally left town headed west at about 1130. No biggie, 40 miles to Seminole, 70 miles to hatch New Mexico, doable in a day .

But holy crap getting up onto the High Plains I was finally catching some altitude, and not even big altitude, maybe a little over 3000 feet. Sunlight more intense humidity way low, The first time I encountered a condition I’ll call parching. Dry mouth dry throat moments after drinking water, I expect it to be hot but it was friggin hot. Three hours into it I came by a rare stand of trees by the roadside I took a 30 minute nap, that helped.

Rolled into Seminole at last about five, this place is like the Stepford wives except with Mennonites. Found at the Walmart it has the same kind of cheap tubes that I had been using but I picked up replacements.

I still had two hours left to make a run for the Stateline but I was whupped. Checked into a motel to think and take stock.

I’m thinking if I go the way I’m going into central New Mexico and then north through Colorado I’m going to get bogged down in the hills, altitude and heat. Doesn’t help that if I head for Artesia NM I’ll be facing directly into a stout west wind both days I can get transportation home from anywhere on this route but I really want to get up north and I really want to go through Yellowstone.

This is my last chance to hang a left here and head north up the plains instead. Lubbock is just 80 miles in two days away but I would hit there on July 4 and lose yet another day waiting for the bike stores to open. Amarillo is two hundred miles away, long enough for me to order stuff and have it there when I arrive.

Going the Plains route I could hit Bent’s Fort on the Arkansas which is of interest to me, avoid the cities and head up to Colorado planes to Fort Laramie and then on into Wyoming . I’d still be facing a 9000 foot pass getting into the southside of Yellowstone but that would be hundreds of miles north of here with less sun and less heat.

Gotta decide today, in the meantime I’m gonna drop by the Post Office to mail home some tools, spare parts and extra clothes, that will free up a little bit of space and a smidgen of weight.

This is how I’m dressed, like a gay roofer. That single layer of nylon works real good in the sun and heat when it’s humid, but dries too quick up here, I have heard Cotton is the way to go. Gonna look for a cotton shirt today.




Little House on the High Plains.



...and a rest spot in the shade....



387 miles so far.

as to the salt thing, in the 70's we use to take salt tablets to go with a gallon or so of water leaking out. I remember my pants being white from the salt leaching out.
an old friend of mine who probably by hand did about 300 bags of concrete in his back yard, would drink ice water with a teaspoon of salt in it to keep in from all being leached out. it can be a life endangering situation.

Ya, I brung a mix of sea salt and Lite Salt (50% Na Cl, 50% KCl) mixed to a ballpark of 2:1 sodium to potassium chlorides, what they put in rehydration packages. So I'm well set up for salt.

I’d ride my back to work and back 14 miles round trip

Thought I was big pimpin


Rock on Birdy, you da man and love reading of your progress