Oil wells, cotton fields and windmills. Where's Waylon, Willie and the boys?

As we cycled down into the lower elevations we entered warmer and more humid climates. We welcomed them. However, along our route we encountered many shredded tires on the shoulder of the road. Not so bad in a car but your demon on a bike. The tiny wires were the cause of many flats and frustration! Also, campgrounds were difficult to find so free camping was frequently our only option which meant days without a shower (4 days at one point). Towns were far apart so lunch tended to be anywhere you could find a descent place out of the wind and away from the goat heads (tiny thorns).

It was easy to figure out what state you were in. Not necessarily by the southern drawl or the cowboys with their pickups. Nor by traveling through the home towns of Waylon Jennings (Littlefield) and Buddy Holly. But, by the vast fields of wheat and cotton interspersed with oil rigs and windmills. And, don't forget that hometown southern cooking. Yes, we are in Texas.

I Thought New Mexico was Suppose to Be Warm!

Silly us. We assumed New Mexico was going to be warm just because it was in the South. We forgot to consider elevation. Boy were we in for a surprise as we had to wait out a 2 day winter storm. We ended up biking in 20-30 degree weather before it warmed up again. It also helped that we took a turn South.

More Great Grand Canyon Pics.

We have so many great Grand Canyon photos. We can only show you a few on the blog but please go to our photo gallery where you will see a story.

Photos: (They did not download in the order that I had wanted them to. Down scroll and start with the last picture. I am explaining them from the last photo to the first.)

(Last to first)
#5. We are heading out on our hike down the South Kaibob Trail to the canyon floor.
#4. Harry Lum asking if we could please pick him up on the way up the trail in 2 days.
#3. We made it to the bottom of the canyon and we are setting up camp at the Bight Angel Campground. We will stay here for 2 nights.
#2. We met the caravan of mules that came down the canyon that morning to deliver goods to the Phanton Ranch.
#1. We did a 12 mile hike on the canyon floor to the Ribbons Waterfall which is shown in the previous blog.