Texas was pretty awesome

After an early night in Wheeler we woke up bright and early at 4:30 the next morning for our century ride into Amarillo. We left before the sun came up and, let me just say, riding and looking over seeing Texas ranches and plains lit by a redish morning glow was just beautiful. Such a cool sight. It really felt like the morn was breaking and the cowboys were getting ready to go riding. I don't even know what that means, but I didn't see any cowboys.

Within the first two miles I had to pee, so I pulled over and told everyone I would catch up with them. When I started up again I came up on to a feed lot. Because I just ate breakfast and also because I am usually a bit nauseated in the morning it only took two whiffs of the nasty air and I vomited in my mouth. Good thing no one was around.

I caught up with the others shortly after. Then, we found a group on the side of the road. Annie and Emmy had fallen off and their bikes and cracked their helmets. They vanned it the rest of the day and are doing fine now.

Overall, the century ride was GREAT. We did a nice six person pace line and did simple one mile pulls and we flew there. Luckily, there was no hardcore wind, it was cloudy pretty much the whole morning, and it was definitely flat, so we got there in great time.

We stayed at the local Habitat office, but some Jewish youth group was also staying there for six weeks this summer. There were 16 of them, 32 of us, and not the most spacious living quarters. And we were there for two days. Great.

The youths (teenagers) made us grilled cheese for dinner and we hung out with them at the park. That was nice of them.

Later, we went to The Big Texan which is a popular restaurant nearby. They have a 72oz steak challenge that was featured on The Food Channel's Man Vs. Food. Basically, you have to eat a 72oz steak, potato, house salad, and three shrimp in under an hour. If you do, it's free. If not, you owe $72.00. Read more here.

One of our riders, Brandon, took on the challenge. He got soooo close, but didn't finish. He was only seven ounces shy of finishing it. It was fun to go out and chill with everyone. They even offer free limo service to and from the restaurant.

We woke up the next morning and walked over to the habitat site we'd be at for the day. Everyone got a lot done, but it wasn't the most organized. We put the sides up on the house while a lot of people put on tresses. The local news channel came, too, and interviewed some of us (me and Andrea included). The newspaper did a story, too.

I did a quick run to the bike shop after we were done working. They stayed open a half hour later for us and were able to fix my loose fork! Aaron had put a piece on backward when we tried lubing it last time, so it was a quick (and simple) fix.

The bike run gang (Annie, Tess, Emmy, and I) got back just in time for dinner. Annie's parents came all the way up from Austin towing their smoker so they could make us delicious BBQ. Chicken, pork, ribs, etc. It was quite an amazing feast.

We cleaned up and had so many leftovers after (great for lunches). That night we hung around. Some people got their last minute outifts because prom was the next night! Woohoo! We could barely sleep. Aaron and I worked a bit on our act for the talent show this weekend.

The next day from Amarillo to Hereford is one that many people were looking forward to. Mostly because it was only 50 miles! 50! So short. However, there was an optional detour that we were offered to take and Cali, Ali, Larry, and I did. It was Palo Duro canyon and it's the second biggest canyon in the US. We didn't get DM, so only had to pay 5 bucks. The lady was kind of crazy, though. We didn't go as far in as others did. Mostly because it said 10% Downgrade 2 Miles. I guess that downgrade was kind of cool/scary to go down, but (obviously) a pain in the ass to get back up. Pass. That detour only added 18 miles on.

There had been intense rumors that people last year got sick on the ride into Hereford because Hereford is the beef/feed lot capital of the US. I had been super scared because I have such a bad gag reflex, but, luckily, the smell was not nearly as bad as I thought it would be. Some of the locals said it was because it had rained lately and that holds the smell down in the ground or something.

The church in Hereford welcomed us and Tati had a big bouncy castle set up in the lawn in honor of prom. Everyone showered, laundry crew did laundry, the church fed us pizzas, the FC (fun committee) helped decorate the youth center room, and then people got ready for prom! Trey's a DJ and made an ultimate playlist. Also, I set up a B2SB Prom photo booth complete with bikes, balloons, prom sign, etc.

Everyone had AMAZING outfits. You will see them soon for sure. The shirt I had turned out to be one of those things wrestlers wear to sweat a ton in. I did not know that. I thought it was a Halloween spaceman costume. I sweated my ass off. I had to cut holes in it for ventilation. Andrea looked great, too. She had high heels that lit up. The prom ended at about 9:30ish because our wakeup was 5am this morning.

Oh, meanwhile, EVERYONE has started to get sick. Sarah got into Wheeler and within two hours had a sour throat and felt like crap. The next day the van was full of sickies, a rider with a broken bike, and two people from the accident. Andrea started feeling crappy the next day and actually didn't ride today. Me, Larry, Jodi, Goose, and a lot more woke up this morning with sore throats. I hope this goes away. I've been taking lots of vitamin C and ibuprofen and it's working well, but I was kind of annoyed about it all day.

Like I said, it was annoying to have a sore throat this morning, but me, Ravi, Lesley, Sarah, and Christina had a pretty solid pace line all the way til lunch. I gagged twice at feed plants before then. It was almost like the ten miles leaving Hereford were worse than the ones going in. There were supposed to be some showers, but, luckily, there were none. The sun wasn't too bad, either. We crossed into New Mexico, too, which is sweet. They had two Welcome signs about 100 miles apart. At the first one a family came out and asked what we were doing. It was really nice to hang out and talk to them and then they took pics, too. There was also this store we stopped at specializing in selling cowboy hats, boots, etc. and the owner gave us free t-shirts. Not just that, but, also, he took a group that was there earlier to a local Mexican restaurant that was supposedly amazing. Such great hospitality.

ENMU (Eastern New Mexico University) is our home tonight which means real BEDS! Tomorrow we have a century followed by a night and day off in Roswell. I can't believe it's almost August. I knew that the end of June would go slow, but once July hit it would be like blinking and it would be August. I've got to salvage the time I have left!

Until next time, the wheel keeps turning...

Oh, and here's my latest photo album. 200 pics (AND you can see my mohawk). Prom pictures will be in the next album.

I just did some more searching and found the video that I'm interviewed in. Unfortunately, I have no audio here, but it looks like they didn't use anything I have to say (just from watching the video portion, at least). Here it is.

Ciao ciao!