day 24: Clovis to Vaughn, NM

Do not be discouraged, do not be afraid for the Lord, your God will be with you wherever you go.

Joshua 1:9

114.02 miles -3,077 ft climb – 3,209 calories burned

We knew today was going to be long and hot. When we re-routed to Albuquerque last night we could tell the towns were few and far between. We figured we would go as far as Bruce could go and then boondock some place. Around 56 miles we stopped at Ft Sumner for lunch. Bruce had a pb&j and a power nap. That guy can fall asleep faster than anyone I know. Might have something to do with riding across the USA, I don’t know.

After he took off I decided to walk around a bit to give him time to get a little in front of me. Ft Sumner’s claim to fame is that Billy the Kid is buried there. There’s Billy the Kid Museum, Billy the Kid gravesite, Billy the Kid Hotel. You get the drift. I had parked in the parking lot of an old gas station that was no longer in business. Just my good fortune, there was a sign listing all the must-see hot spots of Ft Sumner.

I decided to skip the Billy the Kid museum and grave site, but did see a lot of interesting murals on 4th street. And a LOT of boarded up, broken down buildings. It was actually very depressing. So many forgotten, neglected houses, buildings, businesses. I only saw 2 businesses that looked like they were alive. But when I got closer, both had gone out of business due to Covid19. It makes me so sad to think of all the small town businesses that were forced to shut down and were not able to recover. We have seen a lot! Heading back to Harvey I came across a little business that looked like it might possibly be an antique store or flea market. But when I went in I could see (and smell) that it was actually a restaurant. And it appeared to be thriving. Hurray! Since I was there, I bought some burnt ends for us to eat later. I wanted to at least do my part to help them stay in business. On the package they had put a sticker with the Joshua 1:9 verse. I needed this. The drive and the town had gotten me down.

From Ft Sumner onward there was nothing. I mean really … nothing. Miles and miles of red dirt and scraggly bushes. Every now and then there would be some cows or sheep or horses in a barren field. I can’t believe they could find enough grass to survive. Occasionally there was a house or a sign announcing Mesa View Ranch or some other clever ranch name. I felt like we were out in the wild west. I guess we are. I also wonder if this was what is was like for Jesus. Rocks and dirt and sand and heat. That’s how I picture Judea. Minus the bike. And the RV. And the pavement.

We paralleled a train track for most of the way today. I counted 22 trains. Because I’m still an accountant at heart and that’s what we do. Not being near a train track in east Wichita, it’s easy to forget that trains are alive and well in other parts of the country. Every one of them had a million cars loaded with shipping containers. Thriving commerce. Just not in Ft Sumner. To be fair, I didn’t see the whole town. It’s possible there’s a lot of thriving going on in some other part of town.

So Bruce just kept going and going. Toward the end I paced for him because it was so brutal out there and because we were pretty much the only ones on the highway. Which had NO shoulder. On the hills he was only able to ride 10-20 mph because he was getting tired (slacker!). The cruise control on Harvey only kicks in at 25 mph, which means I actually had to have my foot on the pedal. And now my leg hurts. But you can’t really tell your husband your leg hurts from pushing the gas pedal in the RV when he’s just ridden 1oo miles. Rats! I want sympathy! He ended up riding 114 miles today! He left around 7:15 because we knew it was gonna get hot today. And it did. 87 degrees. Hopefully this was the hardest day of the trip and now it’s behind us.

We arrived in Vaughn around 3:30. I was able to find an RV park in Vaughn on google. I’ve noticed a trend here. If these RV parks are not included on the Good Sam’s website, there’s a reason. This park has about 10 spots. Ethel came out as I pulled up and told me that they were full, but we could park in the back with no hook ups. When Bruce got there, he asked if we could do a buddy hookup with one of the other RVs. She thought about it and then had us hook up to #4 because although an RV is actually already there, she has not seen the guy in a month and he hasn’t paid for his October rent. We pulled in from the back, narrowly missing a pick up truck parked 2 spots down. (And when I say “we” I mean Bruce because there is no way I would have tried to make that tight squeeze. I was pretty sure we wouldn’t fit.) When we got in to our back spot, there was a tree limb hanging a little low. Ethel thought maybe we could just pull out forward tomorrow. I agreed, but said I’d have to be sure and watch out for the limb. So she decided to just cut the whole tree down! That’s going above and beyond. And then she said to just apply our lot fee as a donation for Parkinson’s. So nice! A great way to end our day.

One thing that has really made me happy along this journey is the amount of flags we’ve seen. SO much patriotism! I love it! I don’t know if it has anything to do with the fact that we are mostly going through small towns, but we have seen flags everywhere. From Florida to New Mexico. I wish I had taken more pictures of all the variety of ways that people are showing they love the USA. Not only flags, but banners, flag posters, flashing red, white and blue lights that make up a flag. Mostly at homes but also at quite a few businesses.