Day 9
   
   5/6/01
   Mile 917
   15 miles south of Oklahoma-Texas border on Rt. 385
   
   Things got off to a bit of a slow start this morning.  I had pushed
   myself pretty hard yesterday, and didn't sleep well last night since
   the campground was too close to the highway and thus pretty noisy.  How
   nice it would have been to get up around 8, and let the morning sun dry the
   dew off the tent while eating breakfast; instead I was already packed
   and gone by 8.  I stopped at a Subway and got four breakfast
   sandwiches, eating them with "the morning stares".  Seven more weeks like last
   week?  Yikes, what a strain to put on myself.
   
   Rolling along toward Boy's Ranch, TX, the terrain returned to a more
   desolate character, unlike the farmlands of the previous day.  A
   coyote crossed the road in front of me, spotted me, and scampered off into
   the brush.  A few cows grazed among the cholla cactus.  I dropped down
   several hundred feet to the Canadian River (too bad I'm not actually
   IN Canada).  This river is almost more mud than water,a deep rust color
   and the reddest I have ever seen.
   
   Throughout Texas, the state historical society has placed informative
   plaques describing regional historical facts; they might be tales of
   early settlers or famous civil war battles.  I always stop at them to
   see what's relevant, since it's much more convenient to do that on a bike
   as opposed to a car.  At the Canadian river the marker described how
   the region was at first a primary trading spot between early settlers and
   Indians, then a major cattle rustling site frequented by Billy the Kid
   and his types.  When barbed wire fences limited cattle drives, and the
   railroad later bypassed the area, it was essentially abandoned.
   
   I continued the climb towards the high plains, with my altimeter
   reading about 4000 feet.  The day was another one of perfect weather, and I
   felt stronger as the day progressed.  Coming north out of Dalhart,
   route 385 is another very good cycling road with very wide shoulders, smooth
   pavement, and negligible traffic.  It's all farmland here, and I
   passed (for instance) the aptly-named High Plains Potato Company.
   By 7:30pm a few storm clouds began building in the west, and I kept a
   cautious eye on them since I would again be totally unprotected from
   lightning in this area.  They seemed to worsen, and although it was
   only 8:30, when I saw an AT&T telecommunication relay hut with an overhang
   I pitched my tent next it under the theory that I could stand under it
   in a storm.  True to form, it started to rain before I could even get the
   tent set up, and also a bit during the night, but never very bad.
   What happened the next morning would prove to be just as much of a shock as
   a lightning bolt, however.

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