Here are five reasons why my day was close to perfect:
1) I slept in today knowing that my ride would be less than 20 miles--short enough to be almost like a day off, yet still make a little progress toward home.
2) When I got up, No Country For Old Men was on the USA Network which helped me to kill a little time at the motel. The aforementioned film just happens to be one of my four or five all-time favorites.
3) The wind has shifted. Today it is primarily coming from the south. Compared to the last week or so of constant headwinds and constant pedaling--even on the downhills--it felt like I was gliding across the earth effortlessly.
4) At the tiny town of Sentinal Butte, I made the decision to go off-route onto County Road 1711 North even though it meant a little extra Interstate riding to get to my destination. I don't believe I have ever enjoyed any three-mile bike ride as much as that little excursion. The road twisted around numerous buttes and the most pastoral landscape. Most likely only on a bike could anyone truly appreciate that setting.
5) My goal, The Buffalo Gap Campground, turned out to be everything I hoped it would be. It was set among a few shade trees in a land of tall grass, low shrubs, and eroded red and white clay buttes, mesas, and monoliths. Only two of thiry-seven sites were occupied. I hiked to the top of one of the buttes and the view was . . . something you would have to see for yourself. Is it possible to see to infinity? I watched a couple of dudes drive up in a VW bus. They climbed the same butte I did. One of them threw a Frisbee to the north, with the wind, and it must have sailed 500 yards. At sunset the red clays began to really assert themselves and at night the stars . . .
Just to show that I DO have some critical judgement, I'll let you in on a little secret. I didn't like that I could hear the Interstate traffic from the campground.
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