Groom TX to Erik OK: 76.2 miles
The morning out of Groom was very foggy and cool, and windy.
It was tricky in a couple of places to determine how we should follow the road that paralleled I-40. At various points it appeared that R66 ended and our only option was to proceed on the Interstate. Our ACA map was ambiguous on this. So in our first decision point, we mistakenly believed the Interstate was our only path forward before we beheld little R66 appearing on our side separated by a small grassy gully. Story below:
However, a surprise routing occurred. Twice we were, by the very ACA bike maps, on I-40 eastbound, in the fog. There was a wide berm with a rumble strip to our far left to alert drivers drifting into our ‘lane,’ which ‘rumble’ we heard from time to time.
Big vehicles would appear out of the fog zipping by at 75-80 mph.
There were fewer places to stop for breaks and food. One interesting place was Alanreed:
The small store had everything, including a jail
There are, of course, cemeteries everywhere you go. This one, Talanreed, adopted the Route 66 memorial sign. One wonders of the lives lived in this very rural area, and how they ended. Did they live well? Where now are their souls?
The view of the west Texas countryside from the Cemetery.
There were many abandoned, and in this case for sale, gas stations along our ride. By the way the cars and trucks are lined up on the property it appears that they are included in any deal.
Shamrock, Texas
Vern’s is a fantastic place to eat in Shamrock.
Across the street from Vern’s is a beautifully restored Conoco gas station and small museum.
Interestingly, along side and on the property of the gas station is this Tesla electric charging station, paralleling the irony of the Texas crops of hay and wind turbines.
Texas border:
West Texas scene.
One of the very interesting riders we met was Fabio. Fabio is from Rome, flew to New York City with his pictured rig, and was en route biking to Los Angeles from which he would fly back to Rome in mid-June. He spoke a little English, and was having a great time seeing the vast stretches of the United States.
The video below has a strange section in the middle that is (for some reason) in slo-mo. When the slo-mo begins, just skip forward to about 4:06 and there’s a short section at the end.
We saw some very prosperous ranches especially along the 4 lane divided highway stretches of R66, including some that had decorated their fences and yard with iron work and memorabilia.
Day 7 here: