Tucumcari, NM to Vega, TX 04-28-2026 Day 18

Our Warm Showers hosts, Mel and Erika Lolmaugh had just got home from their respective 12 hour shifts as local police and EMT at a little after 6:30. We had got up at 6 and started our packing and prep for the day’s ride. In spite of their fatigue, the first things they asked was “how did we sleep, did I wake you when I came back at 9:30 to take care of the dogs, do you need anything besides the breakfast I’m about to make, ..” We should have made them breakfast, but we probably would have broke something in the process.

We wish we could have spent the next few hours just enjoying their company and sharing our life stories some more, but we had to ride 80 miles and they certainly deserved some rest.

We headed into the east with the sun in our face and the wind at our backs. Even though the course was loaded on our GPS, we still needed to double check our position to make sure we had the right access to the frontage road which would take us to the towns that led to Vega.

At around 16 miles of climbing along the frontage road (Historic Route 66), we came upon the landmark Historic Cedar Hill Grocery Store which operated as a grocery store, gas station and auto court from 1940 to 1980. I was taking some pictures and ready to head down the road when I noticed Ron had stopped more than 100 yards behind me. I thought he was just removing his jacket and packing it away, so I started riding on. He called to me. That’s when I saw that he had turned his bike upside down to get ready to remove the rear wheel! You know the rest of the story.

He had a slow leak, which meant it was likely a puncture from another steel wire fragment. We thought that being off the interstate would keep us safe from semi’s and those tire fragment devils, but it only kept us from one of them. It was a tedious and difficult process to both find and remove the 3-4 mm wire. Ron put on a patched tube in case we didn’t get everything. We hadn’t gone 200 yards when he was starting to lose air. After more scrutiny, we determined that the patch had lost part of its seal and was leaking air there. He put on a brand new tube and hoped that we had got all the threatening debris out of the tire.

We had left our hosts a little after 8 AM and it was now well past 10 am and we’d only travelled 16 miles. We made our way 9 miles to San Jon where we could get some refreshments and hit the restroom before the next opportunity 19 miles away in Glenrio.

We took a little time off the saddle after 13 miles, then went on knowing we could sit and maybe get something to eat at Glenrio.

Two miles before the turn we would make in Glenrio, we passed a big Travel Center. It turns out that was the only supply opportunity and we had missed it as there was none in Glenrio.

It was now well past noon. As we got on I-40, we saw the sign that said we were now leaving New Mexico and entering Texas. It also meant we had changed time zones and lost yet another hour! It was 19 miles on the interstate and another 10 on a frontage road to Adrian.

It was hot, noisy and sometimes hilly on the interstate. We were making good time, but it was hard work.

Though we were tired, we didn’t stop long once off the interstate. We thought we would find refreshments in Adrian, 10 miles down on a frontage road that was Route 66. When we got there we found that we had now finished half our journey!

The cafe was closed today, but we still got something to drink in the gift shop. While I was in there the cashier and another woman customer were asking me about our ride. I explained that Ron was doing it because he was just crazy. I said I was doing it for two reasons. One was the adventure, and the other was to honor the Pullman Educational Foundation that had helped fund my education 50 years ago. I told them my story and they offered to make a donation, so I gave them one of my cards and instructions on how to honor the potential scholars and me.

After finishing our drinks, were had the wind at our backs, some smooth pavement, and strong motivation to get to Vega and our hotel. We averaged better than 17 mph most of the way on the final 10 miles. By the time we made it to the hotel, checked in, unpacked, showered, did laundry, it was approaching 7. We walked to a Mexican restaurant, Roosters for dinner.

After dinner we wandered to a Dollar General to get a few supplies and saw some of the sights before we called it a day.

Other than losing time to the flats, it was a pretty good day. We are now more than halfway home and I found 2 more interested donor/supporters. The ride stats are here and the 3D video here.

The Not So Lone Rider