Best part of the day: Easy day/Sun Adventure Sports bike shop
Worst part of the day: Forecasted thunderstorms
Distance: 53 miles Riding Time: 4hrs 20min
Bed count: 16 Sleeping Bag count: 16
Awoke at 7 by Rob’s watch alarm. We were not disturbed at all last night by any of the RV’ers there looking to use the bathroom! It looked like it either rained early this morning or it was a very wet fog as our bikes were coated in moisture! So, it was real nice to have been inside with no wet tent and dry panniers.
We had planned last night to go to the Midpoint Café for breakfast which we passed on the way in to town. It opened at 8 and was only a ¼ mile away. We were packed and headed there just after their opening.
Almost had the place to ourselves. One of the four young men working there this morning was our server, a very nice, polite kid. We quickly ordered coffee and checked out the menu.
Making our choices, Fay wanted a slight variation of their breakfast sandwich that had the chef and owner, Brenda, come out to our table to make sure she heard the order correctly. She was so sweet! She told us that she and her sister bought the place about a year ago and her mother is the pie maker! They are known for their pies as well. But, Brenda was the only owner there this morning. She made sure that everything was good.
Fay had scrambled eggs, toast, and bacon while Rob had the same with the addition of a nice amount of hash browns. We also ordered a side of their pancakes. It was a 2-cake stack each one about 10” in diameter!! 
We saved one of the pancakes and each made “sandwiches” from a couple pieces toast, some of our eggs and bacon to take with us for later in the day. Unfortunately, we were too stuffed for a piece of any of their pies. Maybe the next time we come through Adrian.
(Other sites inside and out of the Midpoint Cafe.)
Today’s ride was real easy, practically flat! The skies were gray, but, the temps were fairly nice for riding, in the 50s. The Route 66 road was decent for a chip seal. It ran parallel to I-40 with only a 30’-50’ grass median separating us from the interstate. Passed a cattle farm with a few thousand head and its“wonderful” aroma (cough, cough!). Think I-5 between Sacramento and Stockton.
(Along Route 66 east of Adrian. That’s how close the road is to the interstate!)
Yesterday as we rode up a hill leading to Adrian, we saw a number of windmills, when we reached the top of that hill, those windmills stretched miles down the interstate! Think Altamont Pass Texas-sized!! Well today, we got an idea of just how far down the highway those hundreds of windmills went, about 25 miles!!
Took a rest break at a Phillips 66 station in Bushland where we ran into a couple of other young, touring cyclists, Justin and David. Their finish was in Santa Monica. They had started in North Carolina riding the Trans Am route then picking up the Route 66 route in Missouri. They’d only been on the road for 24 days! That’s a lot of miles in such a short time!! We picked up OJ and finished up our breakfast leftovers.
With Amarillo only about 8 miles away, Rob gave a call to that bike shop, Sun Adventure Sports, which our Santa Fe Warm Showers host, Joseph, had recommended. Spoke with the head mechanic, Devin, and he said that he’d definitely have time to look at Rob’s bike.
Our regular ACA route thus deviated to get to the bike shop. Arriving, Rob unloaded his bags and Devin dug right to fixing the rear wheel problem. He also noted a small issue with rear rim requiring a bit of “straightening out” (i.e. a little “hammering” involved!). While he was working on it, Rob “borrowed” one of their other bike stands to lube Fay’s chain. He got it all put back together, checked the shifting and it was ready to go. When Rob went to pay for his services, Devin said it was on the house!! Wow!! He said he liked doing things like that for folks.
So, two thumbs up to Devin and the Sun Adventure Sports bike shop in Amarillo!! We’d recommend them any day of the week!!
Our plan was to stay at one of two camping locations: the Big Texan RV Park or the Amarillo KOA which was about 5 miles further along. Our Google maps route to the Big Texan brought near a Walmart! Dinner shopping and resupplying!! Fay first called both places to see if they had a microwave so that we could heat up a frozen entrée for our meal. Neither had! Bummer.
We also checked the weather for tonight and saw that there would be thunderstorms for early tomorrow morning. So, another question for them was did that have a room where we might stay for shelter in lieu of being in our tent in a potential storm. Negative again!!
That made our decision easy: INDOORS AT A MOTEL!! Found one real close to the Walmart, an America’s Best Value Inn, reserving a room for tonight for under $50. Fay then went shopping for our stuff.
We were real glad in our decision to be indoors because that thunderstorm arrived early!! Around 8:00, we started to hear the rumblings in the distance. Less than an hour later, lightning and thunder and heavy rains!!
We’re off to a campground at Lake McClellan tomorrow around 59 miles. It’s off route about 3 miles, but, it’s the best place available. The only concern is whether the campground will be muddy. Tomorrow’s weather looks real nice, so we can only hope that the ground will dry out by the time we arrive.
Until our next post….
Fay's and Rob's Epic Journey #4 