Day 32 - ending at Lubbock, TX - The Great Plains Trail - Sort Of

June 15, 2023

Day 32 - ending at Lubbock, TX

Day 32 - Plainview, TX to Lubbock, TX

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I worked on yesterday's report after getting up at 4:55am this morning. Had a cup of coffee from the motel's breakfast area, then unloaded the bike so I could get it outside to look at the rear tire. A truck tread wire was the problem. I patched the tube, then scraped mud off the inside of the fenders. There was a lot. Since I had a motel room sink that I could fill with water, I patched the tube I'd replaced on the trail a few days ago. It had three holes.

I checked out of the motel at 10:20am, then walked the bike over to IHOP next door for breakfast. My destination today is the Lubbock KOA, which is located on the northwest side of Lubbock. I had no pre-trip routing for getting from Plainview to Lubbock, but it looked like heading south on the west-side access road for I-27 was the way to go. That was the road right in front of the motel and IHOP, so it was an easy start at 10:50am.

I passed a business - Panhandle Popcorn. They were open so I went in. They do have a small retail business, but mostly are set up to service other businesses.

The wind was from the west northwest so I had a slight tailwind and was making good time. Noon report is 8.4 miles.

At 12:27pm I arrived at Hale Center. They have a nice park here, so I took a break in the shade. I was still following the access road - there was almost no traffic and even I-27 to the left wasn't too busy, so it wasn't a noisy ride.

I came to a rest area for southbound I-27. There isn't a road from the access road I was on to the rest area, but it was easy enough to get to on a bike, so I took a break there. Nice and cool inside.

Made it to Abernathy Dairy Queen at 2:50pm. Ordered their Fritos Chili Cheese Crunch and a large root beer float. The sandwich was kind of messy, but good.

I had options now on how to get to the KOA Campground - continue south on the access road, then go west, or go west now. The wind direction had changed to from the west and it was strong - about 20 mph with gusts to 34 mph. I knew it'd be slow going, but I headed out of Abernathy going west. Later there were jogs south and then back west. On one south leg I decided to try out a Texas dirt road. It worked OK mostly, except at the very sandy sections. The wind was stirring up dust from fields. Fortunately I didn't end up in any of the dust clouds.

I was at the KOA entrance at 6:50pm, and at my assigned site, #65, at 7:02pm. The site has electricity, so that's a plus, and they've got wifi here. After I got set up I went back to the camp store for ice cream and a soda. Later in the evening I pulled out my bottle of seam sealer to work on the tent, but it looks like my bottle is defective - too old.

I worked on picture selection a little after that, but I was sort of tired, so went to bed at 10:15pm. A couple are camping next door to my site. Well, I guess camping. They have a hammock up, but it looks like they plan to sleep in their van. But before they do, they are watching a movie at their site. Anyway, between the movie noise and the highway noise, I put my ear plugs in and fell right to sleep.

Jeff

Spent: $13.41 plus $3 (breakfast) + $11.34 (lunch) + $36 (campsite) + $5.95 (ice cream, ginger ale) = $69.70