“On the fourteenth day of April in 1935
There struck the worst of dust storms that ever filled the sky…
From Oklahoma City to the Arizona Line
Dakota and Nebraska to the lazy Rio Grande
It fell across our city like a curtain of black rolled down,
We thought it was our judgment, we thought it was our doom…”
~ Woody Guthrie (from his song, “The Great Dust Storm”)

“One evening, we kids were playing in the granary when the sky started to get cloudy. The clouds were very dark and appeared to be solid and rolling on the ground as they approached from the southwest. Mother called Sis to come to the house and sent Willis and I to the woodpile to get the wood before the storm struck. The wood pile was about fifty yards from the kitchen door. By the time we got our arms full of wood, the clouds had completely blocked out the sun, and it was very dark and eerie. As we started to the house a few large drops of muddy rain fell, and then the dust and wind reached us. Before we got to the house, the air was so full of dust we could not open our eyes and could hardly breathe. Mother wet cloths and tied them over nose and mouth as the dust was so thick, even in the house, that you could not breathe. The storm lasted all night, and when we got up the next morning there was about an inch of fine, red dust on everything in the house.”
~ Winton Slagle Sipe (from “Memories of a Kansas Farm Boy”)

“In 1931, dust from the seriously over-plowed and over-grazed prairie lands began to blow. And, it continued to blow for eight long, dry years. As the storms blew across the plains, it came in a yellowish-brown haze from the South and in rolling walls of black from the North. This just wasn’t any wind, this dust-filled wind made even the simplest acts of life difficult. Taking a walk, eating a meal and breathing were no longer easy and they couldn’t be taken for granted.”
~ Sprol – “Worst Places In The World”

One of the non obvious advantages to ring cross country is that if we take the time to explore, ask questions and research, we are given glimpses into the rich history of our nation. Some of that history reveals a devastation the was heaped on the citizens. Dal hart Texas and some of the towns we are soon to visit as well as the surrounding areas were hit by economic and social devastation that occurred simultaneously with the Great Depression. I contemplated some of that as we rode to Dalhart Texas today in a 96 mile ride. I tried to images a land barren of vegetation and fields eroded of top soil on top of a multi-year drought.

The wind gods smiled favorably on us today and what was perhaps one of the toughest rides in both 2012 and 2014 became a relatively simple day. I probably arrived in Dalhart a full two hours sooner than my prior rides. The hills were comparatively gentle, the temperatures were tolerable and the pavement was pretty good (with one exception).

I rode the whole day with my two riding buddies, Lou and Howard. We promised not to hammer after a tough prior day but we were much quicker than I would have thought.

We crossed another state line nd took pictures at the bullet-riddled Texas state line sign. We almost averaged 20 mph moving. The one downside was the XIT feeders were cattle are brought to be fattened and shipped elsewhere in the country. Cattle s far as you can see and an ever-present smell in Dalhart and the last 10 miles of the ride. Tomorrow we hit the pig processors and we are told we will wish they were cattle.

Kevin had another incident today and took a screw on the road that penetrated his tire tube and wheel. He completed the ride on a borrowed wheel but his wheel was repaired later that day.

I hope to post a few more photos of today’s and yesterday’s ride.

Thanks for reading

~Chuck