So I've been a total slacker keeping track of our travels... but my legitimate excuse is the lack of internet we've had in the desert.

I am currently enjoying my rest day at the Abraham's house in Albuquerque, New Mexico. It's nice to finally sit in a real cushioned seat and not have to look at my bike (I'm sorry Sebastian...).

The past 10 days have been AMAZING!!! We have traveled over 730 miles since Austin and visited Brownwood, Winters, Snyder,Lubbock, Clovis, Encino and now Albuquerque. Each town has been amazing. I can't believe the hospitality we have received in all these place; all of our hosts have ensured that no weight will be lost and made pounds and pounds of cookies, cake, fruit, eggs, sandwiches, bagels, hamburgers, potatoes, beans, rice, steak, and peanut butter a daily treat for all of us. We may burn thousands of calories peddling for 5+ hours but we have been spoiled with food and other fun goodies such as T-Shirts, jerseys, Gatorade, and Powerbars. Thank you!!!

Day 3: A Trip into Dairy Queen and Cowboy Country

On Day 3 Lauren, David, Rocky and I had our first radio interview. It was very exciting to see all the behind the scenes stuff. The ride to Winters was very scenic, but incredibly windy. The hills are slowly turning into flat farmland, so as the trees are becoming less and and less it becomes much windier and much sunnier. Upon our arrival we were welcomed by the whole city of Winters and their friendly Chamber of Commerce. We enjoyed a dip in the city pool, which was followed by a delicious hamburger dinner and DQ Blizzards. We also received the coolest Winters Football T-Shirts, which is actually my first football T-Shirt ever. Afterwards the team split up for the first time to stay at several families houses. Becca, Lauren, Pam and I all had a girl's night with Donna... who I would love to recruit as our team mom and baker (=

Day 4: Sweeping is Weeping

Today was our longest trip so far... it was over 90 miles into pure heat into the flatlands. I volunteered to sweep (ride in the back and make sure everyone is on the right path) and little did I know today would be the first day of many sore bums and lots of flats. I rode over 90 miles at snailspeed and spent over 9 hours in the heat.... while I was slowly losing my patience, I totally overlooked all the windmills- did you know that West Texas has the most energy producing windmills in the world?! Very cool!!! However once in Snyder did a nice cold shower and a quick catnap await me, followed with a carbloaded dinner provided by the First Presbyterian Church. During the dinner a few of us decided to create a T4K musical... so stay posted for exciting happenings!

Day 5: 100+ miles in 104 degrees

Today was a ride of mixed feelings... the first 80 miles were AWESOME... the scenery was unbelievable! The plateaus and oilwells reminded me of a Western movie and I expected lots of cowboys and Indians to be riding next to us any second... however after 80 miles the wind and dust started to become overwhelming in the furnacing heat. The team was getting restless and when things get bad naturally everything turns worse. Our first and hopefully last accident occured- two riders ran into each other but luckily only bruises and bent derailleurs resulted in the crash. The ride into Lubbock was exhausting and everyone started to run low on water while we were getting lost in the city. (It really made me appreciate the small, easily navigatable towns.) However after 10 hours of riding we finally arrived at the Brown's house who made the whole ride worth it... tonight was our last night in Texas, so we enjoyed country fried steak and Shiner at Gardski's for one last time.

Day 6: Leaving Texas

We finally crossed the border!!! YAY! Actually crossing into New Mexico was incredibly anti-climactic... after 90 miles of headwinds in the panhandle I was too focused on crossing the railroad tracks that I totally missed the NM state sign. But YAY! we made it out of Texas after 500 grueling miles of peddling! Although the ride was fairly enjoyable after 12 hours we were again exhausted (it seems to be a pattern for us)... Michelle and her two adorable kids, Olivia and Evan, awaited us at the school after 4 hours of delay!!! Tonight really showed us how much people appreciate our dedication... at the church we may have had one of the best dinners yet (possibly because of the insane headwind and homemade ice cream). Even though I had planned on sleeping as soon as possible I spent most of the night catching up with the Rockies team on the phone...

Day 7

We have an official Sierra Route song!!! At another radio interview, I requested "Take a Chance on Me" by ABBA- which was the last song I heard on the radio on Day 0 when I drove the van to UT. Today's ride was fabulous!!! It was "only" 60 miles with tailwind- the first time we have had tailwind!!!! So we reached our destination after 3 hours of flying on the roads... we reached Fort Sumner and for the first time we had a semi-rest day because we did not have any hosts. To celebrate our free time we deep cleaned our bikes and explored the town limits... we came to the realization that now we are really in the desert!