Leaving Clovis, we were headed to Fort Sumner, New Mexico - before leaving, we gathered at one of the host houses to listen into the local radio station, where David, Emily and Lance were guests on the morning show.

The wind to Fort Sumner was pretty brutal, and we depended on pace line techniques for most of the trip. One thing I learned on this stretch was the advantage of having a tractor trailer barrel past you in the next lane - the draft they create almost pushes you forward as they roll by, and when used strategically, can really serve as a useful tool against the wind.

The scenery by this time has changed very much compared with Texas. We made our way through vast landscapes of grass and fields, with little else but cell towers and animals dotting the landscape occasionally. There weren't even many intersections with other state roads to reference our position with.

We arrived in Fort Sumner only after passing through 1-2 nearly abandoned towns. We stayed in a small Episcopal Church right in town. Our early start allowed us some time to explore Ft Sumner. We ate at one of three restaurants in town. There was a celebration called 'Old Fort Days' going on, but we didn't have a lot of luck in finding it - apparently the central event is a Tombstone Race, where individuals must do a combination run/carrying of large stone relay through some sort of obstacle arrangement. Sleep ended up being a good idea - we were to have a 4am wakeup the next morning.