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Day 20 - Thursday, July 17, 2003 Austin, TX to Carlsbad, NM 518 miles for the day, 8,050 miles traveled so far. 7:21 in the saddle, 9:05 total time check-out to check-in. Average speed while riding was 70.5 mph. Parks visited this day:
Stamps: Daily Journal: Left the motel at 8:15 in a fog. I went south on the west side of Austin, and picked up US-290 for the ride to Johnson City. It was time for the other president Johnson, at Lyndon B. Johnson NHP. LBJ grew up in the hill country of Texas. Before he became President, he served in many public offices in the Texas and was responsible for bring electrification to the hill country of Texas, along with better medical care and a lot of other improvements. The VC is the former Johnson City Hospital. His birthplace is on the Johnson family ranch 14 miles west on US-290. I passed by it but did not stop. I had a lot of miles to cover. I stopped in Fredricksburg, a heavily German city. Many German had settled in the hill country in the mid 1800's. Since the clouds were gathering, put the rain cover on. I did hit a few more slight rain showers in the next 50 miles. I eventually hit I-10 at exit 477, just about 1/2 of the way across. The speed limit in western Texas was 75 on the freeway. Soon I was dropping out of the hills and onto the desert plains. At exit 257, I left I-10 again for US-285, heading towards Carlsbad, NM. The speed limit on 2-lane US-285 was also 75! Nice. And hardly any traffic, too. After the constant traveling at around 5Krpm, I needed to exercise the engine a bit, so I dropped it to 4th and 3rd for some higher rpm cruising. Before I knew it, I was in New Mexico, and in Mountain
time. One more hour gained back. I took a shortcut through the
Indian reservation and made my way to Carlsbad Caverns NP I left the VC and went to the Super 8 in Carlsbad, which is about 20 miles north. I felt like a bit of a hooligan, and after the wide open roads of Texas, I couldn't take the tourist traffic, so I was passing very aggressively, when it was safe to do so, both in the park and on the highway. A tank truck must have felt the same way, he was also fairly aggressive on the highway. I arrived at the motel at 4:20. I did my laundry, and then cruised into town. I couldn't decide what I wanted for dinner, so I went to the Golden Corral. It was packed, and soon my stomach was packed, also. I relaxed in the motel for the evening. Compared to I-10, I am now 90 miles due north of exit 185. I'm almost fully across Texas. Map: |
