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holding it closed in the face of a really strong wind and some higher gusts.
Because it was so cold, some people drove by slow, but no one even bothered to roll down their window to take a picture. Today, that was fine by me, because I didn’t feel like opening my window to greet them.
We knocked off the first 10 miles at a good pace. The Belgians were strong on the pull and managed a lot of very difficult hills, leading up to the one climbing the caprock.
The hill up the caprock was about a 7 or 8% grade and a mile long. The lads managed to pull up the whole hill without taking a break. This is quite a feat, considering that the wagon and trailer weight about 6000 pounds. At the top, I knew they were tired, but they weren’t even breathing very hard. I guess there is something to be said for 4 months of conditioning, while traveling over 1500 miles.
When I got to the top of the hill, the wind speed picked up about 10 mph, and my tape job on the door failed miserably. In the face of an almost hurricane, icy wind, I managed to get the door closed and taped. (With enough duct tape, baling wire, and super glue, the world will somehow stay together)!
For the next 10 miles, I passed one farm after another. The major crop is cotton, with just a tad of winter wheat thrown in. Most of the farmers practice some form of soil conservation, but some do not. Most of the ground is tilled. The fields that had a fair amount of humus, withstood the ravages of the wind without blowing away. Others, that had virtually no humus in the soil were playing out the Dust-Bowl, on a slightly smaller scale. It was disheartening to see clouds of dust blowing across the road, with large sand drifts forming.
I finally came to a good sized farm the wasn’t tilled, and pulled over to ask if I could spend the night. Tonight, the lads and I are set up great. They’re devouring their hay, while in their electric playpen. I devoured a bowl of Hadley’s great soup. This is a very relaxing evening, after a long, cold, day on the road.
Not long after we stopped, a nice family stopped by to chat and meet the horses.
We’re currently five miles southeast of Lamesa, TX.
On the plus side, it supposed to be 15 degrees warmer tomorrow, with greatly diminished winds.
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