Los Lunas NM – Plano TX
Fri Jun 21, 2024
(~849 miles)

First lay plans which will ensure victory, and then lead your army to battle; if you will not begin with stratagem but rely on brute strength alone, victory will no longer be assured.

― Ho Shih on Sun Tzu, The Art of War

Seems to me I was due a nice low-drama day by now, and this was it – or at least it was at the time. I looked forward to riding through the new-to-me landscapes of southeast New Mexico and west Texas today, preferably in dry weather and all on pavement! When all was said and done, it turns out I had no business routing myself this way at all. “Type 2 regret” is also a very real thing in long distance rallies. 😑 A fool’s errand, to be sure, but I wouldn’t know that until the checkpoint tomorrow night. In the meantime, at least it was a nice day to ride some miles.

I should have gone right to bed last night, but settling in – cleanup, doing “laundry”, double-checking today’s route timing after yesterday’s delays – ate up a couple of hours. Most of all, I’d realized that I’d f’d up my meal bonus receipt, and really had no idea if I was DNF or not at this point. That was a bit of a kick in the gut after everything.

Luckily, I had a text response waiting from Nancy shortly after waking at 05:30. She seemed very relieved herself that I had noticed my own receipt mistake, and she was happy to correct it. As I’ve learned in the past, using the LDX app seems mostly intended to keep the rally running efficiently, rather than trip riders up with the mechanics of using it. Entering bonus data incorrectly the first time (while not winning any favors from the scoring staff I’m sure) isn’t penalized as part of the “reading comprehension” portion of the rally itself. That is, as long as you notice your own mistakes and proactively notify the rally staff. Basically, you have until the next checkpoint to correct honest procedural and documentation errors. This is no Mason-Dixon 20-20 rally, after all! 😅

I’d slept 3.5 hours, and the physical exertions of yesterday’s off-roading jaunt into the desert had me feeling out of sorts and moving slowly this morning. The six-hour mark had come and went as I got all my shit together, including a cup of coffee from the lobby. Once I got back out to the bike, I took my rest bonus ZSLPB photo of the bike and submitted that around 06:11. That made for a total rest of 6:39, though the final 11 minutes after 6AM wouldn’t count towards my required 16 hours. I was de facto back on the clock.

I also re-took my MEALB bonus photo with all the necessary information handwritten on the receipts this time. I just texted that directly to Nancy as directed to get it sorted. What a huge relief that was, feeling like I’d dodged another bullet from my own gun! Problem is, I still have a full magazine!

My next alien engagement would take place near the southern border of the state. According to my imported rally data, first I needed to build a simple military force of just 10 fixed-wing asset points on my way there. A short 10 miles down I-25, I exited into the southern outskirts of Belen and zig-zagged east via a small local road to get over the railroad tracks. At a small community center with a playground, I snagged the daylight-only bonus FBTBN, another T33 Shooting Star. It’s worth 12 fixed-wing asset points, more than enough (so I thought) to take down the alien!

The app was giving me issues loading this bonus from the cloud after several attempts. I texted Nancy about the problem, but she was under the weather this morning and referred me to Paul. Turns out there was some sort of technical glitch with a few of the bonus photos in the database and this happened to be one. He told me to just text the photo and bonus info and consider it submitted. Easy, great!

Dutifully following the GPS, I head back north on NM 109 to Belen, where I will have to cross the Rio Grande in order to start heading southeast. In a mile however, the road just… ends at the railroad tracks. It looks like they are starting to build an overpass or something over the tracks here, lots of construction equipment and dug up earth, but right now, it’s just a dead end.

After pinching and zooming a bit on the GPS map, I circled back south and then north into the middle of town. There was a bit of morning traffic, but I got through quickly, turning right on NM 309 to get over both the tracks and the river. Then I picked up NM 47 back into the countryside, southeast for 20 miles to US 60.

It’s a nice ride up into these mountains, following 60 over to US 285, passing through Mountainair, Willard and a few other tiny towns that I’d been through before on past journeys, including the ’23 IBR. Temperatures cooled at elevation into the 60s. Skies were cloudy and a bit humid for now, magnifying the chill since all my gear still felt quite damp from yesterday. Still, it was a relief to be riding in the clear after last night’s lonesome nighttime deluge. I knew fair weather and dry warmer air lay ahead  of me somewhere today.

Turning south at Vaughn on 285 means new territory for me, as I’ve never ridden through the southeast quadrant of New Mexico before. I’m looking forward to seeing what Roswell looks like, my only frame of reference being urban legend of UFOs crashing here in the 1940s. That certainly feels appropriate, given the rally theme! I chatted with Char a few times when I had service and enjoyed a quick call from my friend James to fill him in on the particulars of my rally so far. I do appreciate those conversations to help pass the time, but service is spotty out here, so I was mostly alone with my thoughts as usual.

Turns out, I got a better glimpse of the city of Roswell than I would have preferred. Perhaps lulled by the peaceful riding, I blindly followed the Garmin XT’s magenta line directly through the heart of the city, rather than taking the longer but faster truck loop around west of town. This is something I’ve seen the XT do time and time again with it’s crappy routing algorithm, so I should have been paying closer attention.

I didn’t realize quite how big Roswell is (pop. 48,000+)! Yes, there were alien murals, signs, decorations, posters around everywhere, but aside from that it seemed a typical small city surrounded by desert. I became more focused on getting through the sundry stoplights and heavy traffic quickly and safely. While in “slow mode”, I did take the opportunity for an easy fuel/bathroom break at a convenient corner station along the way.

Leaving Roswell gratefully in my rearview, I continued south on US 285 for 75 miles to Carlsbad. Garmin again tried to route me directly through the gauntlet, but I was ready this time. After passing a very nondescript turnoff with a small green highway sign reading “Truck route, El Paso, Pecos”, I quickly zoomed out on the GPS and saw that it would lead me nicely around town. At the next median cut-through, I banged a uey and went back a half mile to pick up this little loop. It turned out to be a great shortcut, leading across the wild desert hillsides just west of town, with nothing around but a couple industrial parks touching the city outskirts. It dumped me out on US 180 by the airport, where I turned to continue south.

It’s another 15 miles to Whites City, which seems to be the gateway/waystation to Carlsbad Caverns National Park. I passed plenty of campgrounds and RV parks, and signs for various tours and  attractions. I turned onto NM 7, which leads into the park, and pulled into the parking lot for the big strip-mall/campground complex that seems to be the heart of this little community.

The giant green alien leader that I’d come here to do battle with had apparently also fled in fear of the approaching LDX forces, so I took a photo of the “working class” aliens that were still hanging around instead, for bonus ATGNM, worth 1500 points. They did not seem pleased to see me.

As I rode back north on highway 180, I called the rallymaster again to inform him about the missing alien leader. He confirmed a photo of the location and other aliens would qualify, so just like that my third alien of the rally in the bag (or so I thought).

Unfortunately, I did have to ride back through the city of Carlsbad this time, in order to head east as quickly as possible. And I finally caught up with and rode through the light rain system I’d been chasing as I rode across more desert towards the Texas border. It only lasted an hour or so and felt like sprinkles compared to last night.

I crossed into west Texas around 14:00 CDT after passing through Hobbs. The country out here is surely is as flat and featureless as they say, though at least the winds today were either calm or at my back and not a nuisance. The clouds had scattered, leaving blue skies and a gorgeous low ceiling of fair-weather clouds – a beautiful day to ride, though it started heating up quickly as the cloud cover thinned.

Plenty of wind turbines, oil pumps, and power lines dotted the landscape everywhere, mucking up the views. Without the power lines, a lot of it actually wouldn’t look so bad. I was fascinated by the open flames burning at the top of the oil well pipes, which I later learned are called gas flares. They are used to control burn-off of natural gases released underground with the oil.

South of Lubbock in Lamesa, I turned southeast to jig via US 87 down to Big Spring on I-20. The landscape around here finally exhibited some vegetation and a hint of elevation change, with low hills flanking the city. A welcome sight after a few hours riding across the oil fields. I gassed up by the interstate, then continued on 87-BR straight through town and up one of those hills to a nice veteran’s memorial park adjoining Big Spring State Park.

This is another location boasting two military asset bonuses that were hard to see together when planning your route in Basecamp – always zoom in! Because my next alien in Dallas only required 10 armored assets to defeat, I was primarily here for bonus TAPBT, another M-60 Patton tank, worth 15 points.

Since I was right there anyway, I quickly bagged rotary-wing bonus RACBT as well, another AH-1 Cobra helicopter, for 15 easy points.

Following the route 700 loop around town, I picked up I-20 for the remaining 300 mile run into Dallas. Calls with Char and my friend Steve made a good hour and a half of that time pass by quickly. There was a tank asset bonus along this stretch in the town of Sweetwater, but worth only 2 points not needed for the upcoming alien. As it was located a few miles off the highway, it was not worth the detour.

I still needed to document a meal bonus today and figured it would be best to get it over with during the hottest part of the afternoon, letting the rush die down in the busy DFW metro area. Zipping north by Abilene, I exited for a Denny’s. Ordering another club sandwich with a side of rice (along with the check, please!), it did feel good to be off the bike in some aircon for a bit, though I wasn’t really all that hungry.

Between a few bites of sandwich, I caught up on paperwork, booked my hotel for tonight, and reviewed my timing and options for the rest of the leg. There are actually three aliens clustered in the greater Dallas area, but the lack of necessary military bonuses nearby makes it impossible for me to consider any but the largest one. Remaining time was looking pretty tight after my Aztec adventure, so I had to be careful of budgeting enough to complete my Leg A route tomorrow at the checkpoint. Penalty points for Paul’s rallies are insanely punitive, so anything more than a couple minutes late and you might as well resign yourself to the back of the pack. It was already looking like I would have to drop at least one planned alien bonus tomorrow.

I documented my MEALC bonus with the obligatory receipt photo (all correctly notated this time!), submitted the bonus just past the 45 minute mark, and hopped back on I-20.

It was still quite a ways to go (Texas!) so it was 20:00 by the time I hit the outskirts of Fort Worth and merged onto I-30. Having missed rush hour, the only heavy traffic was by the airport, and I pulled off my exit into downtown Dallas about 40 minutes later.

Navigating carefully via Google Maps now, I made my way the few blocks into the Deep Ellum neighborhood as twilight fell and located the giant alien robot that has been troubling the folks of this good city. There was sidewalk construction blocking a lot of the curbsides around here, but traffic was light an I was able to pull in right at the corner. My armored strike force was more than a match for bonus ADETM, worth a hefty 3850 points. I did have to walk around a bit to find a workable angle to shoot something so tall along with my rally flag! I felt just a bit bad taking this guy down as he has a nice smile and seemed to be satisfied communing with the local wildlife.

Now that the anticipatory stress of coming into downtown Dallas was gone, I was pooped! It had been a long uneventful day in the saddle, but I was feeling the last couple nights of short sleep. Not to mention Aztec, and oh yeah no rear shock. 😂 I could smell the barn, but there was one more stop to make before checking into my third and final rest bonus of the leg.

It was a straight shot from the bonus onto US 75 heading north. Traffic was heavy and a bit crazy being Friday night, but moving fine. I just kept her steady and concentrated on finishing the day out safely. The ride isn’t over until you’re in that parking spot. Some 20 miles north, I exited on TX 190 and quickly off that into the dense suburban streets of Plano. Several blocks north and west, I pulled up at a green space called Liberty Park, in a residential area next to a high school. It’s a large park and the bonus waypoint appeared to be in the very middle of it.

Parking by the curb with the bike left running, I couldn’t see the bonus through the trees, so brought it up on Google Maps and hoofed it across the quiet footpaths and through the trees to spot what was obviously an armored tank sitting forlornly by itself in a field. Bonus TAWPT is an M-41 Walker Bulldog and worth 7 asset points, which I would need for tomorrow’s first alien. It was a limited time bonus, available only during park open hours, but it closes at 10PM tonight so I made it with time to spare. Someone better build a concrete pad for this thing before it sinks all the way into the Texas soil!

More than ready for that hotel room now, I dragged myself back onto the motorcycle and very carefully navigated back to US 75, just a couple miles east along a large divided boulevard called West 15th Street. Another Quality Inn awaited me on the access road by the highway. I was so relieved to pull up and turn off that key!

I clocked in immediately to the rest bonus on the app, to ensure I could leave as soon as I’d completed the required 16 hours for the leg. I would have no time to waste tomorrow. After check-in and cleaning up, I reviewed my route timing again. Not only wouldn’t I be able to complete my original or revised plans for the fourth day, but time was going to be very tight just snagging the big/medium point aliens on my way back up to Coralville. I was bummed, but knew I had planned a tight route in the first place. Luckily, I’d left some outs. The extra time at Aztec plus the difficulty in making making up lost time on the road at a tamer rally pace had proven just a bit too much to overcome.