Day Two: Liberal, Kan., to Eagle Nest, New Mexico

Miles covered: 290 miles

Day Two started with a fast run through the nothingness of the Oklahoma Panhandle and ended 26 miles short of our planned destination, Taos. More on that later.

Denny and Melissa Villhauer and Chris and I left Liberal, Kan., around 9 a.m. and rolled through Guymon, Okla., and rode right past the Seaboard Pork plant -- the one that was supposed to be located in St. Joseph a few years back. The plant was impressive, but did have a distinct odor. Guymon, however, was a clean, thriving town.

We sped across Oklahoma and into New Mexico. We ate some pretty good cheeseburgers for lunch at the Rabbit Ear Cafe in Clayton, N.M., fueled up and set out across eastern New Mexico.

That's when we saw the storms.

The one thing about the flat areas of the Panhandle and eastern New Mexico is that you can see for miles. It's not the land is flat and boring. But you can see 10 or 15 miles down the road. And, you can see thunderstorms moving in from 50 or 60 miles.

And we saw a whopper.

As we were racing west, a immense, ugly, black cloud appeared on the horizon, boiling and churning and slowly moving our way. We heard the rumble of thunder and saw at least 50 lightning strikes. Fortunately, the storm stayed north, we skirted to the south, and we arrived in Cimarron dry around 4 p.m.

After fueling up, we set out for Eagle Nest and planned to be in Taos for dinner. But our luck wouldn't hold.

While riding through Cimarron Canyon, it started sprinkling. A few more sharp curves and the skies opened and dumped cold rain everywhere. It rained only for a few minutes, but the slick highway was a challenge.

We limped into Eagle Nest and stopped a gas station to wait out the storm. Dark clouds covered the sky from every direction.

Not sure whether to ride on, we talked a another couple on a bike when they pulled into the station. They warned us not to take U.S. Highway 64 to Taos. The road was cold, slippery and a good chunk of it was under construction. We decided we liked Eagle Nest and decided to grab a hotel and stop for the night.

We were a little disappointed at not making it the whole way into Taos but a hot meal and few Bud Light Limes made us all feel better.

I checked the weather forecast on my laptop and it's supposed to sunny and dry tomorrow. Maybe we'll tackle Taos in the morning.