Today is another high mileage day, but by now, these people can handle just about anything.  They are getting really strong whether they realize it or not.  They look to these long days in Oklahoma with the same apprehension as the long days in New Mexico, but there is one difference...the climbing required to finish.  Although today's slightly unfavorable winds made up for a bit of it, they had over 8000 feet into Las Vegas, but only about 5000 today.  5000 isn't anything to sneeze at, but 3000 feet less makes a big difference in when they get in and in how they feel when they get through.

We left the motel and rode 16 miles due south before turning eastward on highway 55.  The riders were greeted with calm winds on that leg...that was a good thing.  But then we turned eastward and the southerly winds became the predominant wind of the day.  Luckily, the forecast 20 MPH southerlies didn't materialize which made us all very appreciative to the wind Gods.  The grass on the roadside barely rustled all day.

We rode on 55 for 30 miles before finally getting to some excellent Oklahoma back roads (upper left)...some were smoother than others (actually, some of them were pretty rough), but very scenic with little or no traffic.  After the last SAG, we got on hwy 9 for about a mile before going back out in the country again.  From Anadarko we were on 9 for ten miles then out in the country to the motel.  Everyone got in safely by 5:30 so they will have some time to recover for a long day tomorrow.  Hope they sleep well...tomorrow's mileage is 20 miles longer and it looks like we will have to deal with rain all day...just hope those winds stay light.  This low over Oklahoma just won't go away...I think they are over their drought!  It would have been nice if it would have waited just one more day or come a few days earlier.  We're the most popular strangers in town for bring rain to these parts.

About 18 miles into our route, we passed the small town of Retrop which had an interesting story.  According to the town marker, the town was settled in 1896-97 and a man named Porter applied for a post office to be named after him...but there was already a Porter Post Office in the Indian territory.  To make things simple, they just spelled his name backwards to get the name Retrop...works for me.  The monument was dedicated to the courageous people who settled in this area and endured the hard times of drought, depression, and the dust bowl days.  The present day citizens of this area are extremely proud of this heritage.

Everyone seemed to be moving pretty well today after getting on the road shortly after daybreak.  I was in the van early, but planned to ride from the first SAG or lunch.  I finally got on the bike (upper right) for the first time in 3 days...felt good.  I usually like being in the van early so I can take a few photos of the day and make sure everyone is doing ok before I get on my bike.  The group wasn't any more than 7 miles into the day when I came upon Don kicking his leg like there was something wrong with his pedal.  I stopped him and found he had a broken cleat that wouldn't lock into his pedal.  He had a spare set in his bag in the luggage van...of course it was at the bottom of the pile, but I called ahead for Barb to stop and wait for him to get there.  By the time he rode up to the van, Karen had his bag sitting on the ground and it didn't take long for him to find his spare set and for me to swap it out.  Another problem solved...not so fast.  I was sitting in the same place when Stanley and Sue rode up...Stanley stopped.  When I approached him he said, "The good news is, it's not a flat...it's just a broken spoke."  But he hadn't really seen his real problem...it wasn't his spoke at all...his hub flange had broken...wheel dead.  I made a quick swap to our spare wheel and he was back on the road in short order.  Whew...anything else??  Pretty busy already this morning.  Luckily, it slowed down after that and the ride progressed smoothly the rest of the day.

After our first SAG, we picked up a couple locals who rode with us to the last SAG just to see what we were up to.  One of them said, "How did you find these roads?  I've lived around here for years and I didn't know these were here."  Glad we could help him find new horizons.

Today marked our 1/2 way point of the ride.  I was able to get ahead of the group to mark the "spot" in the road and most everyone stopped to take the required photos to commemorate the accomplishment.  It's hard to believe we've been on the road for 2 weeks...even harder to believe we're this far along...does anyone remember the beach?  Wasn't that a year ago?

The landscape today is a stark contrast to the wide open grassland of the Texas Panhandle.  This region of Oklahoma is "wide open spaces" but it seems more intimate than the Panhandle...and it's green around here!!!!  We rode through vast cropland today and the fact there were a few houses and some trees, made the terrain seem much more interesting than the last couple of days.  The main crop in this area seems to be wheat, but they also grow corn, soybeans, and I've even seen a couple of cotton fields on previous fall trips (this is the first time we've done this ride in the spring). 

Our biggest challenge was navigating the roads in the country.  On our previous rides through here, none of country roads had street signs...when I say none, I mean none.  We had over 50 miles without 1 sign to help us navigate and we had lots of turns, but this year Oklahoma seems to be trying to correct that oversight and we saw county road signs almost at every turn...now we'll have to update our route sheets.

We stayed in a really nice Best Western on the south side of town with an indoor pool and hot tub...the hot tub is a favorite.  Tomorrow we leave on our longest day in the saddle so far...145 miles and as I said before, we're forecast for rain all day.  Tune in to see how we do.  I'll bet we make it just fine. 

PS:  Dana and Gene left the ride today.  They were only riding to Elk City.  We really enjoyed having them on the ride and will miss them as we continue to Savannah.  We wish them well and hope to see them on the road again someday.  Gene left us the words to Oklahoma, but we still can't remember them.